--'No, far from it,' I answered. 'I am a great advocate of the mental and physical development of women. My only desire as man is that the time should soon arrive when we could elect women as deputies to the Chamber; send them to the barracks and ships as soldiers and sailors, and to the field of campaign in time of emergency; select the most beautiful as our ambassadors and ministers to the courts of different countries and win over the hearts of the nation to which they are sent, while all this time we men might stay at home and calmly nurse the babies or indulge in a quiet smoke, of which I am very fond.' --'Let's have some more serious talk,' remarked another lady. 'You have not yet told us of the foundation of Bushido and its ethics. Let us hear something of that.' --'It is rather complicated. It will take much time. It won't do for my _Summer Dream_.' --'What?' she asked. --'Nothing. I mean it is too complicated and serious to tell you in this place. On those points, I must refer you to my book entitled _The Risen Sun_, published by Archibald Constable, the best publisher in London. It is one of the most important books published in the twentieth century; otherwise Archibald Constable would never have published it.' --'I see a Japanese gentleman is sometimes capable of indulging in a little bluff.' --'But the twentieth century has only just begun: besides, this kind of bluff is quite harmless. It is very different from that which some people are fond of indulging in, and, above all, it cannot bring about a national catastrophe.' --'Enough, we all see what you mean. "Their rising senses," as the poet says, will soon "begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle their clearer reason." Let us go now,' said one of them, and they all dispersed. Thereupon I also having left the room, sprang into the air, and once more floated away like a sprite, humming as I did so:-- '... I do fly After summer, merrily: Merrily, merrily, shall I live now, Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.' [1] For these 'singing insects,' which are a distinctive feature in the Far East, see Lafcadio Hearn on 'Insect-Musicians' in his _Exotics and Retrospectives_ (1898), pp. 39-80. The practice of caging them dates at least from 1095 A.D. Insects are now bred for this purpose in enormous numbers. IV A talk on brackens--Eating of fruits without peeling--A pet tortoise--Remarks on languages--Discourses on jiujitsu--Comparison of jiujitsu and wrestling--Japanese art and the Kokkwa--Pictures in the Gospel--Discourse on Bushido, its history and the origin of the term--Explanation of the terms Daimio, Samurai, and Bushi--Its literature--Japanese revenge and European duel--Japanese sword--Soul of Samurai--General Stoessel and a broken sword--Discussion on Japanese social morality--Japan far cleaner than any other nation--The condition at the time of the transition--General view of the westernised Japan--Occidental vulgarity