The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-02-04

! from Korea; but the japanese do not
take kindly TO this theory.
The feudal system, of which I shall
/ speak more at length in another article,
J was early established in Japan, and
| society was divided into well defined
! classes. First came the members Of
/ the royal family and those admitted to
/ the circle of favor; next the Shotgun COT
/ whom more will be heard under the
| subject Of government and his reIa-
/ tives.
| Next in rank were the daimios, or
lords, Of varying degrees Of Importance
| Each daimiO had a large number of re-
! tainers, who were called samurai, and
! below these were a. still larger number
! Of peasants who titled the soil and did
/ the manual labor. Some of the early
pictures show the gorgeous dress of the
! daimiOs and portray the elaborate cere-
m0ny employed on state occasions.
! The Samurai were the warriors and
/ had no other occupation than to de-
! fend their lords in the struggles be-
tween the clans They corresponded to
/ the knights in Europe during the days
/ Of chivalry, except that there were no
| romantic adventures over WOmen-wo-
man holding until recently a very sub
| ordinate place as compared with her
/ lord and master"
The sanUrai were given on annual
allowance for their subsistence, and
felt that toll was far beneath their dig
nifty. They wore lacquered armOr and
| costly helmets and carried two swords
! "a long one for the enemy and a short
one for themselves.
1t was with this short sword that the
/ famous haTa-kiri was committed. This
encient form of suicide by disemboweI-
ment was considered a highly honora bic
! death, and has been practiced until
/ within q generation. General Saigo.
| one Of the great men of Japan, and
one of its popular heroes, was the last
! man Of prominence to terminate his life
| IN this way. He was one Of the leaders
1 IN the movement TO restore to the en-
/ peror the authority which the shoguns
/ had usurped, and was for awhile close
/ TO the throne. In 1874, however he or
! gan1zed an army for the invasion of
/ Korea, and coming in conflict with the
1 forces OF the empire, which were called
out 10 prevent the invasion, he was de-
! feaLed- In his humiliation he commit
ted hara-kiri A few years ago the
/ title Of marquis was conferred upon
/ him by pOsthumous decree, and is
| now enjoyed by his eldest son. One of
RS sons Is the present mayor of Kyoto
/ ana another a colonel in the imperial
gUard. A bronze monument Of heroic
size, the gift of admiring friends, has
recently been placed in the PRINCIPAL
! park in Toxic.
Only a few yeCrs ago a young Jan
aneSe committed suicide IL this way in
order to emphasize his protest against
the encroachments of the Russians but
a strong sentiment Is developing against
hara-kiri, and it will soon take it's
place among other obsolete customs.
The samurai represented the intellec-
tual as well as the military strength of
the nation. The dainios have furnished
few Of the men Of prominence to mod
ern japan. nearly all of the leaders in
government, education, literature and
the professions having come from the
samurai class. Now, however, that all
social distinctions have been removed
and the schools opened TO the children
Of all. the old lines between the classes
cannot much longer be traced.
The merchant class has always been
looked down upon in Japan. In the So
| cial scale they We're not only lower
! than the samurai, but lower than the