fter
metaphysical subtleties, and fails to comprehend or to sympathise with
abstruse theological dogmas and doctrines. If Christianity appealed to
him as in the days of Francis Xavier as the one faith professed by the
Western world, it would probably impress him to a far greater extent
than it does at present when, as I have before said, he views
Christianity as a disorganised body composed of hundreds of sects each
rejecting, and many of them anathematising, what the others teach. He
considers there is no need for investigation until Christianity has
itself determined what is the precise truth that non-Christian
countries are to be asked to accept.

Regarding the influence of the Buddhist and Shinto religions during
the many centuries they have existed in the country on the lives of
the people, I propose to make a few remarks. Too often one hears or
reads of speakers and writers describing Japan as a country steeped in
paganism and addicted to pagan habits and customs with all (somewhat
indefinite this!) that they involve. To describe Buddhism as paganism
merely shows a lamentable amount of ignorance; nor should I be
inclined to include Shintoism in a term which, whatever its precise
meaning, is invariably intended to be opprobrious! After all, any
religion must be largely judged by its effects on the lives of its
adherents, and judged by that standard I do not think, as regards the
Japanese, either Buddhism or Shintoism ought to be sweepingly
condemned. If many of the customs and practices of both religions seem
silly or absurd; if either or both inculcate or lead to superstition,
it can at least be said of both that they teach a high moral code, and
that the average Japanese in his life, his family relations, his
philosophy, his patriotism, his bodily cleanliness, and in many other
respects, offers an example to other nations which deem themselves
more highly civilised, which possess a purer religion and too often,
with that lack of charity which is frequently the result of an excess
of ignorance, unsparingly condemn the Japanese as "pagans" or
"heathens."

[Illustration: A CHERRY BLOSSOM PARTY
FROM A PRINT BY HIROSHIGE]

CHAPTER V

THE CONSTITUTION--THE CROWN AND THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT

A Constitution, if we are to accept the dogmatic assertions of those
who have written with a show of learning on the subject, ought to be
evolved rather than established by any parliamentary or despotic act.