CHAPTER XXXVI. _ancient Japan_

ANCIENT JAPAN

Wu kingdom--Name begins 585 B.C.--This is the year Japanese "history" begins--The first king and his four sons--Prince Ki- chah--War with Ts'u and sacking of its capital--King Fu-ch'ai and his wars against Yiieh--Offered an asylum in Chusan--Suicide of Fu-ch'ai--Escape of his family across the seas to Japan--China knew nothing of Japan, even if Wu did--Story reduced to its true proportions--Traces of prehistoric men in Japan--Possible movements of original inhabitants--Existing evidence better than none at all--East from Ningpo must be Japan--Like early Greeks and Egyptian colonists--Natural impulses to emigration--Refugees from China compared to Will Adams--Natural desire to improve pedigrees-- No shame to Japan's ruling caste to hail from China--European comparisons--How the Japanese manufactured their past history-- Imagination must be kept separate from evidence.