# Japan: Its History, Arts, and Literature/Volume 5/Appendix

Appendix
Appendix
Note 1.—This operation should be called more properly a reversion to gold monometallism. The currency system, established by Japanese financiers at the beginning of the Meiji era was based on the gold standard, the unit being the gold yen a coin worth four shillings, in round numbers. But, in the first place, Japan's stock of gold was soon driven out of the country by her depreciated fiat currency, and, in the second, as all other Oriental nations were silver-using, and as the silver Mexican dollar was the unit of accounts in Far-Eastern trade, Japan ultimately drifted into silver monometallism, the silver yen becoming her unit of currency. So soon, however, as the indemnity that she received from China after the war of 1894–1895 had placed her in possession of a stock of gold, she determined to revert to the gold standard. Mechanically speaking, the operation was very easy. Gold having appreciated so that its value in terms of silver had exactly doubled during the first thirty years of the Meiji era, nothing was necessary except to double the denominations of the gold coins in terms of yen, leaving the silver subsidiary coins unchanged. Thus the old 5-yen gold piece, weighing 2.22221 momme of 900 fineness, became a 10-yen piece in the new currency, and a new piece of half the weight was coined. No change whatever was required in the reckonings of the people. The yen continued to be their coin of account, with a fixed sterling value of a little over two shillings, and the denominations of the gold coins were doubled. Gold, however, is little seen in Japan: the whole duty of currency is done by notes.
Note 2.—The amounts include the payments made in connection with what may be called the disestablishment of the ​Church. There were 29,805 endowed temples and shrines throughout the Empire, and their estates aggregated 354,481 acres, together with 1,750,000 bushels of rice (representing 2,500,000 yen). The Government resumed possession of all these lands and revenues at a total cost to the State of a little less than 2,500,000 yen, paid out in pensions spread over a period of fourteen years. The measure sounds like wholesale confiscation. But some extenuation is found in the fact that the temples and shrines held their lands and revenues under titles which, being derived from the feudal chiefs, depended for their validity on the maintenance of feudalism.
Note 3.—This sum represents interest-bearing bonds issued in exchange for fiat notes, with the idea of reducing the volume of the latter. It was a tentative measure and proved of no value.
Note 4.—Japan's fleet at the time of the war consisted of comparatively small vessels, the largest being three coast-defence ships of 4,278 tons. She captured from China an armour-clad of 7,335 tons,—the first line-of-battle ship in her navy. Her post-bellum fleet now includes six first-class battleships, ranging from 12,500 to 15,000 tons, approximately; six first-class cruisers of 9,200 tons; nine second-class cruisers, ranging from 3,700 to 4,800 tons; ten third-class cruisers, ranging from 3,300 tons, etc.
Note 5.—Japan suffers severely from inundations. It has been estimated that the average annual loss from this source does not fall short of 19,000,000 yen. In 1887 an extensive scheme of riparian improvement was undertaken. It involved a total expenditure of 26,000,000 yen of which 6,000,000 had been expended when the war with China broke out.
Note 6.—All Japan's domestic loans are now placed on a uniform basis. They carry five per cent interest, run for a period of five years without redemption, and are then redeemed within fifty years at latest. The Treasury has competence to expedite the operation of redemption according to financial convenience, but the sum expended on amortisation each year must receive the previous consent of the Diet. Within the limit of that sum redemption is effected either by purchasing the stock of the loans in the open market or by drawing lots to determine the bonds to be paid off. Perhaps a more suggestive idea may ​be furnished of Japan's finance during the Meiji era by noting that, owing to processes of conversion, consolidation, etc., and to various requirements of the State's progress, twenty-two different kinds of national bonds were issued from 1870 to 1896; that they aggregated 673,215,500 yen; that 269,042,198 yen of that total had been paid off at the close of 1897, and that the remainder will be redeemed, according to the present programme, by 1946.
Note 7.—Income tax is payable, not only by Japanese subjects, but also by all persons having a domicile in Japan, or having resided there for more than one year. The minimum taxable income is 300 yen (£30) annually, and the rate for such an income is one per cent. As the income increases, so does the rate, up to a limit of five and one half per cent, which is paid by persons having an income of 100,000 yen (£10,000) or upward. There is a business tax which is levied on various branches of business; as, sales of merchandise, banking, insurance, warehousing, manufacturing, printing, photography, transportation, restaurants, hotels, factors, and brokers. When levied on the amount of mercantile transactions, it is 1/2000 for wholesale dealers and 3/2000 for retail dealers. In other cases, it is levied at the rate of 2/1000 capital engaged, or at the rate of from two per cent to six per cent on the rental value of the buildings employed. When a business is carried on partly in a foreign country and partly in Japan, only the capital used in Japan is liable to tax. The taxes on vehicles and saké do not call for any special notice. Stamp-duties and registration fees are also collected.
Note 8.—The efficiency of money has greatly increased, of course, during recent years. Thus whereas, in 1873, there were only half a dozen banks with a total capital of six thousand pounds, and aggregate loans of the same amount, approximately, the number at the close of 1899 was 2,296, with a total capital of 49,500,000 sterling and loans aggregating 267,000,000. In 1873 sums deposited by individuals in banks amounted to 500,000; in 1892, they aggregated 33,000,000. In 1887, the year after the establishment of clearing-houses in Tōkyō and Ōsaka, the clearances aggregated less than 3,000,000 sterling; in 1899, they totalled over 129,000,000.
​Note 9.—The tariff was fixed originally on a basis of ten per cent duty on imports, but in 1865 Japan consented, under heavy pressure and even armed menace, to reduce the rate to five per cent. This, too, was only nominal, for the conversion of ad valerem duties into specific was managed in such a manner that the sum actually levied on imports did not average as much as two and a half per cent of their value at the port of shipment.
Note 10.—This idea was founded partly on the inferior stature and weight of the Japanese. The average height of the adult male Japanese, according to Dr. E. Baelz, the best authority on the ethnography of Japan, is 5 ft. 2+$^1$⁄$_2$ in., and that of the adult female, 4 ft. 8+$^1$⁄$_3$ in. Thus the male in Japan is about as tall as the female in Europe. The weight of the male is 150 lbs. in the lower orders, and from 140 to 145 lbs. in the upper (against an average weight of 188 lbs. in Europe); the woman weighs from 122 to 125 lbs. It will be convenient to set down here some salient facts as to the physical structure and properties of the people, following always the authority of Dr. Baelz. The Japanese grows only eight percent of his stature from the time of puberty, whereas the European grows thirteen per cent. The bulk of the people are strong. The upper classes are comparatively weakly, but the lower are robust and muscular. In the matter of weight, as well as in that of height, development ceases sooner in the Japanese than in the European. The head is large, the face and torso are long, the legs short. Indeed, the length of the torso and the shortness of the legs are so marked as to constitute a race characteristic. In a European the length of the leg from the trochanter to the ground is more than one-half of the length of the body; in the Japanese it is distinctly less. The face, in consequence of the low bridge of the nose, is less prominent than that of the European, and appears to be broader, but is not really so. The forehead is low; the vertical distance between the tip of the nose and the upper lip, very small. The mouth is sometimes small and shapely, but frequently it is large and the teeth are prognathous. The eye is always dark, generally of a fine brown. It seems to be oblique, but the obliquity is due to the position of the lids. Further, the upper lid is ​almost a direct continuation of the skin of the forehead, instead of being recessed under the eyebrow, as is the case in Europeans. The cheeks are broad and flat; the chin, narrow; the legs are often crooked and graceless, especially in women; the calves are strongly developed; the ankles thick; the feet broad; the arms, hands, and neck remarkably graceful; the skin is light yellow, often not darker than that of southern Europeans, but sometimes as dusky as that of the Singhalese. The Japanese belong to the least hirsute of the human species. Their hair is black and straight. It turns grey at the age of forty-five to fifty, but baldness is comparatively rare. Dr. Baelz concludes that the finer type of the Japanese came from the borders of the Euphrates and Tigris, and that they belonged to the same stock as the Egyptians.
Note 11.—The number of these students had reached two hundred by the middle of 1901.
Note 12.—The highest rate of subscription to a daily journal is twelve shillings per annum, and the usual charge for advertisements is from sevenpence to one shilling per line of twenty-two ideographs (about nine words).
Note 13.—The total local expenditures area little over 40 million yen annually. They increased from 25 millions to 40 millions in a period of five years (1895-1899), but the increase is not an evidence of extravagance in administration, as 11 millions of it was devoted to useful public works, and nearly 2 millions to education. Revenue to meet these outlays is derived from five taxes,—land-rate (13+$^1$⁄$_3$ millions), house-tax (5+$^1$⁄$_3$ millions), business tax (2+$^3$⁄$_4$ millions), and miscellaneous tax (3+$^1$⁄$_2$ millions). A large sum is obtained from property owned by the local administrations, and the Central Treasury grants aids to the extent of 4+$^1$⁄$_2$ million yen. The system of local taxation is complicated, but, speaking generally, two kinds of impost have to be paid, first, a prefectural tax, and, secondly, a town or district tax. Some of the local taxes are levied on the basis of the national tax—in which case the former must not exceed a certain fixed fraction of the latter; some are levied independently, as taxes on houses, vehicles, and draft-animals. A marked distinction is made between vehicles or animals kept for hire and those maintained by private individ- ​uals, and the same principle of graduation observed in the case of the income tax is applied to the house tax, so that the burden decreases rapidly as the poorer classes are reached.
Note 14.—The mayor of a town (shicho) is nominated by the Minister of State for Home Affairs from among three men chosen by the town assembly.
Note 15.—The number of police-offices in the Empire (including Formosa) is 13,821, and the total number of police officials of all grades, 32,910, or 1 for every 1,421 of the population. The police force has been increased by 4,591 during the past five years, but of that increment the newly organised force for Formosa represents 2,934. There are 365 tribunals of justice, presided over by 1,201 judges with the assistance of 471 public procurators and 5,987 clerks. It has been complained that the number of tribunals and their personnel are not sufficient to discharge the business coming before them. The criticism is probably just, but statistics show that the courts perform their functions rapidly, for in 1897—the latest year included in the published records—they dealt with 313,571 cases altogether, namely, 7,654 appeals and 133,472 first-instance cases, in civil suits; 8,507 questions of conciliation; and 8,723 appeals, and 155,215 first-instance or magisterial cases, in criminal matters.
Note 16.—Ichikawa's view has been ably summarised by Sir Earnest Satow. He sets out by declaring that all unwritten traditions must be considered unworthy of belief, not only because they rest on the very fallible testimony of memory and hearsay, but also because the most striking, and therefore the most improbable, stories are precisely those most likely to be thus preserved. He then goes on to show that, on the most favourable hypothesis, the art of writing did not become known in Japan until a thousand years had separated the reign of the first mortal ruler from the compilation of the first manuscript record. He conjectures that "Amaterasu" was a title of comparatively modern invention. He contends that no cosmogony can be credible which makes vegetation antecedent to the birth of the sun. He declares unhesitatingly that the claim of sun-genesis was probably invented by the earliest Mikado for political purposes. He denies that the gods in heaven make any ​racial distinctions, geographical conditions being alone responsible for such accidents. He refuses to accept any arithmetic of years when the calculators were men without cyclical signs or assisting script, and he concludes by declaring that if the ancestors of living men were not human beings, they arc more likely to have been animals or birds than gods,—by which last proposition he seems to indicate a belief in progressive evolution.
Note 17.—This remarkable scholar and philosopher was born in 1730 and died in 1801. He is justly regarded by his countrymen as the greatest interpreter of their ancient faith. The brief review of his opinions given in the text is a summary of Sir Earnest Satow's analysis of his works in "The Revival of Pure Shintō."
Note 18.—Hirata Atsutane.
Note 19.—Being constructed of wood, the buildings are so perishable that instead of resorting to a process of constant repair, new edifices are erected, on an alternate site, every second decade.
Note 20.—The offerings varied, more or less, but generally included a bow, a sword, a mirror, a silk baldachin, "bright cloth, glittering cloth, fine cloth, and coarse cloth," saké jars, sweet herbs and bitter herbs, "things narrow of fin and wide of fin," etc., all of which, to use the language of the ritual, were "piled up like ranges of hills."
Note 21.—These funeral orations often rise to heights of remarkable pathos, dignity, and beauty, and are read aloud by the chief priest in a manner at once simple and impressive.
Note 22.—The language of these rituals is sometimes full of fervour and eloquence.
Note 23.—Compare Mr. Alfred Wallace's account of the young lady's "double," inspected with a phosphorus lamp and afterwards embraced by a fellow of the Royal Society.
Note 24.—Closely resembling the "Pottergeist" of the Germans, and having some affinities with the "Pixies" of Anglo-Saxondom.
Note 25.—From tori (a bird) and i (to rest, or perch).
Note 26.—Thousands of these miniature shrines are to be seen in the rice-fields or in the vicinity of hamlets. They are erected in honour of the Spirit of Food. As to the name ​"Inari," it is said by some sinologues to be that of a place, but the general belief in Japan makes it a contraction of ine-ninai or the rice-carrier. The fox is supposed to be an agent of the god; hence the stone foxes usually placed near the shrine.
Note 27.—Mr. Percival Lowell has published a delightfully written volume on this subject.
Kokoro dani
Makoto no michi ni Kanainaba, Inorazu totemo Kani ga mamoran
That is the code of Shintō ethics as summed up in the tenth century by Fujiwara no Michizane, the deity Tenjin of subsequent eras.
Note 29.— "The Revival of Pure Shintō," Satow, in the Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Japan.
Note 30.—It was believed that man depended on the wind for his breath.
Note 31.—The Terrestrial Deities ruled over the "Unseen." They were the god O-kuni-nushi (who yielded the sovereignty of Japan to Ninigi), and his consort Suberi-hime. On them devolved the direction of everything that could not be ascribed to a definite author: as the tranquillity of the State, its prosperity, and the lives and fortunes of its people.
Note 32.—Hirata Atsutane in "The Revival of Pure Shintō," Satow.
Note 33.—"The Spirits of the dead," writes Hirata Atsutane in the Tama no Mihashira, "continue to exist in the unseen world, which is everywhere about us. They all become gods of varying character and degrees of influence. Some reside in temples built in their honour; others never leave their tombs. They continue to render services to their princes, wives, and children, as when in the body." Elsewhere he says: "You cannot hope to live more than a hundred years under the most favourable circumstances, but as you will go to the Unseen Realm of O-kuni-nushi after death and be subject to his rule, learn betimes to bow down before him."
Note 34.—The final use to which these pieces of wood were put is curious. They had to be exchanged every half ​year for new fragments, and the old were employed to light the fire under a bath for the virgin priestesses that danced at the festival of purification.
Note 35.—A hare, desiring to cross from a mid-ocean island to the mainland, taunted the sea-sharks by alleging that its tribe numbered more than theirs. By way of practical test, it invited them to range themselves in line between shore and shore. That done, the hare, jumping from back to back and professing to count as it leaped, reached its desired destination. But ultimately conceit prompted it to jeer before its feet were fairly planted on dry land, and by the last shark in the line its skin was torn off. As it lay writhing and weeping, a band of deities approached. The elder brothers of O-kuni-nushi (the terrestrial ruler of Japan), they were journeying to pay court to Princess Yakimi of Inaba, whom they all loved. Observing the hare's misery, they bade it bathe in the brine of the sea and lie thereafter exposed to sun and wind, by which unkindly prescription the animnal's sufferings were doubled. Presently O-kuni-nushi, who had been degraded by his brothers to the position of baggage-carrier, came along bearing his burden. He told the unhappy hare to wash in the fresh water of the river and roll its body in the pollen of the sedges; and being thus restored, it promised that he, not his brothers, should win the princess, which so fell out.
Note 36.—This is a complete answer to the shallow critics who allege that love, in the Occidental sense of the term, is not known in Japan. Hope of finding beyond the grave the union which in life circumstances forbid, is responsible for suicides so numerous that the theory of these critics becomes mere silliness.
Note 37.—Motoori Motonaga, the celebrated exponent of "Pure Shintō" in the eighteenth century endorses the above view which has here been arrived at by direct comparison of Chinese philosophy and Japanese history. He says that the ethics enumerated by the Sages of China may be reduced to two simple rules: "Take other people's territory and hold it fast when you've got it," and he distinctly attributes to the influence of Chinese learning the contumacy shown toward the Mikado in the middle ages by the Hōjō, the Ashikaga, and others. He ​might have greatly extended his list and carried it back much farther.
Note 38.—It may be accepted as a historical fact that eight names instituted by the Emperor Temmu at the close of the seventh century corresponded pretty closely with our modern idea of titles of nobility. For example, members of the Kwobetsu who became governors of provinces, received the name Mabito. Members of the same tribe hitherto called Omi were thenceforth designated A-son; others previously called Muraji became Suku-ne and so on.
Note 39.—The chief Shintō official at the great shrine in Izuma claims to be the eighty-second descendant in a direct line from the deity Susano-o.
Note 40.—The five negative precepts were, not to kill, not to be guilty of dishonesty, not to be lewd, not to speak untruth, not to drink intoxicants; the ten virtues were, to be kind to all sentient beings, to be liberal, to be chaste, to speak the truth, to employ gentle and peace-making language, to use refined words, to express everything in a plain, unexaggerated manner, to devote the mind to moral thoughts, to practise charity and patience, and to cultivate pure intentions.
Note 41.—In this stage he passed to the consideration of the four verities, the twelve-linked chain of causation, the four aspirations, and the six transcendental virtues.
Note 42.—The Tendai (Heavenly command) Sect, founded by Dengyo Daishi in 805 A. D., under Imperial auspices. It had its chief headquarters at the celebrated monastery of Hiyei-zan.
Note 43.—It was from this time that Shintō and Buddhism became commingled into the form of creed known as Ryobu-Shintō.
Note 44.—Fate, with its proverbial irony, decreed that the monastery where this unworldly and meditative sect had its headquarters should have a history resonant with the clash of arms. The monks of Hiyei-zan became, from an early date, a community of soldiers.
Note 45.—Lloyd's "Developments of Japanese Buddhism," a work of high value to students of this subject.
Note 46.—This sect received much patronage from the ​Imperial Court, as well as from the Tokugawa Shōguns. The great temple, Zojō-ji, which stands among the Tokugawa Mausolea in Shiba, belongs to the Jōdo-shu (Shu-sect).
Note 47.—Shin-shu, called also Montō-shu (Sect of gate-disciples), and Ikko-shu (Undivided sect), founded by Shinran in 1224 A. D.
Note 48.—Statistics compiled in 1790 show that there were then 469,934 temples in Japan, of which 140,884 belonged to the Spirit Sect (Shin-shu) ; 140,020 to the Pure Land Sect (Jōdo-shu), and 33,020 to the Nichiren Sect, the other sects having comparatively small numbers.
Note 49.—These doctrines, as expounded by responsible heads of the sect, are fully set forth in the "Annales du Musée Guimet" (1880).
Note 50.—"The Doctrines of Nichiren;" compiled by the Right Virtuous Abbot Kobayashi; translated by Messrs. K. Tatsumi and F. H. Balfour.
Note 51.—Near Tōkyō. The festival takes place in October.
Note 52.—Rokkon shōjo, prayer for the purification of the six senses,—eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and spirit. Out of the colourlessness of the Shintō of Motoori and Haruta a sect grew which enjoys some influence to-day, the Tenri-kyo, with its twelve hymns and dances and its faith-cures.
Note 53.—Some strange admissions were made to the Shintō pantheon which had grown too large to be accurately controlled. The grave of a wrestler (Narihira) in Yedo came to be mistaken for that of the famous poet of the same name, and litterateurs constantly worshipped there. A groom called Koraku, a criminal called Nezu, and more than one notorious malefactor received apotheosis from the ignorant multitude on account of legends associated with their memories.
Note 54.—The State grants a sum of 216,000 yen annually for the support of Shintō shrines, and extends no aid whatever to Buddhism.
Note 55.—The use of sakaki (Cleyera Japonica) is referred to the sylvan method of worship practised in the earliest times. A space surrounded by thick trees constituted the hall of rites. The trees were called a "sacred fence" (himorori), and it seems ​probable that strips of the cloth offered to the deities were hung from the branches. Thus, even after a shrine had been built to receive the divine insignia (the mirror, the sword, and the jewel), a bough of sakaki with white pendants (go-hei) continued to be included in the paraphernalia of the ceremony of worship.
Note 56.—It might be supposed that many Emperors would have received this distinction. But among the hundred and twenty-eight sovereigns that have sat on the throne of Japan, two only—Ojin and Kwammu—are thus honoured. On the other hand, great subjects have been deified much more frequently: for example, Sugawara no Michizane (Temman), Kusunoki Masashige (Minatogawa), Tokugawa Iyeyasu (Tōsho), Hideyoshi the Tōiko (Toyokuni), etc.
Note 57.—Daijin-gu (Ise); Tai-sha (Izumo); Hachiman-gu (Kyōtō); Temman-gu (Hakata); Inari (Kyōtō); Kasuga (Nara); Atago (Kyōtō); Kompira (Sanuki); Suiten-gu (Tōkyō), and Suwa (Shinano).
Note 58.—It is not absolutely correct to speak of a Shintō minister as a "priest." He is called Shinkwan, which signifies rather a "Shintō official."
Note 59.—Mr. Percival Lowell, in "Occult Japan," gives lengthy and picturesque accounts of these and other cognate performances. They are called Kami-waza or deeds of the deities.
Note 60.—The supposed effect is that the germs of the caries are expelled from the patient's ear.
Note 61.—Thus a woman speaks of "water" as o-hiya (the honourable cold thing), rather than as mizu, because the latter word implies separation. Again, the old word for "rice," shine, has been changed into yone, because the former signifies also "death;" and for the same reason "four persons" are alluded to as yottari, not as shinin.
Note 62.—A fisherman who was transported to the submarine castle of the dragon king, where he lived unconscious of the flight of time.
Note 63.—A Chinese Merlin, who ate the sacred fruit of longevity.
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