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Religion in Japan: Shintoism Buddhism Christianity.
By
George A. Cobbold, B.A.
Pembroke College, Oxford
With Illustrations.
Printed Under The Direction of the Tract Committee.
London:
Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge,
Northumberland Avenue, W.C.; 43, Queen Victoria Street, E.C.
Brighton: 129, North Street
New York: E. S. Gorham
1905
CONTENTS
Introductory.
I. Shintoism.
II. Buddhism.
III. Buddhism In Japan.
IV. Buddhism And Christianity.
V. Christianity In Japan.
Publications Of The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
Footnotes
INTRODUCTORY.
It may well be questioned whether, in the course of a like period of time,
any country has ever undergone greater transitions, or made more rapid
strides along the path of civilization than has Japan during the last
quarter of a century. A group of numerous islands, situated on the
high road and thoroughfare of maritime traffic across the Pacific, between
the Eastern and Western hemispheres, and in area considerably exceeding
Great Britain and Ireland, Japan, until thirty years ago, was a terra
incognita to the rest of the world; exceeding even China in its
conservatism and exclusiveness. And now, within a space of some
five and twenty years, such changes have come about as to have given birth
to the expression, "the transformation of Japan." The more conspicuous of
these changes are summed up by a recent writer in the following
words: "New and enlightened criminal codes have been enacted; the methods
of judicial procedure have been entirely changed; thoroughly efficient
systems of police, of posts, of telegraphs, and of national education have
been organized; an army and a navy modelled after Western patterns have
been formed; the finances of the Empire have been placed on a sound basis;
railways, roads, and harbours have been constructed; an efficient
mercantile marine has sprung into existence; the jail system has been
radically improved; an extensive scheme of local government has been put
into operation; a competitive civil service has been organized; the whole
fiscal system has been revised; an influential and widely read newspaper
press has grown up with extraordinary rapidity; and government by
parliament has been substituted for monarchical absolutism."(1) At the
present day, an Englishman travelling in Japan is constantly meeting
numbers of his countrymen, intent on either business or pleasure; while at
all the principal cities and places of resort, handsome new hotels, fitted
in Western style, are to be found. The Mikado may be seen driving through
his Capital in a carriage that would not be out of place in the Parks of
London or Paris; and at Court ceremonies European dress is de rigueur .
English is taught in all the better class schools, and at the Universities
the works of such authors as Bacon, Locke, Macaulay, Darwin, John Stuart
Mill, Herbert Spencer, are in constant request with the students. In
short, on every side evidence is afforded, that be it for better or for
worse, the old order is fast changing and giving place to new.
The circumstances which have brought about these wonderful changes can
only be very briefly indicated here. It was towards the middle of the
sixteenth century that Japan first came into contact with the Western
world; the first traders to arrive being the Portuguese, who were followed
some sixty years later by the Dutch, and in 1613 by a few English ships.
To all of these alike a hospitable reception appears to have been
accorded; nor is there any doubt that Japanese exclusiveness was a thing
of subsequent growth, and that it was based only on a sincere conviction
that the nation's well being and happiness would be best consulted by
refusing to have dealings with the outer world... Continue reading book >>
