like his
appearance. Nor for the matter of that was I impressed by the
countenances of some Buddhist priests I encountered in the train from
time to time. "Thinking always of money," someone said. But every now
and again I saw fine priestly faces.

I have noted down very little in regard to the crops and the
countryside in Tottori. Things seemed very much the same as I had seen
in Shimane. At an agricultural show in the city of Tottori the
varieties of yam and taro were so numerous as to deceive the average
Westerner into believing that he was seeing the roots of different
kinds of plants. A feature of the show was a large realistic model of
a rice field with two life-size figures.

In the evening I talked with two distinguished men until a late hour.
"We are not a metaphysical people," one of them said. "Nor were our
forefathers as religious as some students may suppose. Those who went
before us gave to the Buddhist shrine and even worshipped there, but
their daily life and their religion had no close connection. We did
not define religion closely. Religion has phases according to the
degree of public instruction. Our religion has had more to do with
propitiation and good fortune than with morality. If you had come here
a century ago you would have been unable to find even then religion
after another pattern. If it be said that a man must be religious in
order to be good the person who says so does not look about him. I am
not afraid to say that our people are good as a result of long
training in good behaviour. Their good character is due to the same
causes as the freedom from rowdiness which may be marked in our
crowds."

"What is wanted in the villages," said the other personage, "is one
good personality in each." I said that the young men's association
seemed to me to be often a dull thing, chiefly indeed a mechanism by
means of which serious persons in a village got the young men to work
overtime. "Yes," was the response, "the old men make the young fellows
work."

The first speaker said that there had been three watchwords for the
rural districts. "There was Industrialisation and Increase of
Production. There was Public Spirit and Public Welfare. There was The
Shinto Shrine the Centre of the Village. We have a certain conception
of a model village, but perhaps some hypocrisy may mingle with it.
They say that the village with well-kept Buddhist and Shinto shrines
is generally a good village."

"In other wo