JAPAN. 



453 



the authorities and without any spontaneous 

 evolution, the political institutions, the social 

 habits, the education, the ideas, and even the 

 religion of the people, are completely trans- 

 muted. The sovereignty which accomplished 

 such marvels is itself a usurped power, which 

 dates back only a score of years, and which 

 precipitated the shogunate with its prestige of 

 seven hundred years of empire and was estab- 

 lished in its place with scarcely a struggle. 

 The Daimios, the mighty feudatory lords of 

 the realm, were soon crushed by the quickly 

 organized rule of the Mikado. The military 

 caste of the Samm-ais alone survived the deluge 

 which in a moment swept away the institu- 

 tions of old Japan. These cavaliers still swag- 

 gered about with their two swords, display- 

 ing a blustering opposition to the new order 

 of things. To this day the interior of Japan 

 is rendered unsafe to European and American 

 travelers by these survivors of mediuoval Japan, 

 whose weapons fly out whenever a foreigner 

 comes in sight, at the thought of the destruc- 

 tion to old traditions which European influ- 

 ence has wrought, especially the degradation 

 and rapid decay of the order of Samurais. 



The statements were made by travelers in 

 the earlier stages of the singular official revo- 

 lution in Japan, that the change was entirely 

 superficial and unsubstantial, that though the 

 normal civilization of the people was disas- 

 trously unsettled, yet they were receiving noth- 

 ing but a mere veneering of Western cult- 

 ure, a distorted and spurious Europeanism, in 

 compensation for this demoralizing effect. 

 Later observers perceive that the entire social 

 culture of old Japan has been fatally smitten, 

 but that the Japanese prove capable of readily 

 assimilating much of the civilization of the 

 West. It was but the exchange of one mate- 

 rialistic civilization for another, for the relig- 

 ious founts of Japanese development were al- 

 ready nearly dry, while in the social discipline 

 and solidarity, that enable them to adapt them- 

 selves to such startling innovations, they al- 

 ready possess a higher development than the 

 Western nations which they copy. 



In these drastic changes much of the poetry 

 of life, of the inspiration of art, of the moral 



Jroundwork and attractive characteristics of 

 apanese manners must necessarily be sacri- 

 ficed. The most difficult and questionable part 

 of the scheme of reformation is the not un- 

 successful attempt to root out the prevailing 

 Buddhistic religion, which was introduced from 

 China ages before and always favored by the 

 Shoguns, in order to restore the ancient and 

 obsolete Shinto cult, an abstract worship of 

 Nature. The abolition of the existing religion 

 is not impossible, since the people are already 

 largely given over to religious indifferentistn 

 and skepticism, but the revival of the national 

 religion, the forms of which were almost lost 

 and the principles no longer understood, can 

 have no further success than the political one 

 which was intended, that of extinguishing the 



lingering loyalty to the Shogun, and impressing 

 the people with the idea of the antiquity and 

 historical rightfulness of the Mikado's rule. 



The development of the University of Tokio 

 illustrates the ardor shown by the authorities 

 in introducing and the capacity of the Japan- 

 ese people for assimilating the best results of 

 European progress. The Japanese received 

 their first inkling of Western science in the 

 beginning of the last century, through their 

 contact with the Dutch. In 1744 an astronom- 

 ical observatory was established. In 1811 a 

 corps of translators was organized for the pur- 

 pose of rendering into Japanese Dutch treatises 

 on science and useful arts. Out of this grew 

 a school of languages in combination with the 

 translation office. The sciences of mathemat- 

 ics, botany, and chemistry were afterward 

 taught in connection with Dutch, English, 

 French, German, and Russian. In 1862 stu- 

 dents began to be sent to Europe. After the 

 revolution of 1868 the instruction in European 

 science and languages, which had been restrict- 

 ed and confined to a certain privileged class, 

 was fostered and extended much more liber- 

 ally. The different special schools which were 

 established were gradually consolidated, and 

 the high school for the teaching of Chinese 

 and Japanese learning and literature united 

 with those devoted to Western science. Many 

 changes in the system of instruction, the trans- 

 fer of the direction of studies to English, Ger- 

 man, American, French, and Japanese instruct- 

 ors in turn, interfered with the due develop- 

 ment of the system of higher education. In 

 1876 special courses of law, chemistry, and en- 

 gineering were instituted, besides the general 

 curriculums of science and arts. From the 

 following year English was the only European 

 language employed in instruction, and French 

 and German discarded in the class-room, except 

 for special studies in the law and science de- 

 partments, in which instruction was still given 

 in French. In 1878 the medical school was 

 added to the others, and the university regu- 

 larly constituted on the model of the leading 

 European high schools. The Botanical Garden 

 was placed in charge of the authorities of the 

 university. A magazine was published; the 

 discovery of shell-heaps by Edward S. Morse 

 gave an impulse to archaeological and palreon- 

 tological researches ; students were sent abroad, 

 after the completion of their courses in the 

 university, to pursue their special branches in 

 the schools and libraries of Europe, and re- 

 turned to impart their attainments to others ; 

 and so the university acquired rapidly the char- 

 acter and spirit of an institution of learning. 

 In the department- of law a very thorough 

 course of English common law is taught by 

 English instructors in addition to the princi- 

 ples of mercantile and international law and 

 theoretical jurisprudence ; but the civil law is 

 neglected, with the exception of an exposition 

 of the French code. All this is supplementary 

 to the instruction in ancient and modern Jap- 



