Evening star., 1926-02-07

r n my early boyhood, when the
first sign of consciousness began
to dawn, / was frequently seized
| ( by mood of loneliness. My
house stood near the northern
end of the MusaShi Plain, that sur
rounds Toxic. When the sun set be
hind the sublime F'uji and twilight
1 fingered over the vast field planted
with mulberries and rice l would slip
out of my house, sit on the grass OF
small river bank and look at the
darkening world around me with an
abject sense of lonesomeness akin to
awe. Another thing also invaded my
boyish consciousness with irresistible
forCe-the beauty of nature.
Nobody told me about religion. Jap
aneSe youths on the average were edu-
Gated in the nineties, and l think still
are, in an atmosphere free from
religion.
The buddhist and Shinto rites were
performed around us. That is true.
But il was their formal and not spiri-
tual side that was in evidence, and we
accepted them as matter of fact.
They did not make us think.
X :; X =;
1t was the challenge of Christianity
that made a great number of Japanese
youths think. The flood of western
science and Christianity that invaded
the country after 1868 stirred the CON
science of the whole nation. The
vague loneliness of my early boyhood
gradually changed into a strong re
ligious quest. | was rather precocious
and read a great deal. The books that
came my way We're, of course, differ
ent from those that would come the
way of an American boy. In the case
Of ha 'hric 10 nit is
ligion. In my case, l was thrown into
the formidable problem of the conflict
of religions.
The religious and philosophical
books that come the way of a Japa-
nese boy or girl are of four different
kinds-Buddhism, Shintoism. Confu-
cianism and Christianity. Your ach-
ing conscience and inquiSitive mind
have to grapple with this stupendous
problem of comparative religion. But
as a nation we are not strong on spec
ulative philosophy. We have a nature
that Graves for action and not specu-
lation. Therefore, we look at religion
not SO much to see how it philOSO-
phiZes as to discover how 1t functions.
We look at the manifestations of re-
ligion in human conduct. OF course,
| was not conscious of these things
when l was going through the first
conscious quest Tor religion.
* *
The first religion that l came under
was Christianity. I was Is then. With
the simplicity of a boy l went regu-
larly to Bible classes Of an American
missionary. The next Winter | felt
l was ready to he baptized. Still there
was one question III my mind. 1t was
simple question of a boy. But |
wanted to settle that doubt first. l
went to see the missionary. She was
a lady. l explained that 1 wanted to
be baptized. Then l asked her the
question.
You told me that salvation comes
only through baptism. did you not?"
Yes. | said So" she replied.
"Well, then, what happened to those
wise men Of Japan in ancient times?
1t was not their fault that they We're
not baptized, because there was no
Christianity in Japan then. Are they
in heaven?'
Il am sorry. Mr.. Tsurumi. but l do
not think they are" she said
Z = ::
That was d terrific blow to my
young mind. In fact. / secretly was
looking down on some of my class
mates who We're baptized. / could not
find anything particularly good in
them. SO the question in my mind
was whether these ordinary boys We're