Part 2 (2/2)
Another feature of this j.a.panese work was the elimination of any strain or overexertion. If a girl failed to catch a basket as it whirled along the line she dropped it instantly. Never did I see anyone reach over or strain to do her work.
The rest for lunch occupied only about fifteen minutes, the begrimed workers sitting down on the steps of the ladders and eating their simple food with keen relish. At night when strong electric lights cast their glare over these constantly moving lines of figures the effect was almost grotesque, reminding one of Gustave Dore's terrible pictures of the lost souls in torment, or of the scramble to escape when the deluge came. The skill that comes of long practice marked the movements of all these workers, and it was rare that any basket was dropped by an awkward or tired coal-pa.s.ser.
In seventeen hours four thousand five hundred tons of coal were loaded on the steamer. About fifteen hundred people were working on the various ladders, while another five hundred were employed in tr.i.m.m.i.n.g the coal in the hold and in managing the various boats. The result was an exhibit of what can be done by primitive methods when perfect co-operation is secured.
Nagasaki itself has little that will interest the tourist but a ride or walk to Mogi, on an arm of the ocean, five miles away, may be taken with profit. The road pa.s.ses over a high divide and, as it runs through a farming country, one is able to see here (more perfectly than in any other part of j.a.pan) how carefully every acre of tillable land is cultivated. On both sides of this road from Nagasaki to the fis.h.i.+ng village of Mogi were fields enclosed by permanent walls of stone, such as would be built in America only to sustain a house. In many cases the ground protected by this wall was not over half an acre in extent, and in some cases the fields were of smaller size. Tier after tier of these walls extended up the sides of the steep hills. The effect at a little distance was startling, as the whole landscape seemed artificial. The result of this series of walls was to make a succession of little mesas or benches such as may be seen in southern California.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE j.a.pANESE SENSE OF BEAUTY
After a trip through j.a.pan the question that confronts the observant tourist is: What has preserved the fine artistic sense of the j.a.panese people of all cla.s.ses, in the face of the materialist influences that have come into their life with the introduction of Western methods of thought and of business? The most careless traveler has it thrust upon him that here is a people artistic to the tips of their fingers, and with childlike power of idealization, although they have been forced to engage in the fierce warfare of modern business compet.i.tion. What is it that has kept them unspotted from the world of business? What secret source of spiritual force have they been able to draw upon to keep fresh and dewy this eager, artistic sense that must be developed with so much labor among any Western people?
The answer to these questions is found, by several shrewd observers, in the j.a.panese devotion to their gardens. Every j.a.panese, no matter how small and poor his house, has a garden to which he may retire and ”invite his soul.” These j.a.panese gardens are unique and are found in no other land. China has the nearest approach to them, but the poor Chinese never dreams of spending time and money in the development of a garden, such as the j.a.panese in similar circ.u.mstances regards as a necessity.
And these j.a.panese gardens are always made to conform to the house and its architecture. The two never fail to fit and harmonize. A poor man may have only a square of ground no larger than a few feet, but he will so arrange it as to give it an appearance of s.p.a.ciousness, while the more elaborate gardens are laid out so as to give the impression of unlimited extent. The end of the garden appears to melt into the horizon, and the owner has a background that extends for miles into the country. By the artistic use of stones and dwarf plants, a few square feet of ground are made to give the effect of liberal s.p.a.ce and, with bridges, moss-covered stones, ponds, gold fish and other features, a perfect illusion of the country may be produced.
Into this garden the master of the house retires after the work of the day. There he takes none of his business or professional cares. He gives himself wholly to the contemplation of Nature. He becomes for the time as a little child, and his soul is pleased with childish things. For him this garden, with its pretty outlook on a larger world, serves as the boundary of the universe. Here he may dream of the legends of the Samurai, before j.a.pan fell under the evil influence of the new G.o.d of Gain. Here he may indulge in the day-dreams that have always been a part of the national consciousness. Here, in fine, he may get closer to the real heart of Nature than any Occidental can ever hope to reach.
It is this capacity to get close to Nature that the j.a.panese possess beyond any other Oriental people--and this capacity is not limited to those of means or leisure or education. The poor man, who has a daily struggle to get enough rice to satisfy his moderate wants, is as open to these influences as the rich man who is not worried by any material wants. There is no distinction of cla.s.ses in this universal wors.h.i.+p of beauty--this pa.s.sion for all that is lovely in nature. It was not my good fortune to be in j.a.pan at the time of the cherry-blossom festival--but these fetes merely serve to bring out this national pa.s.sion for beauty and color, which finds expression not only in the gardens throughout the empire but in painting, drawing and in working on silks and other fabrics. The same instinctive art sense is seen in the work of the cabinet-maker and even in the designs of gateways and the doors of houses. The eye and the hand of the common worker in wood and metal is as sure as the hand of the great artist. Such is the influence of this constant study of beauty in nature and art.
When you watch a busy j.a.panese artisan you get a good idea of the spirit that animates his work. He regards himself as an artist, and he shows the same sureness of hand and the same sense of form and color as the designer in colors or the painter of portraits or landscapes. All the beautiful gateways or torii, as they are called, are works of art. They have one stereotyped form, but the artists embellish these in many ways and the result is that every entrance to a large estate or a public ground is pleasing to the eye. As these gateways are generally lacquered in black or red or gold, they add much to the beauty and color of each scene. The ornamental lattice over nearly every door also adds enormously to the effectiveness of even a simple interior.
Watch a worker on cloissone enamel and you will be amazed at the rapidity and the accuracy with which he paints designs on this beautiful ware. Without any pattern he proceeds to sketch with his brush an intricate design of flowers, birds or insects, and he develops this with an unerring touch that is little short of marvelous, when one considers that he has never had any regular training in drawing but has grown up in the shop and has gained all his skill from watching and imitating the work of his master on the bench at his side. One day in Kyoto I watched a mere boy gradually develop a beautiful design of several hundred b.u.t.terflies gradually becoming smaller and smaller until they vanished at the top of the vase. What he proposed to make of this was shown in a finished design that was exquisite in the gradation of form and color.
The same skill of hand and eye was seen in the shops of Kyoto where damascene ware is made. Gold and silver is hammered into steel and other metals, so that the intricate designs actually seem to become a part of the metal. In carving in wood the j.a.panese excel, and in such places as Nikko and Nara the tourist may pick up the most elaborate carvings at absurdly low prices.
CONCLUSIONS ON j.a.pANESE LIFE AND CHARACTER
In summing up one's observations of j.a.panese life and character, after a brief trip across the empire, it is necessary to exercise much care and not to take the accidental for the ordinary incidents of life.
Generalizations from such observations on a hurried journey are especially deadly. To guard against such error I talked with many people, and the conclusions given here are drawn from the radically different views of missionaries, merchants, steams.h.i.+p agents, bankers and others. Generous allowance must be made for the prejudices of each cla.s.s, but even then the forming of any conclusions is difficult. This is due largely to the fact that the j.a.panese a half-century ago were mediaeval in life and thought, and that the remarkable advances which they have made in material and intellectual affairs have been crowded into a little more than the life of two generations.
The most common charge made against the j.a.panese as a race is that their standard of commercial morality is low as compared with that of the Chinese. The favorite instance, which is generally cited by those who do not like the j.a.panese, is that all the big banks in j.a.pan employ Chinese shroffs or cas.h.i.+ers, who handle all the money, as j.a.panese cas.h.i.+ers cannot be trusted. This ancient fiction should have died a natural death, but it seems as though it bears a charmed life, although its untruth has been repeatedly exposed by the best authorities on j.a.pan.
The big foreign banks in all the large j.a.panese cities do employ Chinese shroffs, because these men are most expert in handling foreign money and because they usually have a large acquaintance all along the Chinese coast among the clients of the banks. The large j.a.panese banks, on the other hand, employ j.a.panese in all positions of trust and authority, as do all the smaller banks throughout the empire. Many of the cas.h.i.+ers of these smaller banks understand English, particularly those that have dealings with foreigners. At a native bank in Kobe, which was Cook's correspondent in that city, I cashed several money orders, and the work was done as speedily as it would have been done in any American bank.
The fittings of the bank were very cheap; the office force was small, but the cas.h.i.+er spoke excellent English and he transacted business accurately and speedily.
In making any generalizations on the lack of rigid commercial honesty among j.a.panese merchants it may be well for me to quote the opinion of an eminent American educator who has spent over forty years in j.a.pan. He said, in discussing this subject: ”We must always consider the training of the j.a.panese before their country was thrown open to foreign trade.
For years the nation had been ruled by men of the Samurai or military cla.s.s, with a rigid code of honor, but with a great contempt for trade and tradesmen. Naturally business fell into the hands of the lower cla.s.ses who did not share the keen sense of honor so general among their rulers. Hence, there grew up lax ideas of commercial morality, which were fostered by the carelessness in money matters among the n.o.bility and aristocracy. Much of the prevalent j.a.panese inability to refrain from overcharging, or delivering an inferior article to that shown to the customer, dates back to these days of feudal life. The years of contact with the foreigners have been too few to change the habits of centuries. Another thing which must always be considered is the relation of master and va.s.sal under feudal life. That relation led to peculiar customs. Thus, if an artisan engaged to build a house for his overlord he would give a general estimate, but if the cost exceeded the sum he named, he expected his master to make up the deficit. This custom has been carried over into the new regime, so that the j.a.panese merchant or mechanic of to-day, although he may make a formal contract, does not expect to be bound by it, or to lose money should the price of raw material advance, or should he find that any building operations have cost more than his original estimate. In such case the man who orders manufactured goods or signs a contract for any building operations seems to recognize that equity requires him to pay more than was stipulated in the bond. When j.a.panese deal with j.a.panese this custom is generally observed. It is only the foreigner who expects the j.a.panese to fulfill his contract to the letter, and it is the attempt to enforce such contracts which gives the foreign merchant his poor opinion of j.a.panese commercial honesty. In time, when the j.a.panese have learned that they must abide by written contracts, these complaints will be heard no longer. The present slipshod methods are due to faulty business customs, the outgrowth of the old Samurai contempt for trade in any form.”
In dealing with small j.a.panese merchants in various cities, it was my experience that they are as honest as similar dealers in other countries. Usually they demanded about one-half more than they expected to receive. Then they made reductions and finally a basis of value was agreed upon. This chaffering seems to be a part of their system; but the merchants and manufacturers who are brought most often into contact with Europeans are coming to have a fixed price for all their goods, on which they will give from ten to twenty per cent. reduction, according to the amount of purchases. One manufacturer in Kyoto who sold his own goods would make no reduction, except in the case of some samples that he was eager to sell. His goods were all plainly marked and he calmly allowed tourists to leave his store rather than make any cut in his prices. The pains and care which the j.a.panese dealer will take to please his customer is something which might be imitated with profit by foreign dealers.
A question that is very frequently put is, ”What has been the influence of Christianity upon j.a.panese life and thought?” This is extremely difficult to answer, because even those who are engaged in missionary work are not always in accord in their views. One missionary of thirty years' experience said: ”The most noteworthy feature of religious work in j.a.pan is the number of prominent j.a.panese who have become converts to Christianity. The new Premier, who is very familiar with life in the United States, may be cited as one of these converts. Such a man in his position of power will be able to do much to help the missionaries. The usual charge that j.a.panese embrace Christianity in order to learn English without expense falls to the ground before actual personal experience. The converts always seemed to me to be as sincere as converts in China or Corea, but it must be admitted that the strong materialist bent of modern j.a.panese education and thought is making it more difficult to appeal to the present generation.”
An educator who has had much experience with j.a.panese said: ”It looks to me as though j.a.pan would soon reach a grave crisis in national life.
Hitherto Buddhism and s.h.i.+ntoism have been the two forces that have preserved the religious faith of the people and kept their patriotism at white heat. Now the influences in the public schools are all antagonistic to any religious belief. The young men and women are growing up (both in the public schools and the government colleges) to have a contempt for all the old religious beliefs. They cannot accept the s.h.i.+nto creed that the Emperor is the son of G.o.d and should be wors.h.i.+ped as a deity by all loyal j.a.panese. They cannot accept the doctrines of Buddha, as they see the New j.a.pan giving the lie to these doctrines every day in its home and international dealings. Nothing is left but atheism, and the experience of the world proves that there is nothing more dangerous to a nation than the loss of its religious faith.
The women of j.a.pan are slower to accept these new materialist views than the men, but the general breaking down of the old faith is something which no foreign resident of j.a.pan can fail to see. On the other side patriotism is kept alive by the pilgrimages of school children to the national shrines, but one is confronted with the questions? Will the boys and girls of a few years hence regard these shrines with any devotion when they know that Buddhism and s.h.i.+ntoism are founded on a faith that science declares has no foundation? Will they offer up money and homage to wooden images which their cultivated reason tells them are no more worthy of wors.h.i.+p than the telegraph poles along the lines of the railway?'”
The j.a.panese way of doing things is the exact reverse of the American way generally, but if one studies the methods of this Oriental race it will be found that their way is frequently most effective. Thus, in addressing letters they always put the city first, then the street address and finally the number, while they never fail to put the writer's name and address on the reverse of the envelope, which saves the postoffice employes much trouble and practically eliminates the dead-letter office.
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