New-York tribune., 1907-11-04
J4PAy'S INTELLECTUAL CODE.

The widespread interest which is now mani
Tested in this country in the famous japanese
imperial rescript on education is to be accounted
for. and indeed largely TO be justified, partly
by the merits of the dOcument-thOugh indeed
these should have been familiar to the world for
many years-partly because of the new and
more perfect translation of it which has Just
been made and issued by the Japanese govern
ment, and partly-mOst of all, we should say
because the Japanese themselves attribute TO
that document and its influence so large a share
of credit for their triumphs in war and their
progress i'll peace 1t is TO them something
like what Magma Charta is to England and the
Declaration of Independence is to America. 1t
will be worth while TO reproduce it here, in the
version prepared by a convOcatOn of the best
scholars of Japan:
Know ye Our subjeets:-Our Imperial An
cestors have founded Our Empire on a basis
broad and everlasting and have deeply and
firmly implanted virtue; Our subjects ever
united in loyalty and flia piety have from gen
Grafton TO generation illustrated the beauty
thereof. This is the glory of the fundamental
character of our Empire, and herein also lies
the source Of Our education Ye. our subjects.
be filial TO your parents, affeCtionate to your
brothers and sisters; husbands and wives be
harmonious, as friends true; bear yourselves in
nOdeSty and moderation; extend your beneVo-
lence to all; pursue learning and cultivate arts,
and thereby develop intellectual faculties and
perfect moral powers; furthermore advance
public good and promote common interests; al
ways respect the Constitution and observe the
laws: should emergency arise, offer yourselves
courageOusly to the State; and thus guard and
maintain the prosperity Of Our Throne coeval
with heaven and earth. SO shall We not only
be Our good and faithful subjects, but render
NlustriouS the best traditions of your fore
fathers. The Way here set forth is indeed the
teaching bequeathed by Our Imperial Ancestors
to be observed alike by Their Descendants and
the subjects. infallibIe In all ages and true in
oil places. 1t is Our wish to lay IL TO heart in
all reverence, In common with you. Our subjects
that we may all thus attain to the same virtue
IL would be foolish to do as some are heed
lessly proposing in this country to glorfv this
rescript as a unique emanation of omnisclence
and TO adopt 1t as the ethical code of American
institutions of learning; for. admirable as II Is
in most respects it is not perfect, and, inter
esting and valuable it is as an exposition of
Japanese ethics, it is I'm some particulars con-
spicuOusly unsuited TO the genius of the Amer
lean people. The exaltation Of the personal soy
ereign, and of the prosperity of his throne as
the chief aim of national effort and desire
would need translation into terms of popular
sovereignty and of the prosperity Of popular
government; though indeed might we'll wish
all Americans to be as devoted TO the true
maintenance Of their government as the Japan
ese are exhOrted to be to the maintenance of
the imperial dynasty and we may regard the
aspiration to make the prosperity of the throne
"coeval with heaven and earth" as a transcript
/ of the "estO perpetua" so often uttered for the
American Republic.
In the ethical exhortations of the rescrpt, IN
deed, there is nothing which all true men Will
not and do not approve. The faults are those
of omission rather than of commission, and even
these with one or two exceptions are only
such as We're practically inevitable in so brief
document covering vast a scope The whole
| philosophy of intellectual and moral life cannot
be expressed, any more than the history of the
world, in hundred words save in generaliza-
tions so sweeping as TO be either obscure or
vague. SO far as it goes, however, the rescrlpt
is admirable and not its least admirable feature
is this that while 1t SO greatly exalts the SOW
ereign above the subjects, it imposes all its
obligations upon him equally with them, and
prescribes q common duty and a common aim
for both AS an exposition of Japanese intel
Iectual and moral principles and processes, par
ticularly in the last seventeen years--t was
issued In 1S9O--it is well worth the observation
and consideration of the world.