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Rh intellectual industry, and produced, among a large number of works, the Dai Nihon Shi (History of Great Japan), which is even to-day the standard. The study of Japanese history revealed the fact that the governmental authority had been originally centred in the Emperor, and not divided with any subordinate; and the study of Confucian political science led to the same idea of an absolute monarchy. Thus the spirit of Imperialism grew, encouraged, perhaps, by clan jealousies and fostered by anti-foreign opinions, until "the last of the Shōguns" resigned his position, and the Emperor was restored to his original sole authority. Then the leaders of the Restoration abandoned their anti-foreign slogan, which had been only a pretext, and by a complete but wise volte-face, began to turn their country into the path of modern civilization, to make up for the lost centuries. But the story of this wonderful transformation belongs to the next chapter.

Griffis, in his "Japan in History, Folk-lore, and Art," gives interesting glimpses of Japanese history; and many other works on Japan present a brief treatment of this subject. Clement's Hildreth's "Japan as it Was and Is" is especially valuable for the period of seclusion. Knapp's "Feudal and Modern Japan" is instructive in its contrasts. The Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan abound in valuable material. For a single volume on this subject, Murray's "Japan" in the series of "The Stories of the Nations" or Longford's "Story of Old Japan" is the best. Murdoch's "History of Japan" in three volumes, of which two have been published, is the most authoritative.