Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-09
RHYTHM IN JAPANESE LIFE.
Reason for Japan's Triumph is Nation
Knows the Value of Harmony.

From the London Monthly Review
The beneficial results of training whole
nation for a thousand years to rhythmic
constituencies" are vividly revealed In the
present Russo-Japanese conflict, AYERS MI.
Arthur Somervell. an English writer. II
Japan Is triumphing over her unWle!dly en-
envy, he argues, it is because she has learn
ed in the truest sense, the meaning OF mar
money. He says further:
THE Japanese for centuries have MADE
music, poetry and rhythmic motion-the
Greek music in fact-the first factor in the
education of youth. Kakast Okakura In
Ideals of the East writing of the Chinese
in their great days (and how great time
this was and what it meant, and still
means, the future alone can show, tells
how the influences which made China
passed on to the happy inlands in gentler
waves, and often without the violence or
war and confusion which marked their i'm
pact on the Chinese civilization. He says
Gas far back as SEQ B. c.: The supreme
canon of life was the self-sacrifice of the
individual to the community and art was
priced for its service to the moral needs OF
society. Music it is to be noted, was placed
in the highest rank. its special function be-
| ing to harmonic men with men, and COM
munities with communities The study or
music therefore. the first accomplish
ment of d Shu youth of gentle blood. There
are some who will recall in the life of Con-
| fucius not only the seven dialogues in which
| he dwells lovingly on its beauty, but also
the stories of his choosing to fast rather
| than forego the hearing of music; of his
| following child. on one occasion, who was
beating an earthen pot simply for the
| pleasure of watching the effect of the
| rhythm on the people; and finally OF his
! journey to the province of See tShantung)
| in the enthusiasm of his desire TO hear the
ancient chants which were then extant.
Ancient ballads were collected by the sage,
| by way of illustrating the manners of the
| Chinese Golden Age. when its songs fur
| nished the test by which the welfare or
| disagreement of province was to be de-
| termined.'
| And in Prof. Ntobe's fascinating little
| book, "Bushido," we read: I'm the prin-
| cipality of Satsuma, noted for its martial
spirit and education, the custom prevailed
| for young men to practice music; not the
| blast of trumpets or the beat of drums
those clamorous harbingerS of blood and
| th.-stirring us to initiate the actions
| of the tiger. but sad and plaintive melodies
| on the biwa, soothing our fiery spirits,
| drawing our thoughts away from scent of
| blood and scenes of carnage. He also tells
how the training to rhythmic expression in
language Is now so much an instinct with
| the people that it is quite common for
| soldier on the march to draw out his tab
| lets and write little poem on any passing
scene or thought. This is confirmed by
| Lafcadio Hearn Gin ''Glimpses of Unfa-
miliar Japan'), who states that on the pill
| grimages undertaken by the poorest, the
| pilgrim leaves a little sonnet behind at the
nightly resting place.
The author (Hearn) tells again how q
crowd of holiday folk, in walking on their
wooden sandals, often drop Intentionally
| into a rhythmic beat and how in a remote
| country district he saw a harvest dance
where, without organization or direction, a
| crowd of 800 or COO peasants formed them
selves in a few moments into revolving
wheels of dancers round central figure,
keeping the measure and peculiar steps for
hours through the night.
The book written some years ago,
| but 1t shows throughout that the author
considers that the feeling of the harmony
and rhythm in things has gone right into
| the souls and bodies Of the people, uncon-
| Plato predicts of musical training in the
child. when reason come he will welcome
her most cordially who can recognize her
| by the instinct of relationship, and because
he has been thus nurtured." And now all
| the world marvels at the unanimity of this
| people. In their apparently impossible task,
at the patriotism which has intensified the
| sacred flame that burns in the innermost
| holy place of every man In every nation: at
| the perfection of detail in their organiza-
| ton (and organization on this scale is a
| great imaginative EFFORT; at the self-re-
straint not only of the armies. but of the
people and even of the press; and of
| coruse. most of all, at the gigantic imagina-
| tive effort by which they have again as
| has happened before. surveyed the world
and, discriminating between principle and
| practice, deliberately appropriated all they
| wanted Of western science and methods and
| as deliberately rejected the rest quite UNI
dazzled and clear In their estimate as to
| cause and effect