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Evolution Of The Japanese, Social And Psychic written by Sidney L. Gulick

S >> Sidney L. Gulick >> Evolution Of The Japanese, Social And Psychic



EVOLUTION OF THE JAPANESE


+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| THE GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD |
| By |
| |
| SIDNEY L. GULICK, M.A. |
| |
| Illustrated with Twenty-six Diagrams _12 mo, Cloth, $1.50_ |
| |
| "Commends itself to thoughtful, earnest men of any nation as a |
| most valuable missionary paper. Mr. Gulick traces the |
| Christian religion through history and up to now. The survey |
| is calm, patient, thoroughly honest, and quietly assured." |
| --_Evangelist_. |
| |
| FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY |
| |
| Publishers |
| |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+


EVOLUTION OF THE JAPANESE

_SOCIAL AND PSYCHIC_

BY

SIDNEY L. GULICK, M.A.

_Missionary of the American Board in Japan_


[Illustration]

NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO

Fleming H. Revell Company

LONDON AND EDINBURGH


New York: 158 Fifth Avenue Chicago: 63 Washington Street Toronto: 27
Richmond Street, W. London: 21 Paternoster Square Edinburgh: 30 St.
Mary Street




PREFACE

The present work is an attempt to interpret the characteristics of
modern Japan in the light of social science. It also seeks to throw
some light on the vexed question as to the real character of so-called
race-nature, and the processes by which that nature is transformed. If
the principles of social science here set forth are correct, they
apply as well to China and India as to Japan, and thus will bear
directly on the entire problem of Occidental and Oriental social
intercourse and mutual influence.

The core of this work consists of addresses to American and English
audiences delivered by the writer during his recent furlough. Since
returning to Japan, he has been able to give but fragments of time to
the completion of the outlines then sketched, and though he would
gladly reserve the manuscript for further elaboration, he yields to
the urgency of friends who deem it wise that he delay no longer in
laying his thought before the wider public.

To Japanese readers the writer wishes to say that although he has not
hesitated to make statements painful to a lover of Japan, he has not
done it to condemn or needlessly to criticise, but simply to make
plain what seem to him to be the facts. If he has erred in his facts
or if his interpretations reflect unjustly on the history or spirit of
Japan, no one will be more glad than he for corrections. Let the
Japanese be assured that his ruling motive, both in writing about
Japan and in spending his life in this land, is profound love for the
Japanese people. The term "native" has been freely used because it is
the only natural correlative for "foreign." It may be well to say that
neither the one nor the other has any derogatory implication,
although anti-foreign natives, and anti-native foreigners, sometimes
so use them.

The indebtedness of the writer is too great to be acknowledged in
detail. But whenever he has been conscious of drawing directly from
any author for ideas or suggestions, effort has been made to indicate
the source.

Since the preparation of the larger part of this work several
important contributions to the literature on Japan have appeared which
would have been of help to the writer, could he have referred to them
during the progress of his undertaking. Rev. J.C.C. Newton's "Japan:
Country, Court, and People"; Rev. Otis Cary's "Japan and Its
Regeneration"; and Prof. J. Nitobe's "Bushido: The Soul of Japan,"
call for special mention. All are excellent works, interesting,
condensed, informative, and well-balanced. Had the last named come to
hand much earlier it would have received frequent reference and
quotation in the body of this volume, despite the fact that it sets
forth an ideal rather than the actual state of Old Japan.

Special acknowledgment should be made of the help rendered by my
brothers, Galen M. Fisher and Edward L. Gulick, and by my sister, Mrs.
F.F. Jewett, in reading and revising the manuscript. Acknowledgment
should also be made of the invaluable criticisms and suggestions in
regard to the general theory of social evolution advocated in these
pages made by my uncle, Rev. John T. Gulick, well known to the
scientific world for his contributions to the theory as well as to the
facts of biological evolution.

S.L.G.

MATSUYAMA, JAPAN.




CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 13


I. PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS

Occidental conceptions of the recent history of Japan--Japan seems to
be contradicting our theory of national evolution--Similarities of
ancient and modern Japan--Japanese evolution is "natural"--The study
of Japanese social evolution is of unusual interest, because it has
experienced such marked changes--Because it is now in a stage of rapid
growth--And is taking place before our eyes--Also because here is
taking place a unique union of Occidental and Oriental
civilizations--Comparison between India and Japan, 23


II. HISTORICAL SKETCH

Mythology and tradition--Authentic history--Old Japan--The transition
from Old to New Japan--New Japan--Compelled by foreign nations to
centralize--Ideals and material instruments supplied from
abroad--Exuberant Patriotism--"Ai-koku-shin," 35


III. THE PROBLEM OF PROGRESS

Is Japan making progress?--Happiness as a criterion--The oppressive
rule of militarism--The emptiness of the ordinary life--The condition
of woman--"The Greater Learning for Woman"--Divorce--Progress
defined--Deficiency of the hedonistic criterion of progress, 52


IV. THE METHOD OF PROGRESS

Progress a modern conception and ideal--How was the "cake of custom"
broken?--"Government by discussion" an insufficient principle of
progress--Two lines of progress, Ideal and Material--The significance
of Perry's coming to Japan--Effect on Japan of Occidental ideas--The
material element of progress--Mistaken praise of the simplicity of Old
Japan, L. Hearn--The significance of the material element of
civilization--Mastery of nature--The defect of Occidental
civilization, 61


V. JAPANESE SENSITIVENESS TO ENVIRONMENT

Our main question--Illustrations--Japanese students
abroad--Sensitiveness to ridicule--Advantages and disadvantages of
this characteristic--National sensitiveness to foreign
criticism--Nudity--Formosa--Mental and physical
flexibility--Adjustability--Some apparent exceptions--Chinese
ideographs--How account for these characteristics, 72


VI. WAVES OF FEELING--ABDICATION

The Japanese are emotional--An illustration from politics--The
tendency to run to extremes--Danger of overemphasizing this
tendency--Japanese silent dissent--Men of balance in public
life--Abdication--Gubbins quoted--Is abdication an inherent trait? 82


VII. HEROES AND HERO-WORSHIP

Popular national heroes--The craving for modern heroes--Townsend
Harris's insight into Oriental character--Hero-worship an obstacle to
missionary work--Capt. Jaynes--An experience in Kumamoto--"The sage of
Omi"--"The true hero"--Moral heroes in Japan--The advantage and
disadvantage of hero-worship--Modern moral heroes--Hero-worship
depends on personality and idealism--The new social order is producing
new ideals and new heroes, 89


VIII. LOVE FOR CHILDREN

Japanese love for children--Children's festivals--Toys and
toy-stores--Do Japanese love children more than Americans
do?--Importance in Japan of maintaining the family line--The looseness
of the Japanese family tie--Early cessation of demonstrative
affection--Infanticide, 96


IX. MARITAL LOVE

Affection between husband and wife--Occidental and Oriental estimate
of woman contrasted--This a subject easily-misunderstood--Kissing a
social habit unknown in Japan--Demonstrative affection a social, not a
racial characteristic--Some specific illustrations, Dr. Neesima--A
personal experience--Illegitimate children--Fraudulent
registration--Adult adoption--Divorce--Monogamy, polygamy, and
prostitution--Race character, social order, and affection--Position of
women--The social order and affection--The social order and the
valuation of man and woman--The new social order and the valuation of
man--The spread of Christian ideals and the re-organization of the
family, 102


X. CHEERFULNESS--INDUSTRY--TRUTHFULNESS--SUSPICIOUSNESS

Japanese cheerfulness--Festivals--Pessimism existent, but easily
overlooked--The ubiquity of children gives an appearance of
cheerfulness--Industry--Illustrations--Easy-going--Sociological
interpretation--Mutual confidence and trustfulness--Relation to
communalistic feudalism--Changes in the social order and in
character--The American Board's experience in trusting Japanese
honor--The Doshisha and its difficulties--Suspiciousness--Necessary
under the old social order--The need of constant care in conversation,
115


XI. JEALOUSY--REVENGE--HUMANE FEELINGS

Jealousy particularly ascribed to women--How related to the social
order--Is jealousy limited to women?--Revenge--Taught as a moral
duty--Revenge and the new social order--Are the Japanese cruel?--First
impressions--Treatment of the insane--Of lepers--The cruelty and
hardness of heart of Old Japan--Buddhistic teaching and
practice--Buddhist and Christian Orphan Asylums--Treatment of
horses--Torture in Old Japan--Crucifixion and transfixion by
spears--Hard-heartedness cultivated under feudalism--Cruelty and the
humane feelings in the Occident--Abolition of cruel customs in ancient
and in Old Japan--Cruelty a sociological, not a biological
characteristic--The rise of humane feelings--Doctors and
hospitals--Philanthropy, 127


XII. AMBITION--CONCEIT

Ambition, both individual and national--The "Kumamoto
Band"--Self-confidence and conceit--Refined in nature--Illustrations
in the use of English--Readiness of young men to assume grave
responsibilities--A product of the social order--Assumptions of
inferiority by the common people--Obsequiousness--Modern
self-confidence and assumptions not without ground--Self-confidence
and success--Self-confidence and physical size--Young men and the
recent history of Japan--The self-confidence and conceit of Western
nations--The open-mindedness of most Japanese, 137


XIII. PATRIOTISM--APOTHEOSIS--COURAGE

"Yamato-Damashii": "The Soul of Japan"--Patriotism and the recent war
with China--Patriotism of Christian orphans--Mr. Ishii--Patriotism is
for a person, not for country--National patriotism is
modern--Passionate devotion to the Emperor--A gift of 20,000,000 yen
to the Emperor--The constitution derives its authority from the
Emperor--A quotation from Prof. Yamaguchi--Japanese Imperial
succession is of Oriental type--Concubines and children of the
reigning Emperor--Apotheosis, Oriental and Occidental--Apotheosis and
national unity--The political conflict between Imperial and popular
sovereignty--Japanese and Roman apotheosis--Prof. Nash
quoted--Courage--Cultivated in ancient times--A peculiar feature of
Japanese courage--"Harakiri"--E. Griffis quoted--A boy hero--Relation
of courage to social order--Japanese courage not only physical--modern
instance of moral courage, 144


XIV. FICKLENESS--STOLIDITY--STOICISM

Illustrations of fickleness--Prof. Chamberlain's
explanation--Fickleness a modern trait--Continuity of purpose in spite
of changes of method--The youth of those on whom responsibility
rests--Fluctuation of interest in Christianity not a fair
illustration--The period of fluctuation is passing
away--Impassiveness--"Putty faces"--Distinguish between stupidity and
stoicism--Stupid stolidity among the farmers--Easily removed--Social
stolidity cultivated--Demanded by the old social order--The influence
of Buddhism in suppressing expression of emotion--An illustration of
suppressed curiosity--Lack of emotional manifestations when the
Emperor appears in public--Stolidity a social, not a racial trait--A
personal experience--The increased vivacity of Christian
women--Relations of emotional to intellectual development and to the
social order, 159


XV. AESTHETIC CHARACTERISTICS

The wide development of the aesthetic sense in Japan--Japanese aesthetic
development is unbalanced--The sense of smell--Painting--Japanese art
pays slight attention to the human form--Sociological
interpretation--The nude in Japanese art--Relation to the social
order--Art and immorality--Caricature--Fondness for the abnormal in
nature--Abnormal stones--Tosa cocks--AEsthetics of speech--The aesthetic
sense and the use of personal pronouns--Deficiency of the aesthetic
development in regard to speech--Sociological explanations--Close
relation of aesthetics and conduct--Sociological explanation for the
wide development of the aesthetic sense--The classes lived in close
proximity--The spirit of dependence and imitation--Universality of
culture more apparent than real--Defects of aesthetic taste--Defective
etiquette--How accounted for--Old and new conditions--"Western taste
debasing Japanese art"--Illustration of aboriginal aesthetic
defects--Colored photographs--AEsthetic defects of popular shrines--The
aesthetics of music--Experience of the Hawaiian people--Literary
aesthetic development--Aston quoted--Architectural aesthetic
development--AEsthetic development is sociological rather than
biological, 170


XVI. MEMORY--IMITATION

Psychological unity of the East and the West--Brain size and social
evolution--The size of the Japanese brain--Memory--Learning Chinese
characters--Social selection and mnemonic power--Japanese memory in
daily life--Memory of uncivilized and semi-civilized peoples--Hindu
memory--Max Mueller quoted--Japanese acquisition of foreign
languages--The argument from language for the social as against the
biological distinction of races--The faculty of imitation; is not to
be despised--Prof. Chamberlain's over-emphasis of Japanese
imitation--Originality in adopting Confucianism and
Buddhism--"Shinshu"--"Nichirenshu"--Adoption of Chinese
philosophy--Dr. Knox's over-emphasis of servile adoption--Our
ignorance of Japanese history of thought--A reason for Occidental
misunderstanding--The incubus of governmental initiative--Relation of
imitation to the social order, 189


XVII. ORIGINALITY--INVENTIVENESS

Originality in art--Authoritative suppression of originality--Townsend
Harris quoted--Suppression of Christianity and of heterodox
Confucianism--Modern suppression of historical research--Yet Japan is
not wholly lacking in originality--Recent discoveries and
inventions--Originality in borrowing from the West--Quotations from a
native paper, 203


XVIII. INDIRECTNESS--"NOMINALITY"

"Roundaboutness"--Some advantages of this
characteristic--Illustrations--Study of English for direct and
accurate habits of thought--Rapid modern growth of
directness--"Nominality"--All Japanese history an illustration--The
Imperial rule only nominal--The daimyo as a figure-head--"Nominality"
in ordinary life--In family relations--Illustrations in Christian
work--A "nominal" express train--"Nominality" and the social order,
210


XIX. INTELLECTUALITY

Do Japanese lack the higher mental faculties?--Evidence of
inventions--Testimony of foreign teachers--Japanese students, at home
and abroad--Readiness in public speech--Powers of generalization in
primitive Japan--"Ri" and "Ki," "In" and "Yo"--Japanese use of Chinese
generalized philosophical terms--Generalization and the social
order--Defective explanation of puerile Oriental science--Relation to
the mechanical memory method of education--High intellectuality
dependent on social order, 218


XX. PHILOSOPHICAL ABILITY

Do Japanese lack philosophical ability?--Some opinions--Some
distinctions--Japanese interest in metaphysical problems--Buddhist and
Confucian metaphysics--Metaphysics and ethics--Japanese students of
Occidental philosophy--A personal experience--"The little
philosopher"--A Buddhist priest--Rarity of original philosophical
ability and even interest--Philosophical ability and the social order
in the West, 225


XXI. IMAGINATION

Some criticisms of Japanese mental traits--Wide range of imaginative
activity--Some salient points--Unbalanced imaginative
development--Prosaic matter-of-factness--Visionariness--Impractical
idealism--Illustrations--An evangelist--A principal--Visionariness in
Christian work--Visionariness in national ambition--Imagination and
optimism--Mr. Lowell's opinion criticised--Fancy and
imagination--Caricature--Imagination and imitation--Sociological
interpretation of visionariness--And of prosaic
matter-of-factness--Communalism and the higher mental
powers--Suppression of the constructive imagination--Racial
intellectual characteristics are social rather than inherent, 233


XXII. MORAL IDEALS

Loyalty and filial piety as moral ideals--Quotations from an ancient
moralist, Muro Kyuso--On the heavenly origin of moral teaching--On
self-control--Knowledge comes through obedience--On the impurity of
ancient literature--On the ideal of the samurai in relation to
trade--Old Japan combined statute and ethical law--"The testament of
Iyeyasu"--Ohashi's condemnation of Western learning for its
impiety--Japanese moral ideals were communal--Truthfulness
undeveloped--Relations of samurai to tradesman--The business standards
are changing with the social order--Ancient Occidental contempt for
trade--Plato and Aristotle, 249


XXIII. MORAL IDEALS (_Continued_)

The social position of woman--Valuation of the individual--Confucian
and Buddhistic teaching in regard to concubinage and
polygamy--Sociological interpretation--Japan not exceptional--Actual
morality of Old Japan--Modern growth of immorality--Note on the
"Social Evil"--No ancient teaching in regard to masculine
chastity--Mr. Hearn's mistaken contention--Filial obedience and
prostitution--How could the social order produce two different moral
ideals?--The new Civil Code on marriage--Divorce--Statistics--Modern
advance of woman--Significance of the Imperial Silver Wedding--The
Wedding of the Prince Imperial--Relation of Buddhism and Confucianism
to moral ideals and practice--The new spirit of Buddhism--Christian
influence on Shinto; Tenri Kyo--The ancient moralists confined their
attention to the rulers--The Imperial Edict in regard to Moral
Education, 258


XXIV. MORAL PRACTICE

The publicity of Japanese life--Public bathing--Personal experience at
a hot-spring--Mr. Hearn on privacy--Individualism and variation from
the moral standard--Standards advancing--Revenge--Modern liberty of
travel--Increase of wealth--Increasing luxury and vice--Increase of
concubinage--Native discussions--Statistics--Business honesty--A
native paper quoted--Some experiences with Christians--Testimony of a
Japanese consul--Difference of gifts to Buddhist and to Christian
institutions--Christian condemnation of Doshisha
mismanagement--Misappropriation of trust funds in the West--Business
honesty and the social order--Fitness of Christianity to the new
social order--A summary--Communal virtues--Individual Vices--The
authority of the moral ideal--Moral characteristics are not inherent,
but social, in nature, 273


XXV. ARE THE JAPANESE RELIGIOUS?

Prof. Pfleiderer's view--Percival Lowell's definition of
religion--Japanese appearance of irreligion due to many
facts--Skeptical attitude of Confucius towards the gods--Ready
acceptance of Western agnosticism--Prof. Chamberlain's assertion that
the Japanese take their religion lightly--Statements concerning
religion by Messrs. Fukuzawa, Kato, and Ito--Statements of Japanese
irreligion are not to be lightly accepted--Incompetence of many
critics--We must study all the religious
phenomena--Pilgrimages--Statistics--Mr. Lowell's criticism of
"peripatetic picnic parties"--Is religion necessarily gloomy?--God and
Buddha shelves universal in Japan--Temples and shrines--Statistics,
286


XXVI. SOME RELIGIOUS PHENOMENA

Stoical training conceals religious emotions--The earnestness of many
suppliants--Buddhistic and Shinto practice of religious ecstasy--The
revolt from Buddhism a religious movement--Muro Kyu-so
quoted--"Heaven's Way"--"God's omnipresence"--Pre-Christian teachers
of Christian truth--Interpretation of modern irreligious
phenomena--Japanese apparent lack of reverence--Not an inherent racial
characteristic--Sketch of Japanese religious
history--Shinto--Buddhism--Confucianism--Christianity--Roman
Catholicism--Protestantism--Religious characteristics are social, not
essential or racial, 296


XXVII. SOME RELIGIOUS CONCEPTIONS

Japanese conceptions as to deity--The number and relation of the gods
to the universe--Did the Japanese have the monotheistic
conception?--Attractiveness of Christian monotheism--Confucian and
Buddhist monism--Religious conception of man--Conception of
sin--Defective terminology--Relation of sin to salvation--"Holy
water"--Holy towels and the spread of disease--The slight connection
between physical and moral pollution--W.E. Griffis quoted--Exaggerated
cleanliness of the Japanese--Public bathing houses--Consciousness of
sin in the sixteenth century--A recent experience--Doctrine of the
future life--Salvation from fate--"Ingwa"--These are important
doctrines--"Mei" (Heaven's decree)--Japan not unique--Sociological
interpretations of religious characteristics, 310


XXVIII. SOME RELIGIOUS PRACTICES

Loyalty and filial piety as religious phenomena--Gratitude as a
religions trait--Hearn quoted--Unpleasant experiences of
ingratitude--Modern suppression of phallicism--Brothels and
prostitutes at popular shrines--The failure of higher ethnic faiths to
antagonize the lower--Suppression of phallicism due to Western
opinion--The significance of this suppression to sociological
theory--Religious liberty--Some history--Inconsistent attitude of the
Educational Department--Virtual establishment of compulsory state
religion--Review and summary--The Japanese ready learners of foreign
religions--The significance of this to sociology--Japanese future
religion is to be Christianity, 322


XXIX. SOME PRINCIPLES OF NATIONAL EVOLUTION

Progress is from smaller to larger communities--Arrest of
development--The necessity of individualism--The relation of communal
to individual development--A possible misunderstanding--The problem of
distribution--Personality, 332


XXX. ARE THE JAPANESE IMPERSONAL?

Assertion of Oriental impersonality--Quotations from Percival
Lowell--Defective and contradictory definitions--Arguments for
impersonality resting on mistaken interpretations--Children's
festivals--Occidental and Oriental method of counting ages--Argument
for impersonality from Japanese art--From the characteristics of the
Japanese family--The bearing of divorce on this argument--Do Japanese
"fall in love"?--Suicide and murder for love--Occidental approval and
Oriental condemnation of "falling in love"--Sociological significance
of divorce and of "falling in love," 344


XXXI. THE JAPANESE NOT IMPERSONAL

The problem stated--Definitions--Remarks on
definitions--Characteristics of a person--Impersonality defined--A
preliminary summary statement--Definitions of Communalism and
Individualism--The argument for "impersonality" from Japanese
politeness--Some difficulties of this interpretation--The sociological
interpretation of politeness--The significance of Japanese
sensitiveness--Altruism as a proof of impersonality--Japanese
selfishness and self-assertiveness--Distinction between communal and
individualistic altruism--Deficiency of personal pronouns as a proof
of impersonality--A possible counter-argument--Substitutes for
personal pronouns--Many personal words in Japanese--Origin of
pronouns, personal and others--The relation of the social order to the
use of personal pronouns--Japanese conceive Nationality only through
Personality--"Strong" and "weak" personality--Strong personalities in
Japan--Feudalism and strong personalities, 356


XXXII. IS BUDDHISM IMPERSONAL?

Self-suppression as a proof of impersonality--Self-suppression cannot
be ascribed to a primitive people--Esoteric Buddhism not
popular--Buddhism emphasized introspection and self-consciousness--Mr.
Lowell on the teaching of Buddha--Consciousness of union with the
Absolute a developed, not a primitive, trait--Buddhist
self-suppression proves a developed self--Buddhist self-salvation and
Christian salvation by faith--Buddhism does not develop rounded
personality--Buddhism attributes no worth to the self--Buddhist mercy
rests on the doctrine of transmigration, not on the inherent worth of
man--Analysis of the diverse elements in the asserted "Impersonality
"--Why Buddhism attributed no value to the self--The Infinite Absolute
Abstraction--Buddhism not impersonal but abstract--Buddhist doctrine
of illusion--Popular Buddhism not philosophical--Relation of "ingwa,"
Fate, to the development of personality--Relation of belief in freedom
to the fact of freedom--Sociological consequences of Buddhist
doctrine, 377