Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/118

 alleged, by slanderers of Japanese ethics, that to have been a geisha or a yu-jo is not a disqualifying prelude to respectable marriage. There is no truth in the statement. The delirium of passion is responsible for offences against social canons in Japan as in Europe, and during the period of general levelling and confusion that immediately succeeded the fall of feudalism, traditions and conventionalities were sometimes neglected. But, for the rest, the antecedents of a wife are, and have always been, scrutinised just as closely in this section of the Far East as in any Western country. The most unsightly feature of the whole system is the part played by parents and guardians in consigning their daughters or relatives to such a life. Where the promptings of filial duty possess almost the force of law, recourse to them may well take the character of coercion. There is no doubt that the Japanese daughter's estimate of her individual rights weighs little against her sense of family obligations, and that, on the other hand, her parents take a greatly exaggerated view of the obedience she owes them. Disciples of Western civilisation cannot choose but condemn such ethics in the most unequivocal terms. It should be distinctly understood, however, that only the pressure of dire necessity is held to justify the sacrifice of a girl's person. The act is counted a misery by those that have recourse to it, and evokes the profound pity of friends and relatives. There are no purely vol-