Chapter 4

THE CHINESE ETHICAL SYSTEM IN JAPAN, PAGE 99

In what respects Confucius was unique as a teacher.--Outline of his life.--The canon.--Primitive Chinese faith a sort of monotheism.--How the sage modified it.--History of Confucianism until its entrance into Japan.--Outline of the intellectual and political history of the Japanese.--Rise of the Samurai class.--Shifting of emphasis from filial piety to loyalty.--Prevalence of suicide in Japan.--Confucianism has deeply tinged the ideas of the Japanese.--Great care necessary in seeking equivalents in English for the terms used in the Chino-Japanese ethics; e.g., the emperor, "the father of the people."--Impersonality of Japanese speech.--Christ and Confucius.--"Love" and "reverence."--Exemplars of loyalty.--The Forty-seven Rōnins.--The second relation.--The family in Chinese Asia and in Christendom.--The law of filial piety and the daughter.--The third relation.--Theory of courtship and marriage.--Chastity.--Jealousy.--Divorce.--Instability of the marriage bond.--The fourth relation.--The elder and the younger brother.--The house or family everything, the individual nothing.--The fifth relation.--The ideas of Christ and those of Confucius.--The Golden and the Gilded rule.--Lao Tsze and Kung.--Old Japan and the alien.--Commodore Perry and Professor Hayashi.