The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-02-20

paid the stipulated price, in produce, he was
Such was the land tenure up
to 1868; since that time the feudal institu-
tons have been abolished, the land tenure
has been changed, and the land has been
Sold ard IS held in fee simple. This great
reform las infinitely bettered the condition
of the farmer. About three-tenths of all
titled land is now in the possession of small
proprietors, the balance being held in larger
divisions.
Society was there, as elsewhere in Asia,
essentially patriarchal. The pater fan'ilias
had almost unlimited control over all the
members of the family. The whole course
of the life of a child was marked out, shaped, |
and controlled by the father. Marriages |
were entirely within his authority. No son |
or daughter, no matter Of what age, could |
leave the paternal roof without the parental |
consent. Among the lower classes daughters |
were sold by their parents to be concubines, |
or to be trained as singing or dancing girls,
or for grossly immoral purposes,o or they were
mortgaged for a term of years to labor.
When girl left the house Of her parents,
and entered another as a wife or cOncubine
all the allegiance due to her parents was
transferred to her husband or master, and
his parents. She could be divorced and
sent away from her children at the will of
her husband and his family. This is now
much deviated from in practice, and the
new law soon to be promulgated will essen
TALLY change the custom. Much of the
power of the patey .fanoiiias has been done
away with, but his authority is still incOm-
parably greater than in any Western society.
The religion of Imperial families is Shin
tooism, or the worship of the Empire
through its heroes and great men. That of
the great mass of the people is Buddhism
not that of India, but a system grated upon
| the original pagan worship, and retaining
much of the gross superstition of the latter.
| The common people believe not only in the
Buddhist deities, but also in the demons and
evil spirits of paganism. These religious
| beliefs and superstitions affect directly the
condition of the laboring classes. The be-
| lief in Shrine-cure prevails everywhere with
them. The result is, large number of
| blind and diseased persons who, if they had
| been properly indicated in time, would be
| healthy producers instead of burdens upon
| society. Large numbers of children, when
| sick, are carried to the favorite Shrine in
stead of to the doctor and thus mortality
and the number of physicaily-weak persons
are largely increased.
This Shrine-cure consists in bathing dis
seased parts in little dirty water kept at
the temples. The priesthood, although less
than formerly is still mighty power with
|
and temples, although materially reduced is
still immense and most oppressive burden
to the people (this in 188O). Farther on
it will be learned how rapid are the changes
for good III Japan.
The education of the higher classes was
in former times Chinese. The literature,
philosophy, and science Gf there can be
said there was any true science} were all
Chinese.
1t is safe to say that among these higher
classes there was no iIliteracy; all could
read and write. Nearly all of the other
classes, although not learned, could also
read and write enough for their bushes;
purposes. There were, of course, exception:
but of the male farmers and artizans no
ten per cent. were illiterate.
Schools were to be found in tie large
towns of the provinces and in many of thu
smaller villages.
Where schools were not available, reading
and writing were, in some measure laugh
that what is denominated, education her
is not education in the sense the term i
used in Europe and America especially il
recent times.
The most highly educated man in japan
knew some thousands of Chinese characters
A few books of the Chinese classics, tn
books of ceremonies and some of the truism
and proverbs of the Chinese saints, ant
, could write impromptu poetry in Chimes
characters. He had absolutely no knowl
edge of anything worthy the name of science
! in art he might paint and draw
The lower classes, instead of the Chimes
culture, knew just enough arithmetic t
, serve their daily use, and could read ant
write in japanese characters. There wa
some knowledge of Japanese history, mixet
up with the marvellous, CLEANED from book
, or travelling stOry-teller, who on the road
side, recited to gaping crowds the stories o
+ the wars and amours of the olden days.
The old system of education has been re
a modelled since 1868, public schools hav
established, and scientific text books from
Europe and America have been TRANSLATED
E and brought into use. Probably the per
centage of illiteracy has not been much re
duced by these reforms, but the scientific
learning of the West has largely taken tn
, place of the useless proverbs and the super
stition of the East. 1t is safe to say that a
the present rate of educational progress
, another decade will see a useful education
, | within reach of every Japanese laborer
The report of the Minister of Educa ton TO
, | 1879 shows:
No. of Elementary ........25, 459
No. of Teachers.
School Population. .5,2Sl,S07
Scholars. 2,O66,o66
? The per cent of scholars to school popu
t lation therefore seems to be about 1913
l There are $50 schools of a higher grade wit
e go teachers, and 7949 scholars. There exis
t also two universities. The whole amour
t Of school expenditures as shown in the re
t port was 5,374,870 yen of which 2,640, GO
\ were paid IN salaries, the salary of eac
| teacher being an average of 4472 ven pc