Page:Things Japanese (1905).djvu/101

Rh mutatis mutandis. They point to the weary secular struggles, the bloody rebellions, through which the West has slowly won its way to constitutional government, whereas in Japan what has there been? A grateful and intelligent people accepting the free gift of self-government from a wise and benevolent Sovereign. Further more it has been discovered that courage, patriotism, and loyalty are specifically Japanese virtues, or that—at the least—Japanese courage, Japanese loyalty, and Japanese patriotism glow with an incomparably brighter radiance than the qualities called by those same names in inferior countries,—England, for instance, France, Germany, or America.

Dai Nihon Banzai! "Long live Great Japan!" Japan is a young nation—at least a rejuvenated nation—and youth will be self-confident. The greybeards must not wish it otherwise.

 Cherry-blossom. The Japanese cherry-tree (Prunus pseudocerasus, Lindley) is cultivated, not for its fruit, but for its blossom, which has long been to Japan what the rose is to Western nations. Poets have sung it for over a millennium past, and crowds still pour forth every year, as spring comes round, to the chief places where avenues of it seem to fill the air with clouds of the most delicate pink. Even patriotism has adopted it, in contradistinction to the plum-blossom, which is believed to be of Chinese origin—not, like the cherry-tree, a true native of Japan. The poet Motoori exclaims:

which, being interpreted, signifies "If one should enquire of you concerning the spirit of a true Japanese, point to the wild cherry-blossom shining in the sun." Again a Japanese proverb says: "The cherry is first among flowers, as the warrior is first among men." 