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The Religions of Japan From the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji By: William Elliot Griffis (1843-1928) |
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FROM THE DAWN OF HISTORY
TO THE ERA OF MEIJI BY WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS, D.D. FORMERLY OF THE IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY OF TOKIO; AUTHOR OF "THE MIKADO'S
EMPIRE" AND "COREA, THE HERMIT NATION;" LATE LECTURER ON THE MORSE
FOUNDATION IN UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN NEW YORK "I came not to destroy, but to fulfil." THE SON OF MAN NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1895 COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS TROW DIRECTORY
PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY
NEW YORK
IN GLAD RECOGNITION OF THEIR SERVICES TO THE WORLD
AND
IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MY OWN GREAT DEBT TO BOTH
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK
SO UNWORTHY OF ITS GREAT SUBJECT
TO
THOSE TWO NOBLE BANDS OF SEEKERS AFTER TRUTH
THE FACULTY OF UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
OF WHOM
CHARLES A. BRIGGS AND GEORGE L. PRENTISS
ARE THE HONORED SURVIVORS
AND TO
THAT TRIO OF ENGLISH STUDENTS
ERNEST M. SATOW, WILLIAM G. ASTON AND BASIL H. CHAMBERLAIN
WHO LAID THE FOUNDATIONS OF CRITICAL SCHOLARSHIP IN JAPAN "IN UNCONSCIOUS BROTHERHOOD, BINDING THE SELF SAME SHEAF"
PREFACE
This book makes no pretence of furnishing a mirror of contemporary
Japanese religion. Since 1868, Japan has been breaking the chains of her
intellectual bondage to China and India, and the end is not yet. My
purpose has been, not to take a snap shot photograph, but to paint a
picture of the past. Seen in a lightning flash, even a tempest shaken
tree appears motionless. A study of the same organism from acorn to
seed bearing oak, reveals not a phase but a life. It is something like
this " to the era of Meiji" (A.D. 1868 1894) which I have essayed.
Hence I am perfectly willing to accept, in advance, the verdict of smart
inventors who are all ready to patent a brand new religion for Japan,
that my presentation is "antiquated." The subject has always been fascinating, despite its inherent
difficulties and the author's personal limitations. When in 1807, the
polite lads from Satsuma and Ki[=o]to came to New Brunswick, N.J., they
found at least one eager questioner, a sophomore, who, while valuing
books, enjoyed at first hand contemporaneous human testimony. When in 1869, to Rutgers College, came an application through Rev. Dr.
Guido F. Verbeck, of T[=o]ki[=o], from Fukui for a young man to organize
schools upon the American principle in the province of Echizen
(ultra Buddhistic, yet already so liberally leavened by the ethical
teachings of Yokoi Héishiro), the Faculty made choice of the author.
Accepting the honor and privilege of being one of the "beginners of a
better time," I caught sight of peerless Fuji and set foot on Japanese
soil December 29, 1870. Amid a cannonade of new sensations and fresh
surprises, my first walk was taken in company with the American
missionary (once a marine in Perry's squadron, who later invented the
jin riki sha), to see a hill temple and to study the wayside shrines
around Yokohama. Seven weeks' stay in the city of Yedo then rising out
of the débris of feudalism to become the Imperial capital, T[=o]ki[=o],
enabled me to see some things now so utterly vanished, that by some
persons their previous existence is questioned. One of the most
interesting characters I met personally was Fukuzawa, the reformer, and
now "the intellectual father of half of the young men of ... Japan." On
the day of the battle of Uyéno, July 11, 1868, this far seeing patriot
and inquiring spirit deliberately decided to keep out of the strife, and
with four companions of like mind, began the study of Wayland's Moral
Science. Thus were laid the foundations of his great school, now a
university. Journeying through the interior, I saw many interesting phenomena of
popular religions which are no longer visible. At Fukui in Echizen, one
of the strongholds of Buddhism, I lived nearly a year, engaged in
educational work, having many opportunities of learning both the
scholastic and the popular forms of Shint[=o] and of Buddhism. I was
surrounded by monasteries, temples, shrines, and a landscape richly
embroidered with myth and legend... Continue reading book >>
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