Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 1.djvu/277



—The total area of these islands and islets is 162,000 square miles, in round numbers, of which 16,000 square miles have been added since the centralisation of the Government in 1867. Taken in order of magnitude, the five principal islands are Hondo, or Nippon (86,373 square miles); Yezo (30,148 square miles); Kiushu (13,778 square miles); Formosa (13,429 square miles), and Skikoku (6,861 square miles). Previously to the acquisition of Formosa, the area of the Japanese empire was equal to that of the British Isles, Holland, and Belgium combined. With the addition of Formosa and the Pescadores, it has become approximately equal to the area of the British Isles, Holland, Belgium, and Denmark.  —The Koji-ki, or annals of ancient matters.  —The Nihon-gi (history of Japan) and the Koga-shu (ancient records).  —Personal names were taken from the terminology of natural objects. Thus an Emperor was called "large wren," and noblemen were designated "mackerel," "red fish," "firefly," "weazel," "bonito," "earth-worm," "dragon," "whale," etc. No change in this system occurred until the introduction of Chinese learning and Buddhism, when curiously incongruous appellations began to be adopted; as "Head-fisherman Amida" (Amabe no Amida), "Silk-embroiderer Confucius" (Kinunui no Koshi), "Bow-maker Buddha" (Yuge no Shaka), "Field-dog-keeper Laotsze" (Agata no Tsukai no Roshi), and others equally startling, even courtesans taking the names of deities. In the ninth century the Emperor Nimmiyo set a new example. He gave himself a name signifying "just and righteous" (seiryo), being thus the first to import an abstract idea into personal 