Japanese
to-day, and by their language. Through these the student traces an
early mixture of races--the Malay, the Mongolian, and the Ural-Altaic.
Whether the early crossing of these races bears vital relation to the
plasticity of the Japanese is a question which tempts the scholar.

Primitive, inter-tribal conflicts of which we have no reliable records
resulted in increasing intercourse. Victory was followed by
federation. And through the development of a common language, of
common customs and common ideas, the tribes were unified socially and
psychically. Consciousness of this unity was emphasized by the
age-long struggle against the Ainu, who were not completely conquered
until the eighteenth century.

With the dawn of authentic history (500-600 A.D.) we find amalgamation
of the conquering tribes, with, however, constantly recurring
inter-clan and inter-family wars. Many of these continued for scores
and even hundreds of years--proving that, in the modern sense, of the
word, the Japanese were not yet a nation, though, through
inter-marriage, through the adoption of important elements of
civilization brought from China and India via Korea, through the
nominal acceptance of the Emperor as the divinely appointed ruler of
the land, they were, in race and in civilization, a fairly homogeneous
people.

The national governmental system was materially affected by the need,
throughout many centuries, of systematic methods of defense against
the Ainu. The rise of the Shogunate dates back to 883 A.D., when the
chief of the forces opposing the Ainu was appointed by the Emperor and
bore the official title, "The Barbarian-expelling Generalissimo." This
office developed in power until, some centuries later, it usurped in
fact, if not in name, all the imperial prerogatives.

It is probable that the Chinese written language, literature, and
ethical teachings of Confucius came to Japan from Korea after the
Christian era. The oldest known Japanese writings (Japanese written
with Chinese characters) date from the eighth century. In this period
also Buddhism first came to Japan. For over a hundred years it made
relatively little progress. But when at last in the ninth and tenth
centuries native Japanese Buddhists popularized its doctrines and
adopted into its theogony the deities of the aboriginal religion, now
known as Shinto, Buddhism became the religion of the people, and
filled the land with its great temples, praying priests,