Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 2.djvu/236

 samurai, as Yamato-damashii, thus assigning to it a national character. There was in truth nothing in the conditions or incidents of their existence to educate patriotism,—no rivalry with other States, no struggle for the safety of altar and hearth. The security and prosperity of the fief to which each bushi belonged were the limits of his mental horizon. Nevertheless, at the beginning of the Meiji era, there suddenly flamed up throughout the whole nation a fire of patriotism which burned thenceforth with almost fierce strength. The Yamato-damashii ceased to be a theoretical sentiment and became a practical inspiration. Men of the samurai class devoted themselves with absorbing energy to the task of raising their country's international status. Nothing in their history suggested the probability of such a display of vigorous patriotism. The explanation, however, is simple. What stirred their hearts so profoundly was the discovery that in many of the essentials of material civilisation their country was separated by an immense interval from Occidental States. They found that, during centuries of seclusion, Japan had fallen far behind Europe and America in the race of progress, and that unless she was to lie permanently under the reproach of semi-barbarism, a strong effort on the part of her people was necessary. Such ready recognition of an unwelcome fact reflects credit on their intelligence. But that phase of the matter need not be