318 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



Works on local geography make a large show- 

 ing in this literature. As early as the Eighth 

 Century the government ordered careful de- 

 scriptions of every province and village to be 

 compiled. These are much like the county his- 

 tories of England and the books growing from 

 them are numberless. They include facts of 

 topography, natural history, origin of names, 

 local legends and traditions, records of indus- 

 tries and commerce, and descriptions of temples, 

 shrines, and monuments, and all these, written 

 with minute detail, make works of great length 

 and of much historic interest. Every province 

 in Japan has places noted in history, monuments, 

 castle-towns, temples, and other memorials of 

 past ages, and the guide books included in this 

 geographical section of the literature give the 

 traveler a perfect knowledge of his route. 

 Probably no other country is so minutely 

 known by its inhabitants. 



Japanese classical poetry has always been a 

 favorite study and there are many volumes 

 written or collected by the old nobles. The 

 " Hiakuninshui " or "Collection of One Hundred 

 Poems " contains verse written by the emperors 

 themselves. It had long been a custom for schol- 

 arly people to gather for the purpose of passing 

 away time in the making of verse. These verses 

 or poems were kept in the original manuscripts, 

 or printed and made up into numberless books 

 of minor poems. Loyalty to country and love 

 of its beauty make many subjects in this verse, 

 and most of the short poems are simple, almost 

 explanatory, in form and very difficult of trans- 

 lation into what we would call poetry. Some 

 of the lyrics, however, show quaint ways of 

 thought and happy modes of expression. The 

 editors of "Sunrise Stories" have very cleverly 

 succeeded in translating the peculiar flavor of 

 Japanese verse and keeping something of Japan- 

 ese form. There are no great epics or didactic 

 poems in the Japanese language, and the drama 

 does not hold large place. Popular plays are 

 the most common and are often stilted in style, 

 but the farces are lighter. 



Religion and philosophy make a large section 

 in the literature of most countries, but no Jap- 

 anese book yet read or translated by a foreigner 

 takes the place held by the religious books in 

 European languages. Nothing has thus far 

 undone the work of the early ages, and loyalty, 

 family pride, patriotism, and religion are all 

 one in Japan. The national, or Shinto faith, 

 accounts for its lack of a moral code by teaching 

 that loyal subjects of the emperor need no 

 other moral guidance. The journey to the land 

 of perpetual youth is one of the expressions in 

 their literature on the philosophy of death. 

 The great body of imported literature, the 

 Confucian learning, and Buddhist Books, have 

 long been held in high honor by native students. 



The "Story of My Hat," probably written 

 seven hundred years ago, is a Japanese classic, 

 which has its great charm from its simplicity 

 of language and its picture of a most simple life. 

 It is full of allusions to nature, telling of the 

 bright moon, the floating cloud, the fireflies, 

 the notes of the wild-bird, etc., and it gives 

 minute descriptions of natural surroundings. 

 Another book, "Tosca Nikka," describing in 



simplest language the ordinary life of a traveler 

 in the Tenth Century, is also classical. It gives 

 j no adventure or romance and no wise maxims, 

 it is simple narration, and is said to have been 

 written by a woman. In the Tenth Century the 

 learned men of Japan wrote only for the well- 

 read and educated class and were deep in the 

 study of Chinese. The women of the court kept 

 up their own language and a large part of the 

 best writings in their literature was the work 

 of women. 



Romances and novels are by no means un- 

 known in Japan, and their heroes and heroines 

 have thrilling adventures, which are graphically 

 presented. Much of this fiction is mixed v/ith 

 history and the tale dates back to one of the 

 numerous wars. Fairy tales abound and are 

 very artistically told, and short-story books 

 are common. These and the books for children 

 often take for subject some hero of ancient 

 times. 



The mental equipment of this nation has 

 been forming for centuries, and when the Em- 

 pire shut its ports and drew away from the rest 

 of the world, it had, within itself, resources of 

 food for its intellectual life. By the opening of 

 these ports Japan was introduced into the affairs 

 of the modern world, taking a stand among 

 the nations. Through the researches of scholars 

 the literature of the West is being enriched by 

 the imagination of the East, and to this Japan 

 is giving a generous share, but only a fraction 

 of the books of this modern Oriental nation are 

 yet reached by Western readers. The " Wakan 

 Sansai Dzuye," known to the world as the 

 "Great Japanese Encyclopedia," is noted as a 

 necessary help to all who seek knowledge of 

 Japan letters. The fact that such a large work 

 has been compiled and that it is considered 

 an essential part of a student's equipment, 

 shows something of the value and interest of 

 Japanese literature. 



THE FAMILY LIBRARY 



Selecting books for a family library is re- 

 markably like selecting food for a family table, 

 a very nice art, indeed. The cook must know 

 food values, their preparation and their economic 

 selection, so as to balance one kind of food 

 against another and furnish complete nourish- 

 ment. Within a narrow range of choice, allow- 

 ance must be made for individual tastes, and 

 enough provided to satisfy every rational ap- 

 petite. So it is in the selection of books. What 

 is a good book for one may not be a good book 

 for another. A family library, like a family 

 table, should cater somewhat to individual 

 tastes; but there are common tastes as well, 

 and the well-selected library of even a few books 

 may furnish joy for the whole family. 



No one list of books can ever be the best list. 

 It can only be suggestive of the kind of books 

 that belong to every good list. A short list of 

 books for a family library is appended here. 



A SMALL HOME LIBRARY 



TITLE PUBLISHER OB AUTHOR 



A Standard Dictionary. 

 A Good Encyclopedia. 

 Imperial Atlas of the World, . Rand-McNally. 



