THE ETHICS OF JAPAN. 303 



with the spear, and jujitsii. There is a verse composed by a Japa- 

 nese which may be translated thus : 



Even .in the eyes of the warrior 



Whose beard is ten fists long. 



The one thing that softly flows from them 



Is the tear which is due to love. 



This aptly expresses the iiniate tenderness of heart of a Japanese 

 warrior. There is another verse composed and penned by Com- 

 mander Takeo Hiro.se in Chinese just before he went to his doom on 

 the occasion of the second bottling up of Port Arthur, and which, 

 therefore, constituted his last utterance in this world. Translated 

 into English it runs as follows: 



Would that I could be born seven times 

 And sacrifiee my life for my country : 

 Resolved to die. my mind is firm. 

 And again expecting to win success. 

 Smiling I go on board. 



This will show the fortitude and determination of a bushi at the 

 hour of his exit from this life, and though Hirose was a man of our 

 own day, he may be regarded as one of the best types of an old bushi. 



Bushi is not foreign to Shintoism. As a matter of fact l)ushi gen- 

 erally respect Shinto deities, and, moreover, some military ceremonies 

 were performed in the supposed presence of a Shinto god. Bushi 

 openly invoke the god of war without any compunction, but bushi 

 never have done so in a bigoted way. It was more in the way of 

 reverence paid to a deity of their inherited cult. They were never 

 devotees of Shintoism as a religion. This sort of sentiment of the 

 Japanese is very difficult to explain with clearness, but my meaning 

 is that though they do not despise religion they place more im- 

 portance on the atfairs of the world and on their own exertions in 

 the matters which they undertake. The Samurai do not worship 

 their deity in order that their souls may be safely rescued in the 

 future. I can therefore say that Bushido, as such, has no bearing 

 upon Shintoism. It has its own independent existence, although to 

 the extent I have just referred to it has its connection with Shinto- 

 ism. In other words, Shintoism was a cult founded ujjon our old 

 customs and traditions, and therefore Bushi also shared the senti- 

 ments pervading that cult, but we can not say that Shinto has pro- 

 duced Bushido. 



And again, bushi do not despise Buddhism ; on the contrary, many 

 of them may revere it, but Bushido, as such, has no connection with 

 this faith. In documents they often make use of a phrase in a vague 

 way, " by the help of Shin-Butsu," meaning both the Shinto deity 

 and Buddha; but it does not mean that it has any foundation in 



