aculties and perfect your moral power by gaining knowledge and
by acquiring a profession. Further, promote the public interest
and advance the public affairs; and in case of emergency,
courageously sacrifice yourself to the public good. Thus offer
every support to Our Imperial Dynasty, which shall be as lasting
as the Universe. You will then not only be Our most loyal
subjects, but will be enabled to exhibit the noble character of
your ancestors.

"Such are the testaments left us by Our Ancestors, which must be
observed alike by their descendants and subjects. These precepts
are perfect throughout all ages and of universal application. It
is Our desire to bear them in Our heart, in common with you Our
subjects, to the end that we may constantly possess their
virtues."

This rescript may be read with admiration. But common sense would teach
every Westerner that a document so framed is at variance with the whole
bent of the modern mind, and, if forced upon it, could only goad it
into rebellion. And such, I have been informed, and easily believe, is
the effect it is beginning to have in Japan. Young people brought up on
Western languages and Western science demand a Western, that is a
rational, sanction for conduct. They do not believe the Emperor to be
divine, and therefore they cannot take their moral principles on trust
from him and from his ancestors. The violent reaction from this
State-imposed doctrine drives them into sheer scepticism and anarchy.
And here, as always throughout history, authority defeats its own
purposes. Western ideas cannot be taken _in part_. They cannot be
applied to the natural world and fenced off from the moral world. Japan
must go through the same crisis through which the West is passing; she
must revise the whole basis of her traditional morals. And in doing so
she must be content to lose that passionate and simple devotion which is
the good as well as the evil product of an age of uncritical faith.

V

FUJI

It was raining when we reached Gotemba and took off our boots at the
entrance of the inn. I had never before stayed at a Japanese inn, and
this one, so my friend assured me, was a bad specimen of the class.
Certainly it was disorderly and dirty. It was also overcrowded. But that
was inevitable, for a thousand pilgrims in a day were landing at Gotemba
station. Men and women, young and old, grandparents, parents, children