I regret that we have among us a certain number of typical braggarts, who unfortunately abound in every country, and their shameless bluffing has often caused astonishment to unprejudiced observers in foreign countries. Nevertheless, we as a nation are neither far better nor far worse than any other in the world. To remain as a petrified state, with plenty of well-preserved relics of all ages, is what we cannot bear for our country. We know well that a nation which produces sight-seers must be incomparably happier and more praiseworthy than that which furnishes quaint objects for show to please those sight-seers. If there be any other nation that wishes to make its home a peepshow for others, let it do so. That is not our business. What we aspire to earnestly as our national ideal is to make our country able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the senior Western nations in contributing to the advance and welfare of world civilisation. We shall proceed toward this goal, however fluctuating foreign opinion about us may be for years or ages to come. INDEX A Abe, family, 93 Aborigines, 28 Adoption, 346 Adzumakagami, 322 Agriculture, 78 Aidzu, 377ff. Ainu, 30ff., 66f., 70ff., 82ff., 86ff., 91, 104ff., 114, 119, 122ff., 125, 130, 143, 147, 153, 157, 175, 183, 192ff., 204, 237ff. Alienation of land, 346 Allod-holders, Frankish, 144 Alphabet, 167, 324 Amalgamation of cultures, 335, 347. _See_ Assimilation of cultures America, 371 ff., 394 Amita, 172 Amusements, 211 Ancient regime, 356 Annals, 364 Ansai, Yamazaki, 359 Anti-Semitism, 344 Apaches, 254 Archaeology, 29 Archery, 205, 312 Architecture, 130ff., 296 Aristocracy, 62, 246, 250, 343 Armour, 314ff. Art, 129ff., 261, 331, 345 Artisans, 288ff. AEsop, Fables of, 262 Ashigaru, 304 Ashikaga, age of, 214, 222ff., 227, 231, 234ff., 238, 241, 243, 245ff., 248, 251, 258ff., 263, 274, 284ff., 296ff., 310, 312, 316, 318, 320, 328, 331, 344, 350, 360ff. Ashikaga, family, 206ff., 210, 215ff., 233, 268ff., 307 Ashikaga Shogunate, 187, 207, 210ff., 215ff., 223, 227ff., 242, 252, 257, 261, 264, 268, 307, 320 Ashikaga, town, 227 Assessment, 298 Assimilation of cultures, 150. _See_ Amalgamation of cultures Astronomy, 107ff., 349 Augury, 64, 139 Auspices, 139 Austria, 213 Ave Maria, 173 B Balkan, 68 Ballad, 129, 134 Ball, kicking of, 237 Barons, English, 213 Barriers, 291, 342 Bartering, 84ff. Biographies, 365 Bismarck, 356 Biwa, instrument, 162 Biwa, Lake, 119ff. Block-engraver, 233ff. Blood-ties, 89 Body-guard, of Shogun, 294ff. _See_ Hatamoto Books, 231ff., 348, 358 Bookstores, 325 Botany, 349 Bourbons, 282