tch because a son or daughter had
fallen in love. And if it is difficult to marry for love it is not
easy to fall in love.[109] Society in which young men and young women
meet is restricted; there are few opportunities of conversation.
Without liberty towards women there can be no perfect sense of
responsibility towards them."

What had been taught to women as the supreme virtue was the virtue of
sacrifice for father, husband, children. It was most important to let
women know the significance of individualism. They were always
offering themselves for others before they became themselves. But the
idea of individuality was very little clearer to the Japanese man than
to the Japanese woman. People were too prone to wish to give 100 yen
before they had 100 yen. The Japanese were the most devotional people
in the world, but they hardly knew yet the things to be devoted to.

Yanagi is a leading member of a small association of literary men,
artists and students who graduated together from the Peers' School.
They call themselves for no obvious reason the Shirakaba or Silver
Birch Society. The intelligent and consistent efforts of these young
men to introduce vital Western work in literature, philosophy,
painting, sculpture, draughtsmanship and music, and the large measure
of success they have attained is of some significance. Several members
of the group belong to the old Kuge families, that is the ancient
nobility which surrounded the Emperor at Kyoto before the
Restoration. Cut off for centuries from military and administrative
activities by the dominance of the Shogunate Government, the Kuge
devoted themselves to the arts and the refinements of life. For the
exclusiveness of the past some of their descendants substitute
artistic integrity. The Shirakaba has had for several years a
remarkable magazine. Its editor and its publisher, its size, its price
and its date of publication are continually changed; it never makes
any bid for popularity; it expresses its sentiments in a downright way
and it has always been anti-official: yet it survives and pays its
way. Beyond the magazine, the Society has had every year at least one
exhibition of what its members conceive to be significant modern
European work. The members have also supported a few Japanese artists
of outstanding sincerity. Through the Shirakaba the influence of
Cezanne, Van Gogh, Rodin, Blake, Delacroix, Matisse, Augustus John,
Beardsley, Courbet, Daumier, Maillol,