The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-01-26
JAPAN'S WAR STARTED
A REVIVAL OF RELIGION

occurred the papers We're not so out
spoken
In modern Japan probably only the
Russian mission has been suspected Of
Interior designs of political hue, but
IL mas been none the less hard for the
japanese Christians as individuals to
hear the ever ready taunt of being de-
pendents of foreigners The inteIlec-
tual attachments. high family connec-
tons and Independent spirit of some
of the first japanese pastors have
heightened the feeling.
The japanese Christians-the best of
them-have said to the missionaries:
Your position as overseers of our
churches rests only on your possession
OF the Keys of the mission safe. Give
US the money, and with it we will do
a greater work and do it better" The
missionaries on their side have felt
that the brief experience of one gener-
| atlon OF japanese Christians with their
youthful impressions and training in
Buddhist thought was not a sufficient
guarantee of the propa cation of a right
Ialth. And so they have chung to the
keys.
The agitation thus engendered has
! gone on since 1888 with varying de-
sreeS of intensity, according as the Pc
! riodic waves of anti-foreign feeling
| were rising or subsiding. Lately. how
! ever, and especially as the war DEM
! onstrated Japan's ability to take care
| OF herself the conviction has deepened
! that even the wider evangelistic effort
made possible by American money
! should be sacrificed to real and perrna-
nent Independence
! The leaders in the movement include
such men as Uemura and Ishiwara,
| Mlyagawa and Kogaki, the most re-
| sponsible and orthodox ministers in
| their denominations. 1t is also only
fair to say that they have the sympa-
thy Of some of the most experienced
and farsighted missionaries
This, however. does not alter the
| tact that their action marks a distinct
crisis in the work of Protestant mis-
slons in Japan, or that the vote that
no church receiving aid from foreign
missions shall be recognized as a
church after 1907 reduces the Congre-
gational and Presbyterian mission
aries to the position of scattered indi-
vldual workers with necessarily limit
ed and subordinate spheres of infiu-
ence.
These two Christian movements are
direct effects of the war. To Occiden-
tals they also seem to be in entire
harmony with the recent appearance
Of Japan within the circle of the great
Christian Powers. But they do not tell
the whole story.
1t is true that the war did much
to strengthen Christianity in Japan by
proving the falsity of the popular
charge that Christians would not fight
and die for their country. 1t is also
true that a large amount of Christian
work was done in both army and navy
with the direct sanction of the author
tiles and with the great encourage
ment of an imperial donation, the first
ever given in aid of distinctively Chris
tan work. But, while all this is true,
every day makes it clearer that the
one great lesson of the war. religious
ly considered, is that Japan stands pat
in her ancient Shinto beliefs
Exactly what is meant by Shinto-l
"the way of the gods'-it is hard to
say. The best authorities on things
Japanese speak of the "Shinto reli- |
gion;" but a dozen years ago the gov
Ci IiliitIll III INSTRUCTIONS 10 the Euu-
cational Department stated that it was
rather to be regarded as system of
ceremonial rites, and that as such it's
affairs had been placed under the di- /
rection Of the Board of Ceremonies of /
the Imperial Household rather than
under the Bureau Of Religions. /
TIE tenets of this prehistoric cult are
so very primitive in their simplicity and
stand in such sharp contrast to the
gorgeous elaborateness of Japanese
Buddhism that they uphold this idea.
Shinto shrines contain no idols or
image work OF any kind.
Almost painfully bare, they harmon
ize perfectly with a system that is de-
void of philosophical dogma and en-
ploys only the simplest ritual. The
circular metal mirror and the polished
sword within the shrine and the notch
I'd strips of white paper dangling from
the straw rope before it are said to
typify cleanliness of body and soul.
But there is more than this; for in
his mirror the devout Shintoist sees
lot merely himself, but rather sees
himself in the presence of the mighty
iead-the spirits of his own fOrefath-
RS or of the heroes local or imperial,
o whom the shrine is dedicated. Thus
BEGINNING as a reverencing of ances-
ors. it becomes practical hero wor-
ship; and its ruling dogma. feudal fl
ielity-the fidelity of the son to his
ather, of the wife to her husband, Of
he subject to his lord-naturally finds
is highest and most exacting applica- :
ion in worshipful devotion to the En-
,eror who in turn holds himself bound g.,
o the spirits of his heaven descended
nCestors. the founders of the japanese -,
ace. Back of all this, there is held
n recognition by the more intelligent
vorshippers a vague idea of one chief
cd or providence
During the Middle Ages this simple
ult was almost totally eclipsed by
buddhism. At only two points in the
mpire did the ways of the gods" re {