The Foundations of Japan | Page 5

of the text all those names of places and persons which give such a forbidding air to a traveller's page. I have pleasure in acknowledging here the particular obligations I am under to Kunio Yanaghita, formerly Secretary of the Japanese House of Peers and a distinguished and disinterested student of rural conditions, Dr. Nitobe, assistant secretary of the League of Nations, and his wife, Professor Nasu, Imperial University, Mr. Yamasaki, Mr. M. Yanagi, Mr. Kanzo Uchimura, Mr. Bernard Leach, Mr. M. Tajima, Mr. Ono and two young officials in Hokkaido, who each in turn found time to join me on my journeys and showed me innumerable kindnesses. It was a piece of good fortune that while these pages were in preparation Mr. Yanaghita, Professor Nasu and other fellow-travellers were in Europe and available for consultation. Professor Nasu unweariedly furnished painstaking answers to many questions, and was kind enough to read all of the book in proof; but he has no responsibility, of course, for the views which I express. I am also specially indebted to Dr. Kozai, President of the Imperial University, to Mr. Ito and other officials of the Ministry of Agriculture, to Mr. Tsurimi, one of the most understanding of travelled Japanese, to Mr. Iwanaga, formerly of the Imperial Railway Board, to Dr. Sato, President of Hokkaido University, and his obliging colleagues, to the Imperial Agricultural Society, to Professors Yahagi and Yokoi, and to Viscount Kano, Dr. Kuwada, Mr. I. Yoshida, Mr. K. Ohta, Mr. H. Saito, Mr. S. Hoshijima, and many provincial agricultural and sociological experts.
Portions of drafts for this book have appeared in the _Daily Telegraph, World's Work, Manchester Guardian, New East, Asia, Japan Chronicle_ and Christian World. I am indebted to the _World's Work_ and Asia for some additional illustrations from blocks made from my photographs, and to the New East for some sketches by Miss Elizabeth Keith.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] There is a small book by an able American soil specialist, the late Professor King, which describes through rose-tinted glasses the farming of Japan, and of China and Korea as well, on the basis of a flying trip to countries the population of which is thrice that of Great Britain and the United States together. The author of another book, published last year, delivers himself of this astonishing opinion: "The Japanese is no better fitted to direct his own agriculture than I am to steer a rudderless ship across the Atlantic."
[2] Vide Sir Daniel Hall's Pilgrimage of English Farming and articles of mine in the Nineteenth Century and _Times_, and my Land Problem.
[3] The Japanese have only lately, however, made some acknowledgment of their debt to Hearn, and in an eight-page bibliography of the best books about Japan in the Japan Year Book Murdoch's as yet unrivalled History is not even mentioned.
[4] Ohyakusho must not be confused with _Oo-hyakusho_ or _Oo-byakusho_, which means a large farmer. O is a polite prefix; Oo or O means large.
[5] Horizontal wall writings.
[6] About 35,000 copies of my two bilingual books were circulated.
[7] With the backing of a London Committee composed of Lord Burnham, Sir G.W. Prothero, Mr. J. St. Loe Strachey and Mr. C.V. Sale.
[8] Tenison, 1684.

CONTENTS
STUDIES IN A SINGLE PREFECTURE (AICHI)

CHAPTER
I. THE MERCY OF BUDDHA
II. "GOOD PEOPLE ARE NOT SUFFICIENTLY PRECAUTIOUS"
III. EARLY-RISING SOCIETIES AND OTHER INGENUOUS ACTIVITIES
IV. "THE SIGHT OF A GOOD MAN IS ENOUGH"
V. COUNTRY-HOUSE LIFE
VI. BEFORE OKUNITAMA-NO-MIKO-KAMI
VII. OF "DEVIL-GON" AND YOSOGI
THE MOST EXACTING CROP IN THE WORLD
VIII. THE HARVEST FROM THE MUD
IX. THE RICE BOWL, THE GODS AND THE NATION

BACK TO FIRST PRINCIPLES: THE APOSTLE AND THE ARTIST
X. A TROUBLER OF ISRAEL
XI. THE IDEA OF A GAP
ACROSS JAPAN (TOKYO TO NIIGATA AND BACK)
XII. TO THE HILLS (TOKYO, SAITAMA, TOCHIGI AND FUKUSHIMA)
XIII. THE DWELLERS IN THE HILLS (FUKUSHIMA)
XIV. SHRINES AND POETRY (NIIGATA AND TOYAMA)
XV. THE NUN'S CELL (NAGANO)
IN AND OUT OF THE SILK PREFECTURE
XVI. PROBLEMS BEHIND THE PICTURESQUE (SAITAMA, GUMMA, NAGANO AND YAMANASHI)
XVII. THE BIRTH, BRIDAL AND DEATH OF THE SILK-WORM (NAGANO)
XVIII. "GIRL COLLECTORS" AND FACTORIES (NAGANO AND YAMANASHI)
XIX. "FRIEND-LOVE-SOCIETY'S" GRIM TALE
FROM TOKYO TO THE NORTH BY THE WEST COAST
XX. "THE GARDEN WHERE VIRTUES ARE CULTIVATED" (FUKUSHIMA AND YAMAGATA)
XXI. THE "TANOMOSHI" (YAMAGATA)
BACK AGAIN BY THE EAST COAST
XXII. "BON" SONGS AND THE SILENT PRIEST (YAMAGATA, AKITA, AOMORI, IWATE, MIYAGI, FUKUSHIMA AND IBARAKI)
XXIII. A MIDNIGHT TALK
THE ISLAND OF SHIKOKU
XXIV. LANDLORDS, PRIESTS AND "BASHA" (TOKUSHIMA, KOCHI AND KAGAWA)
XXV. "SPECIAL TRIBES" (EHIME)
XXVI. THE STORY OF THE BLIND HEADMAN (EHIME)
THE SOUTH-WEST OF JAPAN
XXVII. UP-COUNTRY ORATORY (YAMAGUCHI)
XXVIII. MEN, DOGS AND SWEET POTATOES (SHIMANE)
XXIX. FRIENDS OF LAFCADIO HEARN (SHIMANE, TOTTORI AND HYOGO)
TWO MONTHS IN TEMPLE (NAGANO)
XXX. THE LIFE OF THE PEASANTS AND THEIR PRIESTS
XXXI. "BON" SEASON SCENES
IN AND OUT OF THE TEA PREFECTURE
XXXII. PROGRESS OF SORTS (SHIDZUOKA AND KANAGAWA)
XXXIII. GREEN TEA AND BLACK (SHIDZUOKA)
EXCURSIONS FROM TOKYO
XXXIV. A COUNTRY DOCTOR AND HIS NEIGHBOURS (CHIBA)
XXXV. THE HUSBANDMAN, THE WRESTLER AND THE CARPENTER (SAITAMA, GUMMA AND TOKYO)
XXXVI. "THEY