Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-08-21
WRITER EXPLAINS
JAPANESE MIND
Beginning With Imitation of
Foreigners, by Evolution 1t
Is Adapted to Origination

Washington - What manner of
folk are the Japanese?
What sort of gods do they wor-
ship?
What kind of laws do they
have?
These are a few of the ques-
ton the western world is asking,
in view of the universal interest
aroused in Japan's controversy with
China about the Shantung conces-
SION" says a bulletin from the Ma
tional Geographic Society.
BY way of reply. the bulletin
quotes from communication to
the society by Baron Kentaro Kan
exc, written before the world war
gave rise to these controversial
questions, as follows:
The Japanese have a peculiar
character When they come in con-
tact with a foreign civilization they
always go through three stages of
evolution. First, they pass through
the stage of imitation. At this
period they initiate everything that
comes from a foreign source, and
l might say that they blindly copy.
But after some years of imitation
they arrive at the stage of adapta-
ton. Then, at last, they reach the
stage of origination. These three
stages are clearly shown by our his
tory, if we only examine into the
inner workings of the Japanese
mind.
About 1900 years ago, when we
introduced the Chinese civilization
into our country, we copied every
thing after Chinese fashion. At
that time we had no National alph-
abet. There were some sorts of
signs to express ideas in writing,
and even these signs differed in
different parts of the country. The
| Chinese had a highly developed
type of hieroglyphics to express
their ideas. Therefore, at one time
the Chinese hieroglyphics took such
! n hold on the mind of the Japanese
! that we adopted them as our Ma
tional language.
This period might be called the
era of imitation. Fortunately, there
came a scholar-the most famous
scholar we ever had-by the name
| Mabie, who returned from China III
years for his education at Chinese
schools. When he came back he
saw what was most needed in his
native country, and he invented out
of Chinese hieroglyphics the forty
/ seven characters of our alphabet.
founded upon the principle of
phonetic language. AS you know,
the Japanese language is phonetic,
whereas the Chinese is hieroglyphic.
| stages in our religion just as much
as in our literature.
Buddhism was first introduced
into Japan through Gorea in the
year 552 A. d. At first Buddhism
was embraced by the higher classe,,
| particularly among scholarly circles,
but the lower classes or common
people still clung to their old faith
{ of Shintoism. Those who believed
in Buddhism went so far as to copy
the ceremonies and ritualiSms. The
doctrine of Buddhism was written
in the Chinese language. and the
believers offered their prayers it,
that tongue.
AT one time Buddhism made
such a stride as to become almost
a state religion. but the common
people still opposed it, with a de-
termination TO uphold their own
Shintosm. Consequently most
terrible struggle began between the
two religions - Buddhism in the
hands of the upper classes and
Shintoism in the hearts of the COM
! mon people. Such n contest as this
blocked every step in Japan's prog
ress, but finally the statesmen and
priests began to understand thai
they no longer could force upon the
people a blind imitation of Bud
dhisn, and they changed their pol
icy and tried to find out some means
! to meet the requirements of the
time.
They invented an ingenious
theory of explaining and interpret
ing the religious principle of Budd-
hism. They adapted the theory of
/ Monotheism as we'll as Polytheism
by saying that there is only one
| Supreme Power, which is person.
ified in the form of various gods
| and goddesses, according to the diff
ferent countries and different insfi-
| tutions Thus they reconcile the
principle of the one Supreme Power
of Buddhism with the Polytheisti.
theory of Shintoism
I'm order to convince the popular
mind with this theory Emperor
Shomu patronized a movement To
! erect a large bronze statue of Dali
! butsu or Buddha at Nara, and this
statue was erected in 1852 A. D..
after fourteen years in casting and
construction.
I'm the beginning of the thir-
teenth century there was one priest
by the name of Shinran, who is con-
sidered in our religious history as O.
Japanese Martin Luther. He revo-
lutionized the fundamental principie
of Buddhism by a new doctrine, for
up to that time Buddhism strenu-
ously upheld a monastic life, and
the priests were compelled to live
in celibacy and abstain from eating
any animal food. But this famous
priest, seeing the popular mind al
ready turned toward Buddhism,
started a new doctrine that a priest
| being human, is just as much sus-
ceptble as laymen, and abstinence
from human wants is against the
laws of nature; moreover, n priest
must live among the people so as to
! understand the real nature and feel
ing of man and woman: therefore a
monastic life should be given u2
and priests should eat animal food
and get married, If they desire so 20
do. From this period the progress
of Buddhism with this new doctrine
was wonderful and took complete
hold of the popular mind"