New-York tribune., 1905-01-29
THE JAPANESE RIDDLE
Ofakurd-Kahu@o's Solution of It
No YeLIOzc Peril.
THE AWAKENING OF JAPAN By Oxak,Ira
hak1zo. Tall l6mo, pp. xiv 20. The Centur

called, has been solved for us so many times nv
recent writers that the interest in each new
book on the subject is getting to be one of conn
parison rather than Of enghtenment-Ho does
he put it? rather than, What is it? In the case
OF okakura-kakuza's little volume however. the
answer itself acquires a renewed interest he
cause the author is himself a japanese. writing
IN English, and seeking historically IN account
Tor the intellectual and moral forces that have
enabled the present generation of his people nv
adapting themselves TO the essential conditions
@ western civilization, to enter at once as a
hrst class power into the company of nations.
Inc aulhor is one Of the leading authorities
on the art OF Japan and a member of the I'M
perlaI Archaeological Commission AS sucb no
has been one OF the most influential promoters
Of the reactonary movement against the whole
s4-e introduction of Western art and manners
i IS Interesting. then. to note. Also how his
training and his opinions on art affect his noi,t
Of view when he comes TO write of an historical
movement Believing, he puts il, that with
a race as with an individual, it is not the accu-
mutation Of eXtraneOus knowledge but the reali-
zation Of the self within. that constitutes true
progress" he regards Asia, and not Europe as
the real source Of Japans strength and inspira-
ton Ia other words. he holds that Japan has
advanced not by means Of an initiative faculty
copying from the West whatever attracted her
eclectic culture through which she was enabled
10 choose what was best adapted to her needs
from the West and to make il her own as she
had formerly assimilated the best thought of the
East.
Mr.. Okakura-Kakuzo has prepared an able
brief for Japan in the book before US. With
few strong touches he tells the story of japanese
civilization. showing how his country has al
ways welcomed what was best in foreign
I'll
ever repened all attempts ar foreign physical
aggression. He traces the history of the three
schools Of japanese thought which united to
awaken his country from its long sleep under
the Tokugawa Shogunate. The first the Ko-
gaku. or school Of classic learning, taught her
10 inquire The second, the school Of Oyo1nei an |
advance the Neo-Confucianism Of Shiuki !
taught her to act The third. the historical |
school. lifting the veil from the shrouded CEN |
turies of the past and inaugurating the era Of
renaissance in japan taught her for what to |
act--those ancestral ideals Of the japanese |
race, simplicity and honesty. obedience to the /
ancestral rule vested in the person of the |
Mikado, and devotion to the ancestral land" |
The country was the point of responding to |
this voice from within when il was rudely dis /
turbed by Commodore Perry's voice from with !
out.
The rest of the story is modern history but |
Ile alIhOr throws some interesting SidelightS /
on the struggle between the boudoir and the
Cabinet In the final and futile struggle of the |
Tokugawa government Coming down to the
present day and looking forward into the fut-
Ure the author laughs at the suggestion of a
yellow peril" The great wall Of China, he de-
c1Ares, stands as monumental protest against
It's possibility. For twenty-one centuries il has
stood, mot only as a barrier against foreign en-
croachment but also the seIf-dehned terri
torial limit Of celestial ambition" This is all
very well, but the Illustration is hardly apt and
the great wall, under changed conditions might
vel prove TO be no stronger barrier to terri
toriaI expansion than it has been in the past TO
foreign encroachment- STILL it is true that
neither Japan nor China has ever exhibited the
nomadic instinct and is not likely to develop it |
now. AS the author remarks, This cry of a
yellow peril must. indeed, sound ironcal to the
Chinese, who through their traditional policy Of
non-resistance, are even suffering In the
throes Of the White Disaster! He continues:
i the wont Of history is to repeat itself II a
real peril is again threaten the world, il VIII
the rich valleys OF the HWang-Ho and the |
Nzgg-tse- Kiang. the terraced hsideS Of the
japanese archipelago 1t was from within the linn
its Of imperial Russia that in ancient times the |
oescer1ed with their lomadic hosts, over Europe
aHc Southern Asia II Is among the tall grasses
that TO the wind from the banks OF the |
AIlur 10 the foot OF the Ural Mountains mat the