ence. It was true, he said, that there were old men among the
Ronin, but many, of them were young men--one was only fifteen--and it
had to be borne in mind that if they escaped death at the hands of the
law it was hardly likely that during the whole course of their
after-lives they could hope to escape committing sin of some sort or
another. At the moment they had reached a pinnacle of nobility which
they could never pass and it was a thing to be desired for them that
they should die now, when they would live to all posterity as heroes.
The happiest fate for the Ronin was a righteous death, and as their
admiring sympathiser the abbot expressed his unwillingness to do
anything which might have the effect of saving them from so glorious
an end.

FOOTNOTES:

[221] Someone said to me, "I have in mind one village where there is a
poorly cared-for school and a score of teahouses giving employment to
nearly two hundred people."

[222] "Small boards with crude designs painted on them. They may be
prayers, thank-offerings or protective charms. A shrine where many
thanks _ema_ have been left is clearly that of a god ready to hear and
answer prayer. Worshippers flock to the place and the accumulation of
painted boards--whether prayers or thanks--increases."--FREDERICK
STARR, _Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan_, vol. xlviii.

[223] The percentage in conscripts in 1918 was 2.2 per cent, against
2.5 per cent, in 1917 and 2.7 per cent, in 1916. ("Not less than 10
per cent. of the population of our large towns are infected with
syphilis and a much larger proportion with gonorrhoea."--SIR JAMES
CRICHTON-BROWNE.) The figures for the general population of Japan must
be higher.

[224] See Appendix LXIII.

[225] It sometimes happens that an adopted son is dismissed with "a
sufficient monetary compensation" when a real son is born.

[226] I met a fine ex-daimyo, who after the Restoration had served as
a prefectural governor. He was so generous in giving money to public
objects in his prefecture that his family compelled him to resign
office.

[227] See Appendix XXX.

[228] It is only within the last quarter of a century that the
authorities have taken a stand against infanticide. There is no
traditional dislike of an artificial diminution of progeny, for many
of the fathers and grandfathers of the present generation practised
it. Methods of procuring abortion were also common. A certain plant
has a well-known reputati