Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 4.djvu/114

 clamouring for freedom of speech and pen and for constitutional institutions, while at the same time they employed the bludgeon of the sōshi to silence hostile writers, to interrupt public meetings, and to establish a reign of force. The sōshi rapidly fell into disrepute. He was disfigured by venality, a blemish always incompatible with high motives in Japanese eyes, and his manner of life contrasted shockingly with the principles his services were enlisted to promote. At one time there existed as many as eighteen sōshi associations in Japan with a total membership of at least fifteen hundred. To-day there is not one recognised association, and it would probably be difficult to collect a score of sōshi for any purpose. Many of the sometime stalwarts now earn their bread as petty clerks, as itinerant venders of medicines or newspapers, or in some other humble calling. A few have taken to the stage, organising theatrical troupes of their own, and a few live by nefarious practices. But the truth is that the sōshi shares with the devil the misfortune of being painted blacker than he is. Every chevalier d'industrie, not enrolled in the ranks of some recognised band of sharpers, is classed as a sōshi, and doubtless this vicarious discredit has contributed to the disappearance of the sōshi abuse.

The renowned burglars of former times, men that robbed the rich and succoured the poor, have no modern representatives in Japan. Neither