Page:The Awakening of Japan, by Okakura Kakuzō; 1905.djvu/26

 that the strength of the movement which brought Japan to her present position is due not less to the innate virility which has enabled her to assimilate the teachings of a foreign civilization than to her capability of adopting its methods. With a race, as with the individual, it is not the accumulation of extraneous knowledge, but the realization of the self within, that constitutes true progress.

With immense gratitude to the West for what she has taught us, we must still regard Asia as the true source of our inspirations. She it was who transmitted to us her ancient culture, and planted the seed of our regeneration. Our joy must be in the fact that, of all her children, we have been permitted to prove ourselves worthy of the inheritance. Great as was the difficulty