The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-11-22 00:00:00

JAPAN AND ITS PEOPLE,

In. London a lecture was delivered on Saturday night, In
the hall of the Society of Arts, by Sir. C. Pfoundes, /mere.
tary of the Nlpon Institute, Japan, the subject being "the
Far East; or, Japan and its People."
After adverting to the discovery of Japan, which he
said was called by the natives "Ni•Pon," and the
efforts made by the English Court to take advantage
of this discovery, the lecturer showed how the coun-
try had been clotted to Europeans in the sixteenth
century, owing to the misconduct of the Enroplans
themselves. The Japanese traced their history as
far back as 680 13 c, or about the date of the
foundation of Rome. At first human sacrifice was
common, but in process of time clay images
came to be substituted. Having briefly sketched the
Japanese mythology, the lecturer referred to the in.
troduction of Chinese literature into Japan, which
bad a strong Influence on their ethics and form of


government. The Japanese, however, were not mere
copyists of the Chinese; en the contrary, they modified
the Chinese mode of government to their own wants
and tastes. Generally, the ancient religion became
leavened with Buddhism, which was now the universal
religion of Japan. The Japanese are the most
energetic and progressive people of the East—a little
too much so, perhaps. There could be no doubt
that there was a great future before Japan;
it would not be a field for emigration, but men
of scientific attainments would reap great advan-
tages there. It was remarkable that among the
Japanese the artisan took preceeence of the trader,
the carpenter taking precedence of any other
olass of artisan. They all knew how much ad-
mired was the old Japanese lacquer work; but it
would perhaps surprise his audience to learn that
seeen•tenths of this class of work was executed by
ladies of noble origin. Such work would never again
be prodused in Japan. The Japanese are very tem-
perate, rise early, the first duty of the day being a
salaam and prayer to the ancient Ddity—not Buddha.
Eating is performed by precedence, as, for example,
the father takes his food before his wife, and so on
down to the " slavey " of the family. (A. laugh.)
Other peculiarities of this people were described by
the lecturer, and elicited much laughter. He showed
that "human nature," especially in the form of
female vanity, was much the same all the world
over. The Japanese were exceedingly apt at imita-
tion, hence they had borrowed many European
customs, especially our method of building houses.
Their pastimes were very harmless, gambling being
unknown except among the very lowest class. Again,
they were consummate actors, but the female part
was invariably performed by a young man. If a
Japanese should feel disposed to applaud an actor, he
does not clap his hands, after the fashion of an European,
but takes off his coat and throws it on the stage.
(Laughter.)
The lecturer concluded by giving a most interesting
description of the social relations of the Japanese,
which, he said, were very pure, and greatly to be ad-
mired in many respects.