MYTPIOLOGY OF THE JAPANESE. 505 



influence and because religious tliouglit is always narrow and conserv- 

 ative, it is usually much behind the intelligence of its adherents, 

 althougli retaining its influence and authority. 



With this understanding clearly before us it may be asked if the 

 Japanese peoi)le believe this wonderful record of the origin of them- 

 selves and their country and how much it has influenced their char- 

 acter as a nation. Do our own |)eo]>le believe the book of (irenesis, or 

 the text of their own scriptures? How long does it take for a faith that 

 has grown during' centuries to die away ? The idea that the Japanese 

 are a people who have so assimilated and digested foreign knowledge 

 as to be able to think as we do is most erroneous. There are many 

 educated Japanese who believe, or still pretend to believe, in the divine 

 descent of the Mikado, and who accept the national chronology from 

 Jimmu Tenno down. But after all, this is no nu^re absurd than numy 

 beliefs of our own good people, and we must not forget that we too 

 have houses of glass. It is scarcely a quarter of a century since the 

 following words were published by the Mikado; "I am concerned 

 standing as I do, between Tensho-Daijin (Amaterasu) and my peo- 

 ple." ''My house, that from Jimnui Tenno on to the present day has 

 ruled over Dai Nippon (Great Japan), according to the will of the gods." 

 His is thus the oldest dynasty on earth, his familj' having ruled Japan 

 for 2,550 years, tracing its ancestry for still 10,000 years back, to the 

 creation of the world. 



It is an old notion of the Japanese that they are superior to all other 

 nations and a strange chapter might be written upon the consequences 

 past and present of that belief. It is so essentially a part of Japanese 

 character that it cannot be immediately outgrown. At the basis of it lies 

 the Shinto faith. How true this is, and how firmly grounded the conceit 

 is may be learned from the native writings in defence of Shinto. The 

 subject is of iiiter(\st as showing to what an extent the Japanese char- 

 acter conforms to the spirit of the ancient teachings, and it becomes 

 of the greatest importance that we should understand it well in our 

 political and social intercourse with the Japanese. They have a well- 

 known story of Wasaubi^auwe. which points a moral they would do 

 well to heed. 



The utmost efforts of the Shinto writers have been put forth to 

 belittle Japan's indebtedness to China for letters and philosophy. The 

 following «iuotati(uis are given without regard to authority or chrono- 

 logical order, but the latest date from early in this century. A doubt- 

 ing critic asserts that there must have been total darkness before 

 the sun was born, a fact inconsistent with the statement that plants 

 already existed at the time. The answer is worthy of certain logicians 

 of our own time and country: "Although she (the sun) will continue 

 to shine as long as heaven and earth endure, she was born in Japan, 

 and her descendants rule over the emjjire to this day. The difficulty 

 of reconciling the statements that the world was i>lnnged into darkness 



