Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1913-07-19
HALO" BILL AND COO
SENTIMENT UNKNOWN
Selected by Edwin Markham.

of Japan" The picturesque pen of
Mrs. Cox gives US a striking chronicle
and take from it the following:
"The easiest way TO arrive at a
conception of the japanese woman is
to think of every quality directly con.
trary to the qualities of the typical
American woman, and to see her as the
embodiment of these. She is as docile
as the American woman is aggressive; /;
as demure as the American is flam-
buoyant; as modest as the American is
impudent; as humble as the American
is snobbish; as conservative as the
American is faddish as reticent as the
American is effusive.
"There is no romance between the
sexes in Japan. The relation is either
crude and business.lke in marriage, or
unmentiOnable and bestial out of mar.
riage No wonder there is no word in
the japanese language which can be
translated as love in our language
The only love that can be spoken or
written of in Japan is the filial There
are no words of endearment for lovers,
nor for husband and wife. Marriage
is without courtship; cOurtship without
kisses, caresses or pet Names
NO japanese knight has ever per.
formed deed of valor for the love of
woman. No japanese poet has ever
written poem of love that could be
read to pure woman. These people
have put all their refinement into their
etiquette of life, and so have had none
left for the elemental facts of life;
they have put all their imagination in
a hair.splitting epicureanism, and so
have had none left with which they
might dignity humanity's greatest pas.
sion. When the Japanese nation evolves
the kiss of man and woman she may
cease to be a mimicker and become a
molder of civilization.
I'm reading of the lOveless, kissless,
woman'denouncing Japanese, one might
believe him austerely chaste, puritani.
cal, the true ascetic; and to those un-
versed in the duality of human nature
it comes with a shock Of surprise to
learn that, on the contrary, his ruthless
immortality and RIGHTEOUSNESS are no.
tOriOus and the scandal of Japan.
''There is one feature of this so
unique and so illustrative of the vicious
outgrowths of mans lopsided civiliza.
tion that it has a claim upon the inter.
est of every student of Japan or of
human nature; the institution of the
Yoshiwara.
classified with our white slave
traffic and the sordid evils that night
ly stalk Broadway, Piccadilly and the
Partisan boulevard, it yet differs from
them all in certain elements which
make it the most sickening and tragic
exhibition the world affords of the
human injustice and shame accorded
women in civilizations made strictly of
the men, for the men, by the men,
At temple in Nikko there is
famous picture of three monkeys, one
with his hands covering his eyes, which
means see no evil; another with hands
covering ears, which means hear no
evil; the other with hands covering
mouth, which means speak no evil. |
This is evidently the Buddhistic form.
ula for peace on earth, good will to
men; but, thanks to the men who have |
not observed it, humanity has evolved
from some Of its barbarities, and most
of the barbarities that exist today en-.
dure because women have been too long
and thoroughly trained by men--to see
no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
" No one can understand the japan.
ese people until he has seen the men.
agerie'like spectacle of that portion of
its womankind whom they place out.
side Of human rights in hideous ira.
vesty of human dignity. In the dusk
of every evening, just as the temple
bells are pealing forth their summons
to the strange gods of Nippon, this
spectacle begins; Women, girls-the
majority mere children in appearance
file into cages which open onto the
streets exactly like the cages in zoo,
and sit for hours behind those wooden
bars like merchandise for sale, with an
aureole of tortoise shell combs around
their heads and bedecked in garish
splendor Of attire. The spectacle
arouses disgust and scoru until one
learns the hidden springs behind this
system of woman.sale, and then there
comes only pity
"The government has placed its
sanction upon this institutions; 'thus
sayeth the law is more powerful in
Japan than in any other civilized coun.
try So the idea has been perpetuatcd
among the people that parents have a
moral lbecause legaD right to dispose
of their daughters to their own advan.
tage, and the inmates Of the Yoshi.
wara are sold by their parents or adopt.
ed parents when too young and ignor.
'nt to understand the nature of the