October 2, 1915. 
LAND AND WATER 
JAPAN: YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY. 
By Gonnoske Komai. 
[Mr. Gonnoske Komai is a Japanese poelandauthor now 
residing in England; he gives proof of his con- 
servatism by continuing to wear, even in London, 
the flowing robes of his native land.] 
Till'" marvellous way in which Japan was able 
within the short space of one generation to 
cover the distance that separates bows and 
arrows from Krupp guns and submarines has 
gained for her in literature the name of the 
paradox among the nations; and personally I am not 
surprised tiiat you wonder at us considering the slow 
calculating steps by which your own evolution moves. 
Yesterday we were to your faliiers merely, well, a 
picturesque setting for a comic opera, and so we re- 
mained to the great masses of your people until first the 
Chino-Japanese and then the Russo-Japanese ^Var re- 
vealed our strength to the world. Then you came for- 
ward and recognised us, and your Lord Salisburv 
offered us an alliance wiiich the present war has brought 
into operation, and we are to-day looked upon as a 
Power with a definite mission in the schemes of the 
civilisation of the future. 
It was a wonderful diange, however, and even in 
Japan we wt)nder at its success beyond the wildest 
dreams of our early reformers; for, of course, tiiere is 
no conservatism in luirope which can compare with 
the conservatism of Asia, and it meant many and diffi- 
cult struggles between tlie ad\<)cates of the old regime 
and those of the new regime. It seemed as if propliecv 
was to take the place of experience. In addition, the 
pioneers had to face the opposition of the vested inte- 
rests of the great nobles, wiiose privileges would, of 
course, become considerably curtailed by the reforms 
proposed. Only one thing saved us, in my opinion, and 
that was the wonderful patriotism of our upper classes, 
who laid all their rights and possession at the feet of 
the .Mikado in the interests of the .State. 
An Outward Change. 
At the same lime the change was more outward 
than real, for the spirit of our ancestors remained exactly 
the same under khaki as it had been under the old coats 
of mail, though of course it had to be adapted to modern 
circumstances. For this reason we sent our Ambas- 
sadors to look roimd the world and make a report of the 
things they saw, and after that we followed them up 
with thousands upon thousands of students imtil we had 
a country as modern as the most modern in science, 
literature, invention and learning. Had we not followed 
the course not only would Japan, but in all probability 
China and the whole Hast, would have become a prey 
to Germany, which from the very first, had its eye 
upon us both. 
In fact it is now believed in Japan that the Russo- 
Japanese War was engineered by Germany. I re- 
member myself, when special correspondeiit of the 
Times in the Manchurian campaign, that we used to eye 
the attaches of the p-atherland among us with the 
greatest suspicion, knowing full well that sooner or 
later we should find ourselves embroiled with Germany. 
For we had never forgotten that Germany was the first 
after the Chino-Japanese War to snatch the fruit of 
victory from our grasp by making us give back Liao- 
tung, whereas, had she really been our friend, as she 
always pretended she was when we hired some of her 
officers to train our armies, she would never have 
snatched Tsingtau from China. 
But you must not think that we were actuated 
purely by the spirit of revenge in thus declaring war 
u|X)n her. We had in view far more important plans. 
We knew that Germany, for instance, intended to make 
Tsingtau the basis of operations in China, and, if pos- 
sible, raise the whole of the Celestial Empire up against 
us, so that it was really an act of self-defence ; for every- 
body knows that the emissaries of the Kaiser had the 
Chinese Army in hand and in all probability they would 
have made it serve their purpose just as they made the 
Turkish Armies. Now the Eastern problem is difficult 
enough already, even for the Eastern, but the complica- 
tions which German deals of conquest would introduce- 
would reduce it to chaos; and no one had more reason 
to fear it than China, in whose interests we fought. 
And China will live to thank us. 
The Teuton Danger. 
We have seen quite enough of Europeanism to 
understand its value to Asia, but we have also fully 
realised its dangers if represented by the Teuton. The 
Kaiser was once pleased to issue a cartoon in which he 
depicted himself as the saviour of the Whiles against 
the Yellow races. To-day we find the Whites not only 
disowning their champion but actually calling out to 
ihe Yellow races to help. And 1 may add we are only 
too glad to be able to do so, for Ave shall thereby be 
drawn closer together, and civilisation, instead of being 
merely the domination of f)ne race or creed or caste will 
become, as it should be indeed, a corhposite synthesis 
of all that is best in humanity irrespective of hereditary 
bias. One must have been born an Oriental and be 
living in the West like myself to be able fully to ap- 
preciate all this means and how difficult it is to blend 
liarmoniously the two opposing instincts of progress 
and conservatism which with us have developed to such 
a degree as to have become almost fanatical. 
Looking at the struggle of the rival civilisations, 
therefore, we do so with the utmost anxiety and con- 
cern, for we fully realise that it is with the conquering 
civilisation that we shall have to adjust our own. And 
we would rather have one which we could assimilate 
and take in like that of France and England, and even 
our late enemy Russia, than one which would make us 
still more conservative than we are at present. For we 
are conservative, that you must never forget, even 
though we do build Dreadnoughts in Japan. 
Freedom and Faith. 
We have a great deal in common with you, but not 
all. The chaos that we see on all sides among your 
churches has anything but attracted us. We have the 
freedom of faith granted us in our Constitution ; but we 
have no State Religion. We can imbibe all the essence 
of all the religions of the world without necessarily 
becoming converts of a particular denomination. 
Our priests, whether of Buddhism, Shintoism, or of 
any other " isms," do not possess any overwhelming 
power whatever over the living. Excepting the famous 
" Zen " sect of Buddhism, we only invite them to look 
after the dead. We need not register ourselves in our 
Temples and Shrines. Almost all the fundamental 
ideas of the old classic literature of Japan, apart from 
those influenced from that of Chinese, are so permeated 
with Buddhistic doctrines that even the study of the 
" Utai " — the popular series of our favourite songs — 
is almost tantamount to the actual study of Buddhism 
itself; the Utai songs being really the application of 
the Buddhistic principles to life. 
We love to read of some ancient warrior or Samurai 
loudly reciting Ihe Utai under cloud-flecked moonlight, 
as he rolls gaily towards his home, fan in hand, from 
some great banquet, when a certain political opponent 
of his rushes from ambush to murder him— but our 
tipsy warrior is still able skilfully and calmly to ward 
off the mortal blow without ceasing his chant, coming 
out, as it were, from the bottom of his lungs. 
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