Page:The National Geographic Magazine Vol 16 1905.djvu/125

Rh After passing through the stage of adaptation, we soon entered into the stage of origination. In the year 757 A. D. a collection of old Japanese poems was compiled in the newly invented phonetic language. Again, in 798 A. D. the history of Japan was for the first time written in the new language — not in Chinese hieroglyphics as formerly.

In the early part of the eleventh cen- tury ' ' The Tale of Prince Gengie ' ' was compiled by Murasaki Shikibu, a lady- in-waiting to the Empress, and about the same time another book, "The Scrap book Under the Pillow," was written by another lady-in-waiting by the name of Seisho Nagon. This lady, while on duty, observed everything going on in the political as well as social circle of the imperial court, and at night when she retired she used to write what- ever she saw during the day in a scrap- book which she kept under her pillow. This custom she kept up during her life- time, and afterward the scrap-books were compiled and published in book form. These two books, ' ' The Tale of Prince Gengie " and " The Scrap-book Under the Pillow," are considered even now as our Japanese classics, and are studied in our colleges and universities as much as Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" and Spencer's " Fairy Queen " in your col- leges. So you see that our women took a first rank in Japanese literature, and men (unfortunately for them) must be contented to occupy a second position, for men did not prove themselves capa- ble of such a literary work, and those ladies fully mastered the new language and wrote in a most beautiful style, which had never yet been excelled by any man or woman. This period is called the era of origination in our literature.

Next we come to the subject of religion. We have passed through three stages in our religion just as much as in our literature.

Buddhism was first introduced into Japan through Korea in the year 552 A. D. — that is, 1,353 years ago. At first Buddhism was embraced by the higher classes, particulary among scholarly circles, but the lower classes or common people still clung to their old faith of Shintoism. Those who believed in Buddhism went so far as to copy the ceremonies and ritualisms. The doc- trine of Buddhism was written in the Chinese language, and the believers offered their prayers in that tongue. At one time Buddhism made such a stride as to become almost a state re- ligion, but the common people still op- posed it, with a determination to uphold their own Shintoism. Consequently a most terrible struggle began between the two religions — Buddhism in the hands of the upper classes and Shintoism in the hearts of the common people. Such a contest as this blocked every step in Japan's progress, but finally the states- men and priests began to understand that they no longer could force upon the people a blind imitation of Buddhism, and they changed their policy and tried to find out some means to meet the re- quirements of the time. Here again we reach the stage of adaptation.

They invented an ingenious theory of explaining and interpreting the religious principle of Buddhism. They adapted the theory of Monotheism as well as Polytheism by saying that there is only one Supreme Power, which is personified in the form of various gods and goddesses, according to the different countries and different institutions. Thus they reconcile the principle of the one Supreme Power in Buddhism with the Polytheistic theory of Shintoism.

In order to convince the popular mind with this theory, Emperor Shomu patronized a movement to erect a large