The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-11-21
JAPANESE TIRED OF LIFE.
Jarikari Not So Popular as Hanging or
 Drowning Among Suicides.

Jarikari Not So Popular as Hanging or
 Drowning Among Suicides.
 MT. Kure Bunso, a Japanese statisti- elan. in d recent article contributed to the Far East, presents some remarkable figures on suicide in Japan, together with interesting comments on the causes. Tn Japan" he says, suicide is not considered a sin even from re- ligious point of view. The chief point
 in the teaching of Buddhism is future salvation, so that some ignorant men and women misapprehending the teach ing, try to escape from this world as soon as possible by self-murder in order to secure future happiness and peace. This mistaken idea, together with the influence of religion and the dauntess character of our people, tends to in crease the number of suicides. More over, there are noted men who have done good deeds who have died in this manner; hence people naturally come to think of suicide as manly way of dying. rather than as an act of coward ice and shame It appears from the tables that during the five years, 1s9O-4 inclusive, the average number of sui cides among male Japanese was 4,606 per annum, and among the women 2, S22,4, the combined ratio being 1S1 per million. In Germany and France 25 per cent. of the suicides are women but in Japan the percentage is 3S, and MT Bunso quaintly explains this as owing to the situation in which our women are placed and also to their intellectual ability" In the years under review 14,- 799 men and 6,1SS women hanged them selves; 5,269 men and 6S25 women drowned themselves; 1,2S4 men and 597 women performed "the happy dispatch" with knives or swords: 300 men and 32 women shot themselves; 266 men and 131 women took poison, and 1,072 men and $40 women killed themselves in miscellaneous fashion, July in partic- ular, and the summer months in gene ral, are preferred-as in Europe-by Japanese suicides.
 Most curious, however, are the causes of suicide. These are exhaustively classified, and a careful analysis shows that 10,049 of the men and 6,7S2 of the women committed suicide through madness or alteration of mind;" 533S men and 10S6 women through distress or grief regarding means of living, or some misfortune;" 261o men and 1,674 women through bodily suffering sicknessl;" 7S1 men and 1,107 women through love and affection;" 1,036 men and 36S women through ''remorse and 1 shame;" All men and 66S women | through disagreement with family, anxiety for the future; 221 men and 261 women through weak mindedness; ? 261 men and 34 women through fear of the discovery of crime and punish ment;" 120 men and 95 women through melancholy" 33 men and 36 women 1 through distress for misconduct of husband or son;'' 20 men and 2S women through grief for death of parent or husband or wife" etc; men and $50 women throug& "censure of parent or employer" men and 3S women "on account of divorce;" 3 men and 76 wo- men through "seduction;" IS men and 21 females lon account of physical de- fects;" men and AS women through dislike of marriage;' 327 men and 237 women through "other causes" and l 1 1,467 men and 5S6 women for unknown reasons"
 | The ages of these suicides is thus re- corded: Under sixteen years, 474 males, 4S5 females 1920 years 4,721 males, B. S59 females; 20-3O years 4,721 males, B. 396 females; 3040 years, 3,964 males D. GOA females; 40-50 years, 4,145 males, L. l 767 females; over 50 years. S652 males, 4,592 females: of uncertain age, 67 males, 19 females.
 These figures give food for reflection. Shakespeare's dictum that none has ever died of love certainly does not ap- ply to Japan. It would seem that the Japanese women bear bodily suffering better than men, that they are more af- fectionate, they do not feel remorse and shame so keenly as men, that they are less criminal or, possibly less fearful of l the consequences, that they are less weak minded that disagreements with their families affect them more deeply, that debts and loss of fortune sit more l lightly on them, that they are less mel ancholy, except when the misconduct of their husbands and sons is concerned; that they sorrow more for the dear dead, that they feel censure more strongly; that the woes of marriage de jure and de facto and the dread possi- bilities of marriage come home to them with deadlier effect, that they are vain- CT or more sensitive than men, and that they are not SD well able to keep secret | +I, o;, fo, IT. Sc, l to find no fewer than 166 men over 50 years of age killing themselves on ac- count of family squabbles Generally speaking, female suicides are more ire quent in youth and male suicides in mature age.-London Daily News.
 WELCOMING AN OLD FRIEND.
 We welcome him once more. We are glad to see him come up smiling again