April 2%, 1 88 1 J 



NA TURE 



60 1 



expelling, and ignores the fact that any deterioration 

 which has followed the recent change of circuinstances 

 is not the work of " civilisation," but of the vile or foolish 

 camp-followers that may cling to the skirts of even the 

 noblest army. 



Upon the religion of the country he says little more 

 than is to be found in a footnote at page 127 ; but students 

 may be interested to learn from this that " Shinto is never 

 represented by any figure, but worshipped as the Unseen 

 Spirit which pervades everything. Buddha, as is well 

 known, is always represented by a male figure ; Shinto, 

 the unrepresented, is supposed to be a female." 



Criticism of the volume is to some extent disarmed by 

 the modesty of its preface, and it no doubt contains much 

 that will amuse the general reader. 



In Dr. Rein's "Japan " we have the work not only of a 

 savant thoroughly versed in his subject, but of a practised 

 literary architect. The present volume deals with the 

 geographical conformation, climate, flora, and fauna of 

 the Japanese group, and the history, ethnography, and re- 

 ligion of the people, concluding with a useful chapter on 

 topography. A future volume is to comprise an account 

 of the industries and commerce, and will be welcomed by 

 all who read the part now before us. 



The geographical summary is far more complete and ac- 

 curate than any to whirh the public has yet had access, and 

 at every page shows the hand of an expert who has brought 

 original knowledge and personal observation to bear upon 

 his task. The climatic peculiarities are for the first time 

 (save by the author himself in 1876) systematically de- 

 scribed, and all the more important meteorological details 

 accumulated in the past eighteen years in different parts 

 of the country are reproduced in tabular form. 



In the study of the flora and fauna the accumulation of 

 facts is already too large to allow the author to go far 

 beyond the limits of enumeration. Since Dr. Rein's ac- 

 count has been written a new addition has been made to 

 the fauna in a catalogue of the birds of Japan by Capt. 

 Blakiston and Mr. Pryer, and the number of known 

 species raised from about 250 to 325, of which about 180 

 occur also in China, and about 100 are represented in 

 Great Britain. 



It is to be regretted that space could not have been 

 spared for a little supplementary information upon some 

 of those members of the animal kingdom which possess 

 a more popular interest. For example, a few details 

 ■respecting the dangerous and unpleasantly common 

 Mamushi (T7-igonoceplialiis Blomhoffii) and the wrongly 

 maligned little Hibakari ( Tropidonotus Martcnsii) would 

 have been usefuL The poisonous properties of certain 

 species of the Fugu or genus Tetrodoti are pointed out, 

 and the symptoms produced by their use as food described ; 

 but in the reference io ih& " hu/igfrigt-, bluigierige Mos- 

 quitos" though feeling tribute is paid to the vexatious side 

 of their character, the grave charges to which they are 

 open are omitted, their probable agency, long recognised 

 by native physicians, in the conveyance of malignant pus- 

 tule, and the suspicion raised by Dr. Patrick Manson's 

 investigations in Amoy, that the spread of Elephantiasis 

 Arabum in the south of Japan is due to the same pest. 



The second and less technical part of the book em- 

 braces subjects upon which the author is less able to speak 



in vcrbd magistri than on geographical science. The 

 section, "Das Japanische Volk," opens with an historical 

 abstract of about 200 pages, compiled from Klaprothi 

 Ka;mpfer, Siebold, Satow, Aston, and other authorities- 

 The purely mythical stories of the age of the gods are 

 passed over rapidly, and the commencement of the history 

 of the country is fixed at the reign of Jimmu Tenno (660 

 to 5S5 B.C.). Dr. Rein is generous enough to acknow- 

 ledge without question the reputed founder of the imperial 

 lore, of whose existence there is little more proof than of 

 that of the Uwabami and Kamaitachi, which the Professor 

 does not consider entided to a place in the fauna. As is 

 mentioned in a footnote, the earliest written records extant 

 originated in the first part of the eighth century of our era, 

 and admitting the possibility that these were compiled 

 from lost manuscripts of older date, they still offer satis- 

 factory internal evidence that the historical being of Japan 

 is at least a thousand years younger than is indicated by 

 the list of the ancient emperors from whom the reigning 

 Mikado traces his descent. The fact will perhaps be suffi- 

 ciently demonstrated by a citation of the ages attributed 

 to certain of the primitive rulers. The inaugurative mythj 

 Jimmu Tenno, is said to have lived 127 years ; Koan, the 

 sixth Mikado, 137 years ; Nintoku, the seventeenth 

 Mikado (d. 399 A.D.), 122 years ; and it is not until the 

 fifth century A.D. that the viability of the rulers appears 

 to have become permanently limited to a reasonable de- 

 gree. It is true that the birth and death of Jimmu are 

 solemnised as national festivals, and that writers on such 

 sober topics as the industrial arts do not hesitate to refer 

 for their landmarks to periods long antedating the true 

 historical period ; but all allowance must be made for 

 inherited credulity in ancient traditions, which here form 

 part of a state religion and establish the very sanctity of 

 the throne. 



Wc are glad to see that Dr. Rein does not altogether 

 reject the romantic episodes of Japanese history. Awaiting 

 the advent of a native Walpole to bruise the simple faith of 

 his countrymen with historic doubts, it is a grateful relief 

 to the tedium of the long series of wars and court intrigues 

 that form the burden of the rather monotonous recitative 

 of the Oriental Clio, to dwell for a moment on such stories 

 as those of the gentle wife of Yamato Dake, who cast 

 herself into the sea to propitiate the angry gods that 

 threatened the safety of her husband's ship ; of Kesa, who 

 sacrificed her life to preserve her wifely fideUty ; and 

 many others of the number that have lent inspiration 

 to the pencils of Hokusai, Yosai, and a hundred lesser 

 artists. They are probably no more apocryphal than 

 many of the wearisome details through which the stud-ent 

 of history must plod. 



The title "Geschichte des Japanischen Volkes" adopted 

 by the author is somewhat misplaced. The history is not 

 that of the people but of their rulers, and it would have 

 been well had the author given the section a better claim 

 to the heading by interspersing the story of battle and 

 murder by some account of the development of laws, 

 literature, painting, the various industrial arts, and such 

 important social ceremonies as those of the Cha-tio-yu, 

 which lose much of their significance when divorced from 

 the general history of the empire. 



The most valuable portion of the sketch to the foreign 

 world is that relating to the pregnant events of the last 



