The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-29

prepared the way for its revival by Iyeyasu
(kaempfer names him Jejasl. the founder
OF the Tokugawa dynasty which Kaempfer
ound reigning in 1000 and which Continued
to reign until the resumption o; temporal
authority by the Mikado in 1868. The
feudal system recognized by Iyeyasu was
perfected by lyemitsu, the third Shotgun OF
the Tokugawa dynasty.
---
The value Of that part of Mr.. Kaempfer's
book which undertakes to describe the reli-
gions of Japan is impaired by the fact that
at the time Of his sojourn in the country the
Shinto, or Indigenous religion, had been to
some extent vitiated by contact with a de-
PRAYED form of Buddhism and, conse-
quently, by an infltration Of idol worship to
which originally it was a stranger. The
characteristic of Shintoism in its pure form,
which since 1893 has been resuscitated, are
the absence Of an ethical and doctrinal coda
OF idol worship or priestcraft and of any
teachings concerning a future state, and, on
the other hand, the dedication Of he 'oes,
emperors and great man, together with the
worship Of certain forces aud objects in
nature. In a word, Shintoism as originally
and now practised is rather an engine OF
government than a developed creed, and it
retains its hold upon the masses OF the
Japanese people chiefly through its being
interviewer with reverence for ancestors
and PATRIOTS ideas. Buddhism as it exists
in Japan is corrupt. though some OF the
thirty-ive sects have diverged very much
less from the type fixed by Gautama than
have others. The most popular. as we'll as
the richest and most enlightened OF the
Buddhist denominations, is the Monte or
Shin Shu sect, which recognizes one God
In Amida Buddha who, however, is only an
abstract principle personifed), discounte-
nances asceticism and clerical ~celibacy, and
c%ultivates preaching, the favori:e topic
being the duty Of self reliance. 1t Is we'll
known that for a long period, and especially
since 1858, the better ed icated classes Of the
japanese have been for the most part ag-
~nostics, striving to regulate their lives by
the maxims of Confucius. That is the rea-
son why the evolutionary philosophy Of
Herbert Spencer has had so much vogue in
Japan.
The fate of the early attempt to CONVEX
the japanese to Catholicism is set forth by
DR.. Kaemrfer in a paragraph. He points
out that it was owing to the oommendable
zeal and the ind~efatigable diligence OF the
Spanish inc Portuguese missionaries, par
ticularly the Jesuits, that the Christian
religion was first Introduced into Japan
and propagated with a success so far beyond
their expectations that, between the first
arrival Of the fathers of the Society of
Jesus in the province of Bongo, which was
about the year Of Christ 1919 Tor only six
years after the first discovery Of Japan by
Europeansl, to the third decade of the
seventeenth century it spread through
most Of the provinces OF the empire, many
of the princes Inc lords openly embracing
it. Our German author goes on to say
that, considering what a vast progress it
had made till then, even amid the many
storms and difficulties it had been exposed
to, there was very good reason to hope
that within a short compass Of time the
whole empire would have been converted
to the faith Of our Saviour, had not the am
bilious views and impatient endeavors Of
the Jesuit fathers to reap the temporal as
we'll as the spiritual fruit of their care and
labor so provoked the supreme majesty of
the empire as to raise, against themselves
and their converts. a persecution which
hath not its parallel in history, whereby
the religion they preached and all those
that professed it were within a few years
entirely exterminated.'
It is well known that after the expulsion
Of all other Europeans from Japan the
Dutch were allowed to retain a trading
settlement in the island Of N~agasaki, mainly
because they had helped the Jararese au-
thorities to exterminate the survivors of
the native converts to Christianity. For
their cooperation against their fellow re-
ligionists the Dutch met with deserved
contempt on the part OF high spirited
Japanese, and in 1641, soon after the final
expulsion Of the Portuguese, they were
ordered to quit their old factory at FirarCo
and to exchange the protection of an in
dulgent local prince for hat practically
was a prison on the small island Of Ma
gasaki. where their trading ships were
only allowed to put into harbor ono a
year, after they had been thorout hly visited
by japanese officials and after lists had
been made of all the goods on board, DR..
Kaempfer t~estifies that TO Jarareee who
seemed to have any regard or friendship
for the Dutch was looked upon as an honest
man and true lover of his country. 1t
was taken for granted that a friend Of
foreigners must Of necessity be an enemy
to his native land and potentially a rebel
to his sovereign. For. said the japanese,
if the country should happen to be invaded
by these foreigners, the laws and ties Of
friendship would oblige a philo-Dutch
japanese to stand by them, and, corse-
ouently, to become a traitor to his father
land. Lence, to o~vercharge a Dutchman,
to cheat and defraud him, to lessen his
privileges and imnuaities, to invent new
projects for making his servile condition
worse were looked upon as wise, good and
lawful things in themselves and urques-
tiorable marks of a good patriot. Under
such circumstances 1t is manifest that it
would be easy for a native Of the archi-
pelago to make FOOD in a law court any
ALLEGED claims upon the Dutch, whereas
the latter would find 1t very difficult to
Obtain justice from r~etives.
Such being their disabilities, why should
the Dutch East India Company have de-
sired TO maintain for many generations its
trading post at Nagasaki? Or. Kaempfer
answers the question. The profit he
says, which our goods produce may be
computed to amount, one year with another,
to co per cent, though, if all the charges and
expenses OF our sale be taken into con-
alteration. we cannot get above 10 or az