students of the future. In this book I
have as far as possible avoided mentioning names, otherwise I would
gladly inscribe on its pages the names of those many generals who
earned fame in the Russo-Japanese War. I feel perfectly certain that
every endeavour will be made to maintain the Japanese Army in the high
state of efficiency it has reached. At the same time I would emphasise
the fact that that Army is intended solely for defence. Japan has, in
a word, no military ambitions outside her own territory.

And as of the Army, so of the Navy. Perhaps the prowess of Japan's
Fleet impressed the English people even more than the victories of her
soldiers. Because the Navy, as it is to-day, is largely the outcome of
English training and the application of English ideas. In the first
instance Japan borrowed from the British Government the services of
some of its best naval officers to develop the Japanese Navy. A naval
college was established in the capital, modelled on the English system
of training. A dockyard was also constructed at Yokosko under French
guidance. It is, however, a mistake to suppose that Japan had no Navy
or no ambitions in the direction of creating one prior to English
naval officers being lent to the Japanese Government to assist in the
reorganisation of the Navy. The determination to create a fleet on
European lines was entertained by Japanese statesmen as far back as
the 'fifties, when the European Powers and the United States of
America were bringing pressure to bear on Japan with a view of
obtaining trading facilities and the opening up of the country
generally. The Japanese statesmen of those days were wise enough to
see that unless Japan was to be permanently under the tutelage of the
European Powers, it was necessary for her to construct a fleet and
army on European lines. Soon afterwards a naval school, under Dutch
instructors, was established at Nagasaki, and a certain number of
selected officers and men were sent to Europe to undergo a course of
instruction, and several war-vessels were ordered from Holland. In
1854 a two-masted ship was built in Japan from an English model, and
subsequently two others. During the war between Russia and Great
Britain a Russian sloop was wrecked on the Japanese coast, and
permission was obtained for Japanese workmen to be employed in the
repairs of the vessel, with a view of giving them an opportunity of
gaining some practical knowledge of naval architecture. I