94 The National Geographic Magazine 



"ADOPT, ADAPT, ADEPT" 



The Japanese have a peculiar char- 

 acter. When they come in contact with 

 a foreign civilization they always go 

 through three stages of evolution: First, 

 they pass through the stage of imita- 

 tion. At this period they imitate every- 

 thing that comes from a foreign source, 

 and I might say that they blindly copy. 

 But after some years of imitation they 

 arrive at the stage of adaptation ; then 

 at last they reach the stage of origina- 

 tion. These three stages are clearly 

 shown by our history, if we only ex- 

 amine into the inner workings of Japa- 

 nese mind. 



THE INTRODUCTION OF THE CHINESE 

 CIVILIZATION 



About 1,500 years ago, when we in- 

 troduced the Chinese civilization into 

 our country, we copied everything after 

 Chinese fashion. At that time we had 

 no national alphabet. There were some 

 sorts of signs to express ideas in writ- 

 ing, and even these signs differed in 

 different parts of the country. The 

 Chinese had a highly developed type 

 of hieroglyphics to express their ideas; 

 therefore at one time the Chinese hiero- 

 glyphics took such a hold on the mind 

 of the Japanese that we adopted them 

 as our national language. The impe- 

 rial edicts were written in Chinese hie- 

 roglyphics and government records were 

 kept in that language; even Chinese 

 scholars were employed in the govern- 

 ment service as clerks and secretaries, 

 and the Japanese language was almost 

 on the verge of destruction and ruin. 



This same phenomenon was found 

 even in England when she introduced 

 the Norman- French civilization. The 

 Norman-French language was taught 

 in schools and was spoken at the palace, 

 as well as in . the upper circles. The 

 legal briefs in the courts were prepared 

 in the Norman-French, and the judg- 

 ments of the court were given in that 

 language. Take, as an example, meat. 



When an animal is found in the field it 

 is called an ox; but when it is prepared 

 and served on a nobleman's table it is 

 called beef, which comes from M beuf " 

 of the Norman-French. So, again, 

 when prepared on the table it is called 

 mutton — ' ' mouton, ' ' from the Norman- 

 French; but when found in the field it 

 is called a sheep. In Japan we went 

 on exactly in the same way as the En- 

 glish people. Among the upper classes, 

 as well as at the court, we used entirely 

 the Chinese hieroglyphics. Every doc- 

 ument of the government was kept in 

 Chinese hieroglyphics, and the Japanese 

 language was only spoken among peas- 

 ants and in a remote part of the coun- 

 try, where the Chinese civilization did 

 not reach. 



Therefore this period might be called 

 the era of imitation. Did our country 

 remain long at that stage ? Fortunately 

 there came a scholar — the most famous 

 scholar we ever had — by the name of 

 Mabie, who returned from China in 735 

 A. D. He was in China many years for 

 his education at Chinese schools. When 

 he came back he saw what was most 

 needed in his native country, and he 

 invented out of the Chinese hieroglyphics 

 the forty-seven characters of our alpha- 

 bet, founded upon the principle of pho- 

 netic language. As you know, the Japa- 

 nese language is phonetic, whereas the 

 Chinese is hieroglyphic. This alphabet 

 is called Shin Kana, which means a gen- 

 uine alphabet, in order to distinguish 

 from another and later invention of al- 

 phabet called Kata Kana. This period 

 might be considered as the dawn of our 

 era of adaptation, for we did not remain 

 long in the stage of imitation, but soon 

 began to realize the future of our civil- 

 ization, and became conscious of the 

 necessity of our national linguistic in- 

 dependence. Therefore the invention 

 of the alphabet of 47 letters is always 

 considered to have given birth to the 

 Japanese literature, and is reckoned as 

 the beginning of Japanese civilization. 



