sults of their genius? That is the question we have to
answer before we accept the doctrine that the noblest masterpieces
of ancient Japan were from foreign lands. When anything comparable
is found in China or Korea, there will be less difficulty in
applying this doctrine of over-sea-influence to the genius that
enriched the temples of antique Japan."[AF]

Under the early influence of Buddhism (900-1200 A.D.) Japan fairly
bloomed. Those were the days of her glory in architecture, literature,
and art. But a blight fell upon her from which she is only now
recovering. The causes of this blight will receive attention in a
subsequent chapter. Let us note here only one aspect of it, namely,
official repression of originality.

Townsend Harris, in his journal, remarks on the way in which the
Japanese government has interfered with the originality of the people.
"The genius of their government seems to forbid any exercise of
ingenuity in producing articles for the gratification of wealth and
luxury. Sumptuary laws rigidly enforce the forms, colors, material,
and time of changing the dress of all. As to luxury of furniture, the
thing is unknown in Japan.... It would be an endless task to attempt
to put down all the acts of a Japanese that are regulated by
authority."

The Tokugawa rule forbade the building of large ships; so that, by the
middle of the nineteenth century, the art of ship-building was far
behind what it had been two centuries earlier. Government authority
exterminated Christianity in the early part of the seventeenth century
and freedom of religious belief was forbidden. The same power that put
the ban on Christianity forbade the spread of certain condemned
systems of Confucianism. Even in the study of Chinese literature and
philosophy, therefore, such originality as the classic models
stimulated was discouraged by the all-powerful Tokugawa government.
The avowed aim and end of the ruling powers of Japan was to keep the
nation in its _status quo_. Originality was heresy and treason;
progress was impiety. The teaching of Confucius likewise lent its
support to this policy. To do exactly as the fathers did is to honor
them; to do, or even to think, otherwise is to dishonor them. There
have not been wanting men of originality and independence in both
China and Japan; but they were not great enough to break over, or
break down, the incrusted system in which they lived--the system of
blind d