The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-02-14
YESTERDAY AND
TODAY IN JAPAN
A Nation Dominated for Centuries by Military
Caste. Why the Japanese are
Gallant Fighters.

skill adorn the palaces of royalty and
the homes of merchant princes and cap
tains OF industry all over the world.
The origin of the Japanese race is
veiled i'll absolute mystery. Many vol.
umes have been written in efforts TO prove
the origin and trace the race N its ear
liest beginnings, but no theory yet dd-
vanced is complete and satisfactory to
the best critics. They are not Chinese, not
Indian, not Korean. not Monaghan. Per
haps they represent the survival OF the
fttest, as they evidently include some
compounds upon which the forces of time
and circumstances have operated. Their
history antedates the birth of Christ, and
their mythology goes back to the time
that their imperial family spraIAg from
/ the gods, and in their marvellous fertility
produced the race.
| Originally Japan was inhabited by race
called the Ainu. At some time in the
misty past, adventurous men from some
where, invaded southern Japan. and
pushed their conquest northward, driving
| the aborigines before them into the north
ern parts OF the country where few
still remain. The Ainu were not a stout
hearted people, and were totally unable
to resist the aggressive japanese. They
are remarkable now more on account OF
| the fact that they represent small rem
nant of a race surely becoming extinct.
The men never shave, and their mode OF
salutation is to stroke the beard with the
hand.
1t is not strange, as some suppose, that
the japanese are good fighters. Since be-
fore their history had begun to be re-
corded, the arts and science OF war have
been objects of first concern to their
rulers and statesmen. Up TO recent times
the people were divided into a number OF
clans OF more or less fighting strength
and influence. From the first We know
OF them up to about three hundred and
fifty years ago, these clans were engaged
in incessant wars on one another. and
again and again they have drenched the
soil of their country in the blood of rs
own people.
Society was originally divided into fou,
distinct classes. or castes. of which the
Samaurai, military, was chief, the rulers
the absolute lords of the country. Next
TO the soldiers in Importance and esteem
were the farmers; next to these were the
mechanics, and last and least and mean.
est were the merchants and traders.
(There was a small class of outcasts,
called Eta) To sell and get gain, es.
pecially to loan money and receive in
terest in those good old days in Japan,
were very disreputable. At the time OF
which / am speaking, about three hun
dred and fifty years ago when the Dutch
were in their zenith, those hardy mari
ners drove their ships around the Cape OF
Good Hope. beyond India. and on into
Japan, and established trading posts
there. Along with these enterprising ira
ders from Holland went the equally en-
terprising Jesuit missionaries. These mis-
sonaries nominally won whole provinces
in Japan to Christianity. Many Dutch
priests had gone to Japan. when Hide
yoshi. chief of one of the most powerful
clans. discovered, so he claimed that the
missionaries were conspiring TO bring
about the subjugaton of Japan by some
European power and raising the cry,
''Japan for Japanese" he united all
the clans in the one purpose to drive out
the missionaries and to utterly destroy
every vestige of Christianity in the coun-
try The Dutch priests Were ordered to
I leave and the time of departure limited
to a fixed day. Many of them refused
to go from their appointed work, and
these to a man suffered martyrdom. A
decree went forth strictly forbidding any
| japanese subject to worship the God Of
the Christians. Posters containing this de-
cree were put up all over the country
and also offering large rewards to inform
ers who should report anyone using the
Christian ritual The Japanese cC1verts
stood firm and refused TO deny their faith,
the result being that thousands of them
were beheaded. l have frequently stood
by little stone monument not more
than three feet high, black with age. In
the city of Nagoya that marks the spot
where one thousand Christians were be-
headed in single day for this reaso that
they refused to give up their Christian
faith, and some scraggy sprouts growing
up from the roots of a decayed catalUa.
tree nearby are pointed out as springine
from the roots of the old tree in whicI,
the headsman hung up his sword after
its bloody work had been finished. Less
han thirty years ago, sometime since Chris
tian missionaries were again permitted
to enter Japan, numbers Of these notices
| forbidding the people to worship the God
of the Bible were still standing. l have
seen some of them kept as souvenirs since
they were taken down by order or the
present Emperor. They were boards about
ane foot wide and two feet long on which
the decree was written in India ink. in
Chinese ideographic script. They We're
put upon posts and trees along the high
ways like signboards and advertisements
in this country. Having been exposed to
the weather for generations. the India
ink preserved the wood along the face
Of the letters. while the rest of the face
of the board was worn away by rain and
decay, leaving the letters raised like
characters which the blind read. In fact,