The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Empire of the East, by H. B. Montgomery

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Title: The Empire of the East

Author: H. B. Montgomery

Release Date: May 4, 2009 [EBook #28690]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE
EMPIRE OF THE EAST

BY

H. B. MONTGOMERY

"THIS NATION IS THE DELIGHT OF MY SOUL"
ST. FRANCIS XAVIER

WITH NINETEEN ILLUSTRATIONS

METHUEN & CO.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON

_First Published in 1908._

[Illustration: A STAR OF THE EAST
FROM A PRINT BY TOSHIKATA]

PREFACE

On my return from another visit to Japan a few months ago I found
those persons in this country with whom I was brought into close
association extremely curious and strangely ignorant regarding that
ancient Empire. Despite the multitude of books which have of late
years been published about Japan and things Japanese a correct
knowledge of the country and the people is, so far as I can judge,
altogether lacking in England. Indeed the multiplicity of books may
have something to do with that fact, as many of them have been written
by persons whose knowledge, acquired in the course of a flying visit,
was, to say the least, perfunctory, and who had no opportunities for
viewing the life of the people from within and forming a sound
judgment on many matters upon which the writers have dogmatically
pronounced. I, accordingly, came to the conclusion not only that there
was room for one more book on Japan, but that another book was greatly
needed--a book not technical, historical, abstruse or recondite, but a
book describing in simple language Japan as it was, is, and will be.
This is the task I set before myself when I commenced to write this
volume, and the reader must be the judge to what extent I have been
successful in the accomplishment thereof. I have touched but lightly
on the material de