An Introduction to the History of Japan — John Shaqi
An Introduction to the History of JapanHara, Katsuro
History
An Introduction to the History of Japan
Hara, Katsuro
Japan -- History
T'ang culture, which is now difficult to trace in China herself. This
is our first experiment in Chinese civilisation.
Among the dynasties that followed the fall of the T'ang, that which
longest held the rule was the Sung, and between China under the latter
dynasty and Japan merchant ships plied now and then. Some Japanese
Buddhist priests followed the track of their predecessors, and went over
to China to study Buddhism. At the time of the Yuen dynasty founded by
the Mongols, China sent many Buddhist missionaries successively to
Japan, where religious innovations were in course of progress. This is
our second experiment in Chinese civilisation. In the first experiment
the religious element was of course not excluded. The essential
characteristic, however, of the culture of the T'ang dynasty was
politico-aesthetical, and as the result of the introduction of that
culture, Japan became enlightened in general. In other words, the first
experiment may be said to have been an aesthetical one, while the second
is one apt to be termed a religious one, and by the blending of the
results of the two experiments, we became a tolerably aesthetic and
religious people. Still there remained much to be wished for in respect
of national unification and social solidarity, and it is the culture of
the Sung dynasty itself which provided that very need, being
politico-ethical in its essential nature. By the introduction of that
culture the doctrines of the Confucian philosophers, which were made the
means of regulating the social and political organisation of Japan,
were inculcated widely and deeply, and forced into practice more
rigorously than they were in China herself. This is our third experiment
in Chinese civilisation. And when this experiment was almost finished,
we were faced by the inundation of western civilisation, which at last
made it impossible for us to continue the process of rumination, and
compelled us to plunge headlong into the maelstrom of world history.
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