Page:The Awakening of Japan, by Okakura Kakuzō; 1905.djvu/39

 while the souls of others, wafted among ethereal dreams, seek solace in an appeal to the unknown. The Night of Asia, which enshrouds them, is not, perhaps, without its own subtle beauty. It reminds us of the deep glorious nights we know so well in the East,—listless like wonder, serene like sadness, opalescent like love. One may touch the stars behind the veil where man meets spirit. One may listen to the secret cadence of nature beyond the border where sound bows to silence. Japan, who had proved herself equal to the task of repelling the Mongol invasion, found little difficulty in resisting that attempt at Western encroachment which, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, came in the form of the Shimabara Rebellion, instigated by the Jesuits. It has been