that may be, woman has already
attained a rank and marriage an honor unknown in any former age in
Japan, and still quite unknown in any Oriental land save Japan.

A serious study of Japanese morality should not fail to notice the
respective parts taken by Buddhism and Confucianism. The contrast is
so marked. While Confucianism devoted its energies to the inculcation
of proper conduct, to morality as contrasted to religion, Buddhism
devoted its energies to the development of a cultus, paying little
attention to morality. A recent Japanese critic of Buddhism remarks
that "though Buddhism has a name in the world for the excellence of
its ethical system, yet there exists no treatise in Japanese which
sets forth the distinctive features of Buddhist ethics." Buddhist
literature is chiefly occupied with mythology, metaphysics, and
eschatology, ethical precepts being interwoven incidentally. The
critic just quoted states that the pressing need of the times is that
Buddhist ethics should be disentangled from Buddhist mythology. The
great moralists of Japan have been Confucianists. Distinctively
Japanese morality has derived its impulse from Confucian classics. A
new spirit, however, is abroad among the Buddhist priesthood. Their
preaching is increasingly ethical. The common people are saying that
the sermons heard in certain temples are identical with those of
Christians. How widely this imitation of Christian preaching has
spread I cannot say; but that Christianity has in any degree been
imitated is significant, both ethically and sociologically.

Buddhism is not alone, however, in imitating Christianity. A few years
ago Dr. D.C. Greene attended the preaching services of a modern Shinto
sect, the "Ten-Ri-Kyo," the Heaven-Reason-Teaching, and was surprised
to hear almost literal quotations from the "Sermon on the Mount"; the
source of the sentiment and doctrine was not stated and very likely
was not known to the speaker. Dr. Greene, who has given this sect
considerable study, is satisfied that the insistence of its teachers
on moral conduct is general and genuine. When I visited their
headquarters, not far from Nara, in 1895, and inquired of one of the
priests as to the chief points of importance in their teaching, I was
told that the necessity of leading an honorable and correct life was
most emphasized. There are reasons for thinking that the Kurozumi sect
of Shintoism, with its emphasis on morality, is considerably indebted