Page:A handbook of modern Japan (IA handbookofmodern01clem).pdf/126

86 They have seemed to shift about with "every wind of doctrine," and, like the Athenians in Paul's day, have been often attracted by new things. But Dening's defence against this accusation is worthy of notice, and seems quite reasonable. He claims that "this peculiarity is accidental, not inherent"; that there was "no lack of permanence in their laws, institutions, and pursuits in the days of their isolation"; that in recent times "their attention has been attracted by such a multitude of [new] things that they have found great difficulty in making a judicious selection"; and the rapid changes "have not been usually dictated by mere fickleness, but have resulted from the wish to prove all things." Chamberlain, likewise, refers to so-called "characteristic traits" that are "characteristic merely of the stage through which the nation is now passing." And certainly a growing steadfastness of purpose and action is perceptible in many phases of Japanese life.

The Japanese are pre-eminently an æsthetic people. In all sections, among all classes, art reigns supreme. It permeates everything, great or small. "Whatever these people fashion, from the toy of an hour to the triumphs of all time, is touched by a taste unknown elsewhere."

The national spirit is excessively strong in Japan, and has been made powerful by centuries of development. Every Japanese is born, lives, and dies for