. The whole country and all the national modes
of thought have been in a state of transition, a condition of
unrest--circumstances not conducive to the production of classical
literature; moreover, literary ideas and conceptions have changed and
are still changing--changing rapidly. The development of a powerful
newspaper press must have a marked and far-reaching effect on Japanese
literature. So also must the study of Western literature by the
educated classes--a study which is both extensive and increasing.
Japanese literature is now undoubtedly in the melting-pot, so to
speak, and what will be the precise result it is impossible to
determine. It must be confessed that the modern Japanese who has been
educated according to Western methods, and is adequately acquainted
with the languages and literature of Europe, is infrequently an
admirer of the peculiar literature of his own country. Possibly it
suffers by comparison. Japan has produced no Dante, or Shakespeare, or
Milton. The moods of her people, and probably the limitations and
peculiarities of the language, have prevented the possibility of the
appearance of such divine geniuses. There is, its critics declare, an
absence of sustained power and sublimity in Japanese literature
generally, while the didactic and philosophical, if not altogether
lacking, is extremely rare therein. But it seems to me the height of
absurdity to compare the literature of a country like Japan with the
literature of some other land where everything is, and always has
been, essentially different. To properly comprehend, and probably to
be able to appreciate Japanese literature, it would be necessary to
get, so to speak, into the atmosphere in which it was produced. To
judge it by twentieth-century standards and canons of criticism and
from European standpoints is not only unfair but must create a totally
false impression.

[Illustration: A LABOUR OF LOVE
FROM A PRINT BY TOSHIKATA]

In every country which has attained any degree of civilisation, and
even in some countries whose civilisation is still imperfect, the
drama has played an important part, and Japan has been no exception to
the rule. Its dramatic literature is, I believe, of considerable
extent, and to understand, much less appreciate it properly would
require very profound study. Many of the more or less ancient dramas
are works not only containing the dialogue of the play but much
descriptive matter. They were, as a ma