Part 20

(ON THE SUBJECT OF LAW AND CUSTOM)

"Notes on Land Tenure and Local Institutions in Old Japan," by Dr. D. B. Simmons. Edited by Professor J. H. Wigmore,--Vol. XIX.

"Materials for the Study of Private Law in Old Japan," by Professor J. H. Wigmore,--Vol. XX, Supplements 1, 2, 3, 5.

(ON THE CHRISTIAN EPISODE OF THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES)

"The Church at Yamaguchi from 1550 to 1586," by Satow,--Vol. VII.

"Review of the Introduction of Christianity into China and Japan," by J. H. Gubbins,--Vol. VI.

"Historical Notes on Nagasaki," by W. A. Wooley,--Vol. IX.

"The Arima Rebellion," by Dr. Geertz,--Vol. IX.

(ON JAPANESE HISTORY AND SOCIOLOGY)

"Early Japanese History," by W. G. Aston,--Vol. XVI.

"The Feudal System of Japan under the Tokugawa Shoguns," by J. H. Gubbins,--Vol. XV.

--The extracts quoted from "The Legacy of Iyeyasu" have been taken from the translation made by J. F. Lowder.

--I regret not having been able, in preparing this essay, to avail myself of the very remarkable "History of Japan during the Century of Early Foreign Intercourse (1542-1651),"--by James Murdoch and Isoh Yamagata,--which was published at Kobe last winter. This important work contains much documentary material never before printed, and throws new light upon the religious history of the period. The authors are inclined to believe that, allowing for numerous apostasies, the total number of Christians in Japan at no time much exceeded 300,000; and the reasons given for this opinion, if not conclusive, are at least very strong. Perhaps the most interesting chapters are those dealing with the Machiavellian policy of Hideyoshi in his attitude to the foreign religion and its preachers, but there are few dull pages in the book. Help to a correct understanding of the history of the time is furnished by an excellent set of maps, showing the distribution of the great fiefs and the political partition of the country before and after the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Not the least merit of the work is its absolute freedom from religious bias of any sort.

INDEX

Ability, slight opportunity for, to rise, 410-411.

Adams, Will, 254, 313; interviewed by Iyeyasu, 314-316, favoured by the Emperor, 316-317; quoted concerning Hideyori's intrigues and fate. 322-323.

Adoption, custom of, in patriarchal family, 59, 64-65; marriage signified merely, 64; modern practices regarding, 386.

Adultery, enactments of Iyeyasu regarding, 345-346.

Affection, limitations placed on, 69 ff.

Age of the Gods, period called the, 259.

Agnosticism, Buddhism is not. 213, 220.

Agriculture, gods of, 126, 153-154; no degradation attached to pursuit of, 245.

Akindo, the commercial class, 246-247. See Commerce.

Alcestis, the Japanese woman might be compared to, 366.

Ancestors, imperial, worship of the, 108-123, 279-280.

Ancestor-worship, introduction to religion of, 21-32; the real religion of Japan, 21; summary of the three forms of, 21-22; the family-cult of, 21-22, 25-26; characteristics of earliest, 24 ff.; stability of, in Japan for two thousand years, 32; summary of beliefs surviving from, 31; three stages of, 33-34; evolution of permanent form from funeral-rites, 34-51: characteristics of religion of, to-day, 51-53; bearing of, on family-organization of, 55 ff. ; marriage under the religion of, 107 ff. ; four classes of, to-day, 123-124; accommodation of Buddhism to, 183-184; toleration of ancient European, by Roman Catholicism, 191; Buddhist theory of rebirths reconciled to, 195 n.; Confucian system founded on, 177-178, 292; needless attacks on, account for smallness of result, of modern missions, 339, 473-475; protection of, by modern laws, 385-388; obstacles presented to Christianity by, 473-475.

"Ancient Japanese Rituals", 43 n. See Satow.

Animals, absence of cruelty to, 12-13; kindness to, taught by Buddhism, 196-197.