Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1906-07-28
many articles has placed prohibitive

AoAJ GA OASiCS LOS PAoS0A c RAShA0AcA =
tariff. She is trying to avoid the pit
falls of western commercial aggran-
dizement, and let us hope that she
may succeed in keeping out the wolves
! from the west.
The great element in the past sue
cess of Japan is the national spirit,
Her wars are won, not because the
individual is strong and Intelligent,
but because to the average member
of the empire, the state, the Mikado,
is everything. 1t is nothing to die,
! if only one may die fighting for the
emperor. The capture of 2O3 Metre
Hill in the last war illustrates this
trait very clearly. Seven attacks had
been made by tried and seasoned
troops, and each time they had been
repealed with heavy loss. Finally
these men became so well acquainted
with what was at the top, that the
officers knew, they could never carry
the works. After a consultation, it
was decided to bring up division of
new troops, who had but recently
come from the home land. They did
not know the hell which was awaiting
them, they only knew that they we're
fighting for the emperor and they
carried the day. The intense patriot
ism is noble asset, but it is now being
recognized as possible weakness in
the national character, because no
emphasis is placed upon individual
responsibility in time of peace or war.
Perhaps the west is too Individuals
tic, but the east is as surely erring in
the opposite direction. An illustra-
ton of the fact that the leaders are
aware of this danger is seen in the
fact that at present in Korea, the
leaders of the army are trying to in
troduce strong moral influences
among the soldiers, are doing all in
their power to keep the Y. M. @. A.
at work there and simply because they
are afraid of their soldiers in the time
of peace.
Let me speak a word of the religious
condition and am done. I doubt if
there is field of thought which is as
little understood by the outsider as
the religious attitude of New Japan,
Some think and do not hesitate to say
that Shintoism, the old national faith
and Buddhism, the great popular re-
ligions are good enough for Japan
and they assert that Christianity is
going in as an antagonist and enemy.
Others on the other hand hold that
Shintoism and Buddhism are all bad
and that Christianity is to destroy
them root and branch and they think
that our western ecclesiastical Chris
tianity must come to Japan. Both of
these opinions are false and wrong
and not in accord with the facts Of the
case. The ones today who see the
best there is in Buddhism are the
Christian missionaries and they are
aware of the strength of it's hold. But
they are not as Hearn says, ''sworn
enemies'' of Buddhism any more than
Christ was -worn enemy of the old
Jewish religion. They do belieye
that pure Christianity is a higher full
fillment of the secret longings of
race after truth, than is the present
Buddhism. They believe that the
Christian spirit can and will pervade
the whole body of Buddhistic faith
and will beautify it and will purge
away the evil, and in this they have
full warrant from actual conditions.
Remember that Shintoism has been
officially declared to be not religion
but simply and solely, respect and
veneration for the dead. It is beau
tiful custom in the latter sense but
as a religion it was a failure. AS for
Buddhism, be it remembered that the
intelligent people of Japan have given
it over and have either become nom
inally irreligious, Or are being imbued
with the teachings of Christ or by the
the philosophy of Confucius. 1t is
significant too that the leaders of the
most liberal sects of Buddhism, are
adopting many Christian teachings
and practices without admitting their
source. In one of the leading schools
for boys in Kyoto, they sing Christian
hymns, hymns which never could
have been inspired by Buddhistic
teachings, the only changes made
are in substituting other names for
that of Christ. One sect has express
ed a willingness to take Christ into it's
pantheon as another Buddha.
1t would be very rash for me to
prophesy about the future religion of
the Japanese. I think however, am
very safe in asserting that it will not
be Christianity bound down by ira