The Savannah morning news., 1904-03-17
KNIGHTS OF JAPAN.
Curious Beliefs and Strange Customs
of the Warrior Class.
From the London Express.

Curious Beliefs and Strange Customs
of the Warrior Glass.
From the London Express.
An English naval officer, fresh from
the Far East, was talking about the
officers Of the Japanese navy:
Excellent little chaps" he said,
keen as mustard. They were always
at it, always anxious to learn. The
only thing about them was that when
they thought you weren't looking they
would pick up things you had not
shown them and try to find out the
secret"
If those Japanese officers had known
it they would have gone to the ends
of the earth to remove so dubious an
impression, for in the traditions of the
Japanese fighting class honor is more
than life. "Bushido," their code of
honor, was the religion of the Sam
urai. Literally translated, the word
'samuraf' means military knight
ways, the path the fighting man must
tread in his daily life as we'll as in
his vocation.
All this came nominally to an end
with the downfall of the feudal sys-
tenn in 1870. The samurai-the knight
ly class between the mobiles and the
plebeians-ceased to exist as an ex-
elusive caste after the edict prohib
iting the wearing of swords. They
began to intermarry with the plebe-
ians and to engage in trade. Bushido
was no longer the only rule of life,
providing for all its shifting changes.
Chivalry-which is class privilege at
its best-could not live in a demo-
cratic atmosphere.
Every Japanese. be he noble or
plebeian, must now serve his term in
the army. Nor are the officers an ex-
elusive caste, for promotion is open to
every man who will take the trouble
to earn it. But it happens in the Jap
anese army as it happens in the Eng
lish and the German-while every pri-
Vate soldier is free to become an Off
GER, the great bulk of the officers do,
as a mater of fact, come from a re-
stricted section. In England it is the
upper and upper middle class; in ia
pan it is the samurai-samurai still,
whatever the edicts and the constitu-
tons may say.
"GhOst of Our Fathers"
And, in the very fiber of their be-
ing, the traditions of Bushido remain.
Those who are not less than thirty
five years old were taught it at their
mothers knee, and many of the young
er men. coming of the same warrior
stock, are imbued with the principles
of the code.
VIII these principles count for any
thing in battle, should the trouble with
Russia end in war? Native enthusiasts
think they will, DR.. Nitobe, who has
written a wonderful little exposition
of Japanese thought, ("Bushido, the
Soul of Japan,") protests against the
assertion that Japan beat the Chinese
by means of Murata guns and Krupp
cannon. mo! What won the battles
on the Yalu, in, Korea, and Manchu-
ria was the ghosts of our fathers, guild
ing our hands and beating in our
hearts. They are not dead. those
ghosts, the spirits of our warlike an
cestors. Scratch a Japanese of the
most advanced ideas, and he will show
a samurai."
The samurai began his training at
very tender age. Young children were
sent among utter strangers with mes
sages to deliver: they were made to
rise before the sun. and to walk TO
their teachers with bare feet in the
cold of winter: small boys were taken
to see executions. and sent back alone
to the place by night, to leave mark
on the decapitated head. Sometimes
they were made to go without food,
and taught that a samurai should not
be ashamed to be hungry. Self-con-
troll, courage, fortitude, loyalty were
the cardinal virtues.
Every samurai counted it plain
duty to sacrifice himself for his lord.
Nickname, one of the greatest charac-
tiers of Japanese history, was exiled
from the capital, and his enemies pr
dered the killing of his son, known to
be secreted in a village school kept
by Genzo, one of his vassals. Genzo's
instant idea is to provide a substi-
tute for the desired head. A new
scholar is announced. and behold he
is of the same age and appearance as
Michizane's son. He is beheaded, the
deception is not discovered, and as
The poor lads father returns home he
says to his wife: Rejoice, my wife,
our darling son has proved of service
to his lord"
Graded in War.
The young samurai was taught
fencing, archery, jiujitsu (clutching
such part of the enemy's body as will
make him numb and incapable of re-
sistance), horsemanship, the use of the
spear, tactics, caligraphy, ethics, liter
allure and history.
He was not to think of money; ig-
norance of the value of different coins
was token of good breeding. He was
taught to forgive injuries, but he was
also taught to hold his honor sacred,
and to defend it at all times and at ali
hazards. To win honor and to avoid
shame the samurai would go to any
lengths.
Naturally the man with a sword
and Quixotic notions of honor was not
always as gentle as he might be with
those who assailed that honor. A citi-
zen called the attention of a Bushi
to flea jumping on his back. Forth
with the Bushi cut him in two, and
afterward explained his reason by a