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It is not always possible to distinguish Shunsui the historian from Shunsui the romancist; and in order to comply with the edict forbidding novelists to meddle with real personages of the Yedo period, he was obliged to garble his materials, transferring the scene of the story from Yedo to Kamakura, and from the cight- eenth to the fourteenth century, and altering the names of the characters. In this he was only following the example of the Chtushingura, the famous drama which deals with the same subject. The judicious reader will skip his historical disquisitions, nor care, for example, to follow him in discussing the question of the precise date when shops for the sale of buckwheat vermicelli were first established as separate institutions. He will turn from such muda-banashi (vain talk), as Shunsui himself calls it, to the scenes where he abandons his facts, and endeavours by the help of a sympathetic imagination to realise the feelings and emotions of the actors in the tragedy, filling in their surroundings, supplying them with parents, wives, sweethearts, or children, inventing 378 JAPANESE LITERATURE romantic incidents and passionate speeches, and, in short, converting them from vaguely outlined person- ages of history into real men and women. The great service rendered by Shunsui and his fellow- composers of Ninjobon was to recall the attention of writers and readers of fiction to human nature as the proper subject of the novelist’s art. Since the time of Murasaki no Shikibu this branch of study had been sadly neglected in Japan. The novelists of the romantic school were too much occupied with sensational situa- tions, hairbreadth escapes, and supernatural wonders, to study the human heart with its affections and passions ; while Ikku and Samba, though excellent in their way, were humourists and nothing more. The Ninjobon, it is. true, do not show us human nature at its best. The society into which they intro- duce the reader is far from select, and the morality sadly defective. But the vital element of fiction is there. We find in these works real human beings depicted in such a way that we can follow their fortunes with interest, and sympathise with them in their joys and sorrows. The dialogue of the Ninjobon is in the ordinary col- loquial language of Yedo, the BeBe portion in the written style. Amongst other Ninjobon may be mentioned the 7suge no Ogusht (1834), by Jippensha Ikku the younger ; /mose- dori (n. d.), by Tamenaga Shunga, a pupil of Shunsui; Musume Setsuyd (1831) and Musume Tathetkt (1837), by Kiokusanjin; and Zemarz Sannin Musume, by Shéotei Kinsui. During the remainder of the Yedo period Japanese fiction presents no feature of special interest. A good many novels were produced in the several styles de- WORKS IN CHINESE 379 scribed above, but there was no new departure and no writer of conspicuous merit. WORKS IN THE CHINESE LANGUAGE During the Yedo period the Chinese language held a position in Japan similar to that of Latin in Europe during the Middle Ages. It was the vehicle of all literature of a serious kind, and more especially of his- tory. Japanese scholars attained to great skill in com- position in the literary dialect of the Han dynasty, a period which may be taken as corresponding for China _ to the Augustan era in Rome. One of the chief historical works of this kind was the Dainthonshi, a history of Japan from the accession of the first Mikado, Jimmu Tenno, B.c. 660, to the abdica- tion of Go Komatsu in A.D. 1413, which, with its nume- rous addenda, extends to one hundred volumes. It was written by a number of scholars engaged for that pur- pose by Mitsukuni, Prince of Mito, and was completed about 1715, although not printed until 1851. The Dazni- honshi is much admired for its concise and elegant style. The Wikon Gwaishi, which was brought out by Rai Sanyo in 1837, is probably the best known work of its class in Japan. It relates the history of the Shogunate from its beginnings in the twelfth century down to the establishment of the Tokugawa dynasty of Shoguns under Iyeyasu in the beginning of the seventeenth century. Both this and the last-named work are invaluable for the study of Japanese history; but they present few attrac- tions to ordinary European readers, who will heartily concur in the unflattering estimate of the Gwazshz con- tained in Mr, Chamberlain’s Tings Japanese. 380 JAPANESE LITERATURE Another important work by Rai Sanyo is the Vzhon Seiki, a history of Japan in sixteen volumes. Towards the end of the Yedo period there was a great falling off in the literary use of the Chinese language in Japan. At the present day it is employed only for a few special purposes similar to those for which Latin is still resorted to in Europe. BOOK THE SEVENTH TOKIO PERIOD (1867-1898) BOOK THE SEVENTH TOKIO! PERIOD (1867-1898) SOME RECENT DEVELOPMENTS UNDER EUROPEAN INFLUENCE THE first half of the present century was a time of pro- found peace in Japan, during which the feudal system, established by Tokugawa lIyeyasu, was in appearance as flourishing and efficient as ever; but indications were not altogether wanting that it was already tending to its downfall. The condition of the peasantry had become very unsatisfactory. They were grievously taxed and oppressed by the Daimios, who competed with one another in pomp and magnificence, and to this end maintained large numbers of sinecure officials and idle retainers. The militagy organisation was wholly effete, as some collisions with British and Russian men-of-war early in the century proved very clearly. The nation had become tired of over-government. The Shdguns, for want of general support, were obliged to relax their control over the Daimios, the more powerful of whom began to assert their independence in a way which was fatal to the maintenance of the old feudal government. 1 The name of the capital was changed from Yedo to Tokio in 1869, when the Mikado took up his residence ior 383 384 JAPANESE LITERATURE The opening of Japan to foreign commerce in 1859 precipitated the inevitable struggle between the decrepit Shégunate and its recalcitrant vassals. It resulted in 1867 in the complete downfall of the former, and the establishment of a new political organisation, presided over by the Mikado, and supported by the chief advisers of the Daimios who had been instrumental in restoring him to his rightful position in the State, so long usurped by the Shoguns. ; These men, who combined political wisdom with ardent patriotism in no ordinary degree, built up on the ruins of the Shogunate the new system of government which Japan now enjoys. It is the most highly central- ised and efficient that the country has ever known, and has raised it to an unparalleled height of power and prosperity, liberty and enlightenment. A very large share in this result was due to the influ- ence of Western ideas. With the fall of the Shogunate the moral, religious, and political principles on which it was based became more or less discredited, and the nation turned to Europe for guidance. The great poli- tical change which had taken place produced no imme- diate results so far as the literature was concerned. The reorganisation of the constitution, the reform of the laws, the formation of an army and navy, the construction of roads, railways, lighthousés, and telegraphs, and the establishment of a national system of education had first to be attended to. But the visible superiority of Europe in all such matters led to the study of European, and especially English books as sources of practical knowledge. Before 1867, Dutch, which was studied by interpreters, and as a means of acquiring a knowledge of Western EUROPEAN LEARNING 385 medicine, was the only European language known to the Japanese. About this time the nation was seized with a passion for more extensive European learning. In spite of many difficulties, numbers of young men of good family made their way to Europe or America for study, or were not ashamed to take service in the households of foreign residents in Japan in order to have an opportunity of learning English, even a slight knowledge of which was a sure passport to official positions and emoluments. The school of foreign languages in Tokio received sub- stantial Government support, and flourished greatly. Presently a group of writers came forward who did their best by translations and original works to meet the general demand for information as to the learning, customs, laws, and institutions of Europe. Of these, Fukuzawa, with his Sezyd Jo (“Condition of Western Countries”), was the most distinguished. Nakamura’s translations of Smiles’ Sef-/7e/p and Mill’s Liberty also deserve mention. Kant and Herbert Spencer followed somewhat later. Their writings frequently supply texts for the Japanese able editor, instead of the works of the formerly venerated Confucius and Mencius. Another sign of the renewed avidity for knowledge was the rise of a newspaper press and of a magazine litera- ture. The first newspaper in Japan deserving of the name was published in Tokio by a Scotchman named Black about 1872. At the end of 1894 there were in existence, in spite of a rigorous censorship, no fewer than 814 different newspapers and magazines, with a total circulation of 367,755 copies. With the exception of translations and works designed to make Europe known to the Japanese, the literature 386 JAPANESE LITERATURE showed few signs of foreign influence until about 1879, when translations of European novels began to make their appearance. The first of these was Lord Lytton’s Ernest Maltravers. \t produced a profound sensation, and was followed during the next few years by a number of others.