430 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTIOI^f B. 



15,983 Shinto priests. Each temple iias its annual festival. Even the 

 Buddhist believers take part in the ceremonies, and go to adore the 

 Shinto gods. The festival provides a variety of entertainments for all 

 classes of society. Thus, it is not only a religious ceremony but a 

 social custom which adorns life with pleasure and gaiety, the while 

 the Buddhist solemnities inspire only sadness and melancholy. 



C0]N^FUCIA^IISM. 



Confucianism ovei'flowed from China into Korea, where to this 

 day it is said to be prominent even over Buddhism. It is but a 

 short step across the water from Korea to Japan, where for some 

 fifteen centuries Confucianism has done much to mould and shape the 

 character of the sturdy islanders. The precise time when Chinese 

 learning entered Japan by way of Korea has not been indisputably 

 ascertained; probably it was between the third and sixth centuries. 

 As a matter of fact, Buddhism to which the Japanese owe so many 

 debts, was the means of introducing much foreign learning, and also 

 was the vehicle whereby Confucianism reached the multitude of the 

 Japanese people. The earliest missionai'ies to the country wei-e most 

 sympathetically in accord with the ethics of Confucianism and con- 

 tinued so down to about the seventeenth century. For a thousand 

 years (say, from 600 to 1,600) the Buddhist religious teachers assisted 

 in spreading the teachings of Confucius. True, in various ways, in- 

 dividiials introduced unimportant modifications; but, notwithstanding, 

 the teachers were the means simply of ti'ansmitting without attempt- 

 ing to improve on the Chinese ethics. Originally introduced into 

 Japan early in the Christian era, the Confucian philosophy lay dor- 

 mant during the Middle Ages, that is to say, during the period of 

 Buddiiist supremacy. It awoke early in the seventeenth century when 

 the great warrior leyasu, the patron of learning, caused the Confucian 

 classics to be printed in Japanese for the first time. 



For the follo-\\ing two hundred and fifty years Confucian ideas 

 moulded the whole intellect of the country. Most acceptable to the 

 Japanese was the Confucian doctrine of unquestioning submission to 

 rulers and parents. This fitted in exactly with the feudal ideas of old 

 Japan. The conviction of the paramount importance of such sub- 

 jection still lingers on amongst the ruin of other Japanese institutions. 

 The Japanese did not develop the Confucian system. There are not 

 even any Japanese translations or commentaries worth reading. Little 

 has been done beyond reprinting the text of the Confucian classics 

 and also of the principal Chinese commentators. In this fonii, with a 

 few marks to facilitate perusal by Japanese students, the Chinese 

 classics formed the chief vehicle of ever^^ boy's education from the 

 seventeenth century until the introduction of European models of 

 education after the revolution of 1868. To-day they are practically 

 neglected, though certain phrases still are extant in cun^ent literature 

 and colloquial language. 



Seido, the great temple of Confucius in Tokyo, is now utilised as 

 an Educational Museum. The philosophy of the great sages, Confucius 

 and Lao Tsze, exercises a strong effect on the formation of Japanese 

 character. 



