E-text prepared by Geoffrey Berg from digital material generously made
available by Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org)
Note: Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See http://www.archive.org/details/historyofjapanes00briniala
From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era
by
Editor of the "Japan Mail"
With the Collaboration of BARON KIKUCHI
Former President of the Imperial University at Kyoto
With 150 Illustrations Engraved on Wood by Japanese Artists;
Half-Tone Plates, and Maps
It is trite to remark that if you wish to know really any people, itis necessary to have a thorough knowledge of their history, includingtheir mythology, legends and folk-lore: customs, habits and traits ofcharacter, which to a superficial observer of a different nationalityor race may seem odd and strange, sometimes even utterly subversiveof ordinary ideas of morality, but which can be explained and willappear quite reasonable when they are traced back to their origin.The sudden rise of the Japanese nation from an insignificant positionto a foremost rank in the comity of nations has startled the world.Except in the case of very few who had studied us intimately, we werea people but little raised above barbarism trying to imitate Westerncivilisation without any capacity for really assimilating or adaptingit. At first, it was supposed that we had somehow undergone a suddentransformation, but it was gradually perceived that such could not beand was not the case; and a crop of books on Japan and the Japanese,deep and superficial, serious and fantastic, interesting andotherwise, has been put forth for the benefit of those who werecurious to know the reason of this strange phenomenon. But among somany books, there has not yet been, so far as I know, a history ofJapan, although a study of its history was most essential for theproper understanding of many of the problems relating to the Japanesepeople, such as the relation of the Imperial dynasty to the people,the family system, the position of Buddhism, the influence of theChinese philosophy, etc. A history of Japan of moderate size hasindeed long been a desideratum; that it was not forthcoming was nodoubt due to the want of a proper person to undertake such a work.Now just the right man has been found in the author of the presentwork, who, an Englishman by birth, is almost Japanese in hisunderstanding of, and sympathy with, the Japanese people. It wouldindeed be difficult to find any one better fitted for the task—by nomeans an easy one—of presenting the general features of Japanesehistory to Western readers, in a compact and intelligible form, andat the same time in general harmony with the Japanese feeling. TheWestern public and Japan are alike to be congratulated on theproduction of the present work. I may say this without any fear ofreproach for self-praise, for although my name is mentioned in thetitle-page, my share is very slight, consisting merely in generaladvice and in a few suggestions on some special points.
During the past three decades Japanese students have devoted