THE JAPANESE NATION. 669 



Subordinate to the Daimios were the Samauri, the military class 

 employed by and dependent on tbe Daimios, living on their estates, 

 faithful and loyal retainers. Under the Samauri were the working- 

 classes, serfs, little better than slaves. 



Subsequently one of the Daimios usurped the civil power, nominally 

 acting as the minister of the Mikado, calling himself the Shogun. 

 Thus the Shogun acquired the temporal power and control of the army, 

 leaving the Mikado, who had always been withdrawn from public 

 sight, only the priestly office and the honor attached. 



We have been in the habit of regarding Japan as a hermit nation, 

 without any relation with the outside world. Fortunately, she has not 

 been allowed to live permanently isolated from the rest of the world. 

 Her conditions of environment have been largely influenced by three 

 great waves of civilization which have swept over her. The first, from 

 Asia, in the sixth century, brought Chinese literature and Buddhism. 

 The second, in the sixteenth century, from Europe, brought the mer- 

 chants of Portugal and Holland and the Jesuits from Spain. The last, 

 in the nineteenth century, brought the civilization of America and 

 Europe, with the Christian religion. 



The effect of China on the art, religion, and literature of Japan we 

 shall consider later. 



The merchants of Europe had commercial relations with Japan for 

 about seventy-five years, between 1550 and 1625. With the traders 

 came the Jesuits, Xavier and his associates, who made many proselytes, 

 probably six or seven hundred thousand. This contact with European 

 civilization wrought important changes in Japan, though not percepti- 

 ble to us. 



During the last part of the sixteenth century persecution began, the 

 Japanese asserting, and some believing, that the priests were endeav- 

 oring to overthrow the Government and to convert Japan into a papal 

 province, and that Christianity tended to lessen reverence toward 

 parents and ancestors, a prominent feature of the Japanese religion. 

 This persecution continued until the middle of the seventeenth century, 

 when the Christians had all either renounced their faith or had been 

 put to death. We are told that the annals of the primitive church fur- 

 nish no instances of greater heroism or constancy than those of the 

 Christians of Japan. 



This attempt to establish commercial relations with Europe and intro- 

 duce Christianity resulted in the sealing of Japan against all commu- 

 nication with the outside world for two hundred years, in the expulsion 

 of all foreigners, and iu the prohibition of all intercourse between the 

 natives and foreigners, save with the Dutch, at one point. It was made 

 a capital offense to teach or preach the Christian faith, and Japanese 

 were forbidden to leave Japan under pain of death and confiscation of 

 their property. 



^Notwithstanding these laws and the feeling of the people, some light 



