Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1916-09-15
SOLDIER SPIRIT IN JAPAN
Boys Are Taught, From the r..u
Age Every Sort of Military
Drill Exercise.

49, VI MILITARY
Drill Exercise.
me warlIke spirit is instilled ;r..
Japanese boys from mere bab,hn 'o
the first presents to them heinz ~
Samurai, armor, ETC." So saws c wy
noske Komai, a distinguished lou
anese writer, now in England for ~.
period of the war. Continuing in tL0
London Times, he writes Of tboaO
boys: "They have their own snao,s,
manlike festivities on May 5. Tbesa
are enlivened by ags and by samnro'
warriors, each bearing the celehratoS
ancient crest of the boys family Ana
In their gardens are fixed long bamboo
poles, on which are hoisted earn mad
of cloth of paper, shimmering in goIS
and silver, dappled and scarlet 40
symbols of warlike fortitude and read,
mess to endure adverse fate with tbo
calmness Of those brave fish.
These customs have been observed
In Japan for centuries, and naturally
we Japanese feel very proud IL wa
have more boys than girls in our fam.
lily. The festive opportunities ara
seized by us to make presents to Our
friends whenever they rejoice at the
birth Of boy.
Apart from these boys festivities
we celebrate on the same day the
great anniversary of the famous Yasu.
kuni Jinsha' shrine in Toxic. where
all the spirits Of our officers, soldiers
and sailors are deified and worshiped
For, as the reader may easily recall
we Japanese are great worshipers Of
our ancestors, to whom we really owe
our present existence and who are
embodied in and represented by our
illustrious Mikado."
At the age of seven boys enter the
elementary schools and at the com.
pletion of their six-year course, at the
age of thirteen or fourteen they are
entitled to enter the middle school
course, during which they have to IN.
dergo the military drill exercises, the
fayorite national games of wrestling,
fencing, and Jill jitsu all being op.
tional. Some cannot afford to enter
this course. Others go on to college
and university. Eat the age Of TWEEN.
ty, whether rich or poor, high or low,
priest or no priest, comes the ques
ton of CONSUMPTION" says the writer,
whose treatment of this subject Of
rIT1fuaWCu1 Cnrxrtnn fc offoo4nH Nv tha
current discussions in England, for
he says that it is not regarded by the
Japanese as a heavy duty, but as a
glorious privilege.
prior to the restoration in Japan"
he says, military service was regard
ed as the honored privilege of the
Samurai class and priced as such.
The Samurai were our hereditary
warriors and enjoyed a monopoly Of
all fighting. The system continued
until the abolition of feudalism in
the country in 1868" Conscription
proper, he says, was really introduced
in 1872, and provided in principle for
the obligatory service of all men, mar
ried and single, from eighteen to forty
But in practice the states right was
never executed, even during the CHI
no-Japan war, in 1894-5, or in the Rus
sian war in 1904-5. Then 1,25OOOO
men were modified in Manchur:a
alone. Universal service, the writer
says, is individually priced by the
Japanese as an opportunity to each
and every one to become a Samurai
and to be allowed to fight for his Ia
Their and mother 1T never occurs
to u.s." he writes, ''to call it com
pulsion. We regard it as personal
shame or disgrace if we are rejected
through physical unfitness for the
army. We do not hasten to get mar
ried before we join the army. There
is no such thing as separation allow
ances,' ETC., in Japan"
But as Japanese are increasing al
the rate of 100000 a year, there ire
quently happens to be an enormous
excess of candidates for military serF-
ice and in such cases exemptions are
decided by lot. Apart from this the
only exemptions permitted are OF only
sons of aged parents more than Sixty
years old whose maintenance dep@uu'
on them, and a number of liberal con-
cessions made to students and those
employed on special missions ! no
latter are allowed to postpone theH
term of military service until they
finish their course of study.
ManIiLa Tea+b of Ancient Ape.