English
After three years spent in study he returned to his province, where he held honourable official posts under three successive Daimios until 1700, when he retired on a pension, and took up his abode in Kidto, where he spent the remainder of his days. His wife is said to have been an accomplished woman. She accompanied him on his travels to various parts of Japan, and assisted him in his literary labours. Yekken was a voluminous writer, and in the course of a long life (the Kangakusha were remarkable for longe- vity) produced over a hundred different works, compris- ing moral treatises, commentaries on the Chinese classics, learned dissertations on Japanese philology, botanical works, and books of travel. His sole object in writing was to benefit his countrymen; and his style, though manly and vigorous, is wholly devoid of rhetorical orna- ment, and of those frivolities of language which were so freely indulged in by contemporary novelists and drama- tists. He used the Kana or native phonetic script as far as possible, so as to bring his teachings down to the level of children and ignorant people. Though perhaps the most eminent scholar of his day, there is not an atom of pedantry about him. No Japanese books are more easy of comprehension than his. Their principal fault is one very common with Japanese writers of the Yedo period, namely, diffuseness and repetition. Due allowance being made for his age and country, Yekken’s writings are full of excellent morality of a plain, common-sense description. It is hardly possible to over- estimate their influence, or the service which he rendered to his country by his teachings. The following detached sentences from the Dazkun, a 238 JAPANESE LITERATURE treatise on education, composed by him at the age of ‘eighty, will give some idea of their quality. They have been somewhat abridged in translation. “In the houses of the great, good persons should be | . chosen from the first to be attached to the child. Even the poor should be careful, so far as their circumstances will permit, that their children should associate with good people. This is the teaching of the [Chinese] sages.” “A wet-nurse should be of a gentle disposition, staid and grave of demeanour, and of few words.” “A boy’s education should begin from the time when he ar eat rice, speak a little, and show pleasure or anger.” “Some nurses make cowards of children by wantonly telling them frightful stories. Ghost stories and the like should not be told to children. They should not be too warmly clad, or have too much to eat.” “Cunning, chattering, lying women should not be engaged as nurses. Drunkards, self-willed or malicious persons should also be avoided.” “From their infancy, truth in word and thought should be made of the first importance. Children should be severely punished for lying or deceit. Let their parents be careful not to deceive them, for this is another way of teaching them to deceive.” “A tutor should be a man of upright life. A child should not be put to learn of a disreputable person, no matter how clever he may be.” “Better for a child to lose a year’s study than consort for a day with a base companion.” “Every night the child’s sayings and actions during the day should be reviewed, and if necessary, punishment administered,” FS ale YEKKEN 239 “At the age of ten a boy should go to school. If he remains longer at home he is apt to be spoiled by his parents.” “Before sitting down to study, a boy should wash his hands, set a guard upon his thoughts, and campose his countenance. He should brush the dust off his desk, place his books upon it in an orderly manner, and read them in a kneeling posture. When he is reading to his teacher, he should not rest his book on a high desk, but on its case or on a low stand. It should certainly not be placed on the floor. Books should be kept clean, and when they are no longer required, the covers should be put on, and they should be put back in their place. This should be done even when the pupil is called away for some urgency. Books should not be flung about, stridden over, or used as pillows. The corners should not be turned down, or spittle used to raise the leaves. If waste paper contains texts from the classics or the names of sages, boys should be careful not to apply it to common purposes. Nor should waste paper with the names of one’s parents or lord be defiled.” Yekken devotes the third volume of the Dazkun to the education of girls. The two great virtues of a woman are, in his opinion, amiability and obedience. In another place he sums up the good qualities of a woman as— “st, A womanly disposition, as shown in modesty and submissiveness. . “2nd. Womanly language. She should be careful in the choice of words, and avoid lying and unseemly ex- pressions. She should speak when necessary, and be silent at other times. She should not be averse to listen- ing to others. “3rd. Womanly apparel. She should be cleanly, avoid 240 JAPANESE LITERATURE undue ornament, and have a proper regard to taste and refinement. “ath. Womanly arts. These include sewing, reeling silk, making clothes, and cooking. “Everything impure should be kept from a girl’s ears. Popular songs and the popular drama are not for them. The J/se Monogatari and Genjt Monogatari are objectionable on account of their immoral tend- ency.” Yekken recommends parents to write out the follow- ing thirteen counsels and give them to their daughters on their marriage. I have abbreviated them a good deal. “1, Be respectful and obedient to your parents-in-law. “2. A woman has no [feudal] lord. She should rever- ence and obey her husband instead. “3, Cultivate friendly relations with your husband’s relatives. “4, Avoid jealousy. If your husband offends, remon- strate with him gently, without hate or anger. “5. Generally, when your husband does wrong, it is your duty to remonstrate with him gently and affection- ately. “6, Be of few words. Avoid abusive language and falsehood. “7. Be always circumspect in your behaviour. Get up early. Go to bed at midnight. Do not indulge in a siesta. Attend diligently to the work of the house. Do not become addicted to saké or tea. Avoid listening to lewd songs or music. Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples being public resorts for pleasure, should be sparingly visited before the age of forty. “8, Have nothing to do with fortune-tellers or } ; " Y hs ‘x 4 J 4 ye ae oe Cae Oe ese YEKKEN 241 mediums, and do not offend the gods and Buddha by too familiar importunities. Attend to your human duties, and do not let your heart run astray after invisible supernatural beings. “9, Economy in domestic matters is all-important. “to, Keep young men at a distance. On no account have any written correspondence with them. Male domestics should not be allowed to enter the women’s apartments. “yr, Avoid conspicuous colours and patterns in your dress. Choose those suitable for a somewhat older person than yourself. “12, In everything your husband and his parents should come before your own parents. “13. Do not attend to the tattle of female servants.” This is commonplace enough. But Yekken could rise to higher flights on occasion, as the following extract from a treatise on the philosophy of pleasure (Aaku-kun) will show. The sentiment is of a distinctly Words- worthian quality. “Tf we make inward pleasures our chief aim, and use the ears and eyes simply as the means of procuring such delights from without, we shall not be molested by the lusts of these senses. If we open our hearts to the beauty of heaven, earth, and the ten thousand created things, they will yield us pleasure without limit, pleasure always before our eyes, night and morning, full and overflowing. The man who takes delight in such things becomes the owner of the mountains and streams, of the moon and flowers, and needs not to pay his court to others in order to enjoy them. They are not bought with treasure. Without the expenditure of a single cash he may use them to his heart’s content, and yet never exhaust them, 242 JAPANESE LITERATURE And although he enjoys possession of them as his own, no man will wrangle with him in order to deprive him of them. The reason is that the beauty of mountain and river, moon and flowers, has from the beginning no fixed owner. “He who knows the boundless sources of delight which are thus contained in the universe, and who finds his enjoyment therein, envies not the luxurious pleasures of the rich and great ; for such enjoyments are beyond those of wealth and honours. He who is unconscious of them cannot enjoy.the delectable things in the greatest abundance which are every day before his eyes. “Vulgar pleasures, even before they pass, become a torment to the body. If, for example, carried away by desire, we eat and drink our fill of dainty things, it is pleasant at first, but disease and suffering soon follow. In general, vulgar pleasures corrupt the heart, injure the constitution, and end in misery. The pleasures of the man of worth, on the other hand, nourish the heart and do not entice us astray. To speak in terms of outward things, the pleasures which we derive from the love of the moon or of flowers, from gazing on the hills and streams, from humming to the wind or following the flight of birds with envy, are of a mild nature. We may take delight in them all day long and do ourselves no harm. Man will not blame us, nor God remonstrate with us for indulgence in it. It is easy to be attained, even by the poor and needy, and has no ill consequences.