The Hawaiian gazette., 1914-05-26
JAPANESE KIND
TO THEIR BLIND.
People Of the Empire Show Every
Consideration to the
Unfortunate.

From very ancient times the blind
folk Of japan have received much at.
tention, though they were never made
the wards Of the nation TO the extent
that obtained in the West under later
Christian influence. The fact that
blindness entitled man TO be raised
to especial rank may be taken as evi.
dence of this care It Is recorded that
about the year $50 A. D., when the
Emperor Koko paid a visit TO certain
place he was received by a company Of
blind men, whose condition much moved
the compassion Of his Majesty. Not
long after this the Emperor gave or
ders that row Of tenements should be
constructed in Kyoto, where the home.
less blind might find shelter, and the
blind were thence ranked as separate
class, entitled to special privilege.
Upon the death Of the Emperor Koko
hundreds Of blind men and women
hocked into the capital TO express their
sorrow and to pay last tribute of re-
speet TO the great monarch who so ear
nestly befriended them. II was not nm
natural that the anniversary of the
Emperor s death. should have become
the blind man s holiday, and even yet
on July 20 the blind are accustomed to
visit the old capital to celebrate It,
Offering prayers before the imperial
shrine. Since that time It has been the
custom of the Kuga family, who are the
descendants of the Emperor Koko, and
represented by the present Marquis
Kuga, TO confer on all blind persons
who have visited the Kyoto shrine four
times the rank known as shibu. When
one holding this rank had attended the
annual service four times he was raised
to a still higher rank known as yodo
A blind man of this rank attending
four times reached the rank of sokoto,
and sokoto on the same conditions
became a kengyo, the latter being of
the same rank as a Buddhist bishop or
the abbot of a monastery. Moreover,
there were three ranks under each of
the above mentioned grades, or sixteen
in all.
In the reign Of the Emperor Suka
1350 A. d., there is mention Of a
blind man named Akashi, who was
skilled lutte player, and was invited TO
play before the Emperor, when his Maj,
esty was so pleased that he raised the
musician to the rank Of sokengyo, which
means archbishop. This famous blind
musician was also made much of by
the Ashikaga family. In the time of
the Emperor Gokomatsu (l3S3-14l2 A.
d., there was another blind musician
named Takenaga, upon whom the EN-.
peror bestowed the purple robe Of a
Buddhist priest of the highest rank
In the Tokugawa period, between the
years 1858 to 1903, there lived in Hi.
totsume (one.eye) in Yedo noted
blind man named Sugiyama, who won
his estate and its name by asking q
Shotgun to give him one of his eyes
when pressed to make any request he
desired and it would be granted. This
was the first blind man raised to high
rank by the Shotgun, such honor up to
that time having been the prerogative
of the imperial house alone. After that
ii was arranged that the ranking Of
the blind was to be divided between
the Emperor and the Shotgun, the for
mer attending to the blind in the thir-
ty-three provinces of the south and the
Shotgun those in the thirty.three prov,
inces of the north. The Tokugawa
Bakufu increased the number of ranks
to which the blind could be raised to
thirty three, including all those already
Neutrality-suspicious. Magazine.