enevolence, righteousness, loyalty, and truth, and who opposed the
absurdities of the Lord of Heaven [God].'[BH] 'Let then the child
make its parent, Heaven; the retainer, his lord; the wife, her
husband; and let each give up life for righteousness. Thus will
each serve Heaven. But if we exalt Heaven above parent or lord, we
shall come to think that we can serve it though they be disobeyed,
and like wolf or tiger shall rejoice to kill them. To such fearful
end does the Western learning lead."[BI]

The foregoing quotations reveal the exalted nature of the ideals held
by at least some of the leaders of ethical thought in Japan. Taken as
a whole, the moral ideals characterizing the Japanese during their
entire historical period have been conspicuously communal. The feudal
structure of society has determined the peculiar character of the
moral ideal. Loyalty took first rank in the moral scale; the
subordination of the inferior to the superior has come next, including
unquestioning obedience of children to parents, and of wife to
husband. The virtues of a military people have been praised and often
gloriously exemplified. The possession of these various ideals and
their attainment in such high degree have given the nation its
cohesiveness. They make the people a unit. The feudal training under
local daimyos was fitting the people for the larger life among the
nations of the world on which they are now entering. Especially is
their sense of loyalty, as exhibited toward the Emperor, serving them
well in this period of transition from Oriental to Occidental social
ideals.

Let us now examine some defective moral standards and observe their
origin in the social order. Take, for instance, the ideal of
truthfulness. Every Occidental remarks on the untruthfulness of the
Japanese. Lies are told without the slightest apparent compunction;
and when confronted with the charge of lying, the culprit often seems
to feel little sense of guilt. This trait of character was noted
repeatedly by the early negotiators with Japan. Townsend Harris and
Sir Rutherford Alcock made frequent mention of it. When we inquire as
to the moral ideal and actual instruction concerning truthfulness, we
are amazed to find how inadequate it was. The inadequacy of the
teaching, however, was not the primal cause of the characteristic.
There is a far deeper explanation, yet very simple, namely, the nature
of the social order. The