The Invention of a New Religion | Page 6

course existed in Japan, as in all countries at every period; but Bushido,
as an institution or a code of rules, has never existed. The accounts
given of it have been fabricated out of whole cloth, chiefly for foreign
consumption. An analysis of medieval Japanese history shows that the
great feudal houses, so far from displaying an excessive idealism in the
matter of fealty to one emperor, one lord, or one party, had evolved the
eminently practical plan of letting their different members take
different sides, so that the family as a whole might come out as winner
in any event, and thus avoid the confiscation of its lands. Cases, no
doubt, occurred of devotion to losing causes--for example, to Mikados
in disgrace; but they were less common than in the more romantic
West.
Thus, within the space of a short lifetime, the new Japanese religion of
loyalty and patriotism has emerged into the light of day. The feats
accomplished during the late war with Russia show that the simple
ideal which it offers is capable of inspiring great deeds. From a certain
point of view the nation may be congratulated on its new possession.
* * *
The new Japanese religion consists, in its present early stage, of
worship of the sacrosanct Imperial Person and of His Divine Ancestors,
of implicit obedience to Him as head of the army (a position, by the
way, opposed to all former Japanese ideas, according to which the
Court was essentially civilian); furthermore, of a corresponding belief
that Japan is as far superior to the common ruck of nations as the
Mikado is divinely superior to the common ruck of kings and emperors.

Do not the early history-books record the fact that Japan was created
first, while all other countries resulted merely from the drops that fell
from the creator's spear when he had finished his main work? And do
not the later annals prove that true valour belongs to the Japanese
knight alone, whereas foreign countries--China and Europe alike--are
sunk in a degrading commercialism? For the inhabitants of "the Land
of the Gods" to take any notice of such creatures by adopting a few of
their trifling mechanical inventions is an act of gracious condescension.
To quote but one official utterance out of a hundred, Baron Oura,
minister of agriculture and commerce, writes thus in February of last
year:--
That the majesty of our Imperial House towers high above everything
to be found in the world, and that it is as durable as heaven and earth, is
too well known to need dwelling on here...... If it is considered that our
country needs a religious faith, then, I say, let it be converted to a belief
in the religion of patriotism and loyalty, the religion of Imperialism--in
other words, to Emperor-worship.
The Rev. Dr. Ebina,[2] one of the leading lights of the Protestant
pastorate in Japan, plunges more deeply still into this doctrine,
according to which, as already noted, the whole Japanese nation is, in a
manner, apotheosised. Says he:--
Though the encouragement of ancestor-worship cannot be regarded as
part of the essential teaching of Christianity (!), it [3] is not opposed to
the notion that, when the Japanese Empire was founded, its early rulers
were in communication with the Great Spirit that rules the universe.
Christians, according to this theory, without doing violence to their
creed, may acknowledge that the Japanese nation has a divine origin. It
is only when we realise that the Imperial Ancestors were in close
communion with God (or the Gods), that we understand how sacred is
the country in which we live. [Dr. Ebina ends by recommending the
Imperial Rescript on Education as a text for Christian sermons.]
[Note 2] We quote from the translation given by Mr. Walter Dening in
one of the invaluable "Summaries of Current Japanese Literature,"
contributed by him from time to time to the columns of the "Japan
Mail," Yokohama.
[Note 3] "It" means Christianity.
It needs no comment of ours to point out how thoroughly the nation

must be saturated by the doctrines under discussion for such amazing
utterances to be possible. If so-called Christians can think thus, the
non-Christian majority must indeed be devout Emperor-worshippers
and Japan-worshippers. Such the go-ahead portion of the nation
undoubtedly is--the students, the army, the navy, the emigrants to
Japan's new foreign possessions, all the more ardent spirits. The
peasantry, as before noted, occupy themselves little with new thoughts,
clinging rather to the Buddhist beliefs of their forefathers. But nothing
could be further removed from even their minds than the idea of
offering any organised resistance to the propaganda going on around
them.
As a matter of fact, the spread of the new ideas has been easy, because
a large class derives power from their diffusion,