The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-12-12
The NikHdU Ia la uIstor>

When did modern Japan begin? In
Thc WhddO. Institution HHd Pers0p
'Princeton University press) Or.
WILLIAM ELtlor GElrfIs. than whom
no Occidental is better fitted hN first
hand know edge 20 interpret the Jap
ancse to HE Americans. warns Us
away from the 1853 of perry'S visit and
OF s~ChoolboN association with Column
buss ~ II asserts that for Two
centuries before the Commodore, saw
.iaI an a great intellectual movement
mad been %leavenlHc the nation. For n
definite year mark he selects 1865. the
first Il Meij. or the Era of Enlightened
Government, opening with the aces
sion of Mutsuhitu. In chemical meta
phor. Perry, or rather President FIJI
more, did but add IN" Tiny morsei to a
unprecedented solution, which M
stantlN cry stlliized to sulidltN." Still.
since IN Japan eras ave measured hv
reifns. 1t may he more reasonable To-
say that lS6N was the turning point in
the history Of "Everlasting Great
Japan Ard We may ne permitted tn
make al least n mental reservation in
favor of 1889, the year Of the cnnstitu-
ton, or even in favor of the year of
h treaty Of Portsmouth. that com.
pleted the humiliation # Russia at the
hands of her island foe Il the Far
East.
FIXING dates is neither amusing nor
profitable. The important point here
is the ttct that the Mikado MutSuhliu
stands for the whole spirit and h,stu.,
of new Japan up to the time nf h.s
death, Only three years ago. And i,s.
is the explanation Of the awkwa.I
seeming title of Dr. Grnrs', book.
Mikaioism 'crystalli2es IN. history of
the Japanese and reveals as through
a lens their hopes for The future" So
We have in this book TWO hooks: an
summation into the history of MI
kadoism and "A sketch of the life of
Mutsuhito, under whom that institu-
tion took its place N the complex OF
world forces.
DR. Grifis saws that the Mikado is
the living symbol of all that is glorious
in the history of Japan. "he expresses
to the sons Of Nippon whatever is
dearest in the present and auspiciou.
IN the future, he iuCarnates history
and religion, his person embodies the
nations memory and the peoples
hope The Japanese are not, like
the Chinese, an ancient nation. The,
are an amalsam Japan was ahead of
us as IA melting pot. Up to. say. the
sixth century various racial stocks
were settled in the archipelago. Aryan
Semitic, Malay, M~ongolian. Tartar
There was then no more a ,Iapanes,
people than there Was at that time an
English people, About the same time
that the Teutonic tribes came int,
contact with the expanding Roman
civilization, so DR.. Grinls traces the
development. the tribes Of Nippon he
gan to have definite relations w'.h the
Coreans and Chinese.
Here the parallel ceases, and a strik-
ing contrast is drawn:
The Germanic tribes came lntu collision
with u grand civilization in it's decay. Re
ceiving its culture, they FASTENED its de
strurtion. The Gsrnanio peoples mad,
Latin the basis OF their law and theology
but, retaining their vernsculsr, they bail
their own institutions and developed th,i
life from within, The Roman Empii,
was but II temporary mode. They refuse,
to rswrite their ancestral story in the term
Of Tacitus or Thucydidcs, and rejected th
cult Of Venus or Jupiter. Their poetry
legend ana folklore were loft untouched II
the ancestral tongue and in time thel
thoughts and aspirations found a voice II
their own cultivated poetry and prose
This Is finely put, but ii is familiar
matter; SO familiar, In fsst Shat III