to Christianity both for its origin and its doctrine.

It is evident that Christianity is having an influence in Japan, far
beyond the ranks of its professed believers. It is proving a stimulus
to the older faiths, stirring them up to an earnestness in moral
teaching that they never knew in the olden times. It is interesting to
note that this widespread emphasis on ethical truth comes at a time
when morality is suffering a wide collapse.

An important point for the sociological student of Japanese moral
ideals is the fact that her moralists have directed their attention
chiefly to the conduct of the rulers. The ideal of conduct as stated
by them is for a samurai. If any action is praised, it is said that it
becomes a samurai; if condemned, it is on the ground that it is not
becoming to a samurai. Anything wrong or vulgar is said to be what you
might expect of the common man. All the terms of the higher morality,
such as righteousness, duty, benevolence, are expounded from the
standpoint of a samurai, that is, from the standpoint of loyalty. The
forty-seven ronin were pronounced "righteous samurai" because they
avenged the death of their lord, even though in doing so they
committed deeds that, by themselves, would have been condemned.
Japanese history and literature proclaim the same ideal. They are
exclusively concerned with the deeds of the higher class, the court
and the samurai. The actual condition of the common people in ancient
times is a matter not easily determined. The morality of the common
people was more a matter of unreasoning custom than of theory and
instruction. But these facts are susceptible of interpretation if we
remember that the interest of the historian and the moralist was not
in humanity, as such, but in the external features of the social
order. Their gaze was on the favored few, on the nobility, the court,
and the samurai.

In closing our discussion of Japanese moral ideals it may not be amiss
to append the Imperial Edict concerning the moral education of the
youth of Japan, issued by the Emperor November 31, 1890. This is
supposed to be the distilled essence of Shinto and Confucian teaching.
It is to-day the only authoritative teaching on morality given in the
public schools. It is read with more reverence than is accorded to the
Bible in England or America. It is considered both holy and inspired.

IMPERIAL EDICT ON MORAL EDUCATION

"We consider that the Founder of Our Empi