I
was reading through Lafcadio Hearn’s Glimpses
of Unfamiliar Japan, Volume II, Chapter XXVI, “The Japanese Smile,”
published in 1984, and once again came upon the extracts from an essay by
Viscount Tōrio. The ideas expressed in his essay were at times critical of
things Western, of trends within the Meiji government Japanese society; yet, as
I read through them, I began to think that there existed in his words of more
than one hundred years ago, important lessons for modern Japan as well as
contemporary America. I present them now, as Hearn did in his time, as if
nothing else, food for thought.
Order or disorder in a nation does not depend on
something that falls from the sky or rises from the earth. It is determined by
the disposition of the people. The pivot on which the public disposition turns
towards order or disorder is the point where public and private motives
separate. If the people are influenced chiefly by public considerations, order
is assured; but if by private, disorder is inevitable. Public considerations
are those that prompt the proper observance of duties; their prevalence
signifies peace and prosperity in the way similar to families, communities, and
nations. Private considerations are those suggested by selfish motives: when
they prevail, disturbance and disorder are unavoidable. As members of a family,
our duty is to look after the welfare of that family; as members of a nation,
our duty is to work for the good of the nation. To regard our family affairs
with all the interest due to our family, and our national affairs with all the
interest due to our nation, this is to fitly discharge our duty, and to be
guided by public considerations. On the other hand, to regard the affairs of
the nation as if they were our own family affairs, this is to be influenced by
private motives and to stray from the path of duty.
Selfishness is born in every man; to indulge it
freely is to become a beast; therefore, sages preach the principles of duty and
propriety, justice and morality, providing restraints for private aims and
encour- agements for public spirit… What we know of Western civilization is
that it struggled on through long centuries in a confused condition, and
finally attained a state of some order, but that even this order, not being
based on such principles as those of natural and indisputable distinctions
between sovereign and sub- ject, parent and child, with all their corresponding
rights and duties, is liable to constant change; according to the growth of
human ambitions and human aims. Admirably suited to persons whose actions are
controlled by selfish ambition, the adoption of this system in Japan is
naturally sought by a certain class of politicians. From a superficial point of
view, the Western form of society is very attractive; in as much as, being the
outcome of a free development of human desires from ancient times, it
represents the very extreme of luxury and extravagance. Briefly speaking, the
state of obtaining things in the West is based on the free play of human
selfishness, and can only be reached by giving full sway to that quality. In
the West, little notice is given to social disturbances; yet they are at once
the evidence and the factors of the present evil state of affairs. Do Japanese,
enamored with Western ways, propose to have their nation’s history written in
similar terms? Do they seriously contemplate turning their country into a new
field for experiments in Western civilization?
In the Orient, from ancient times, national gov- ernment
has been based on benevolence, and directed to securing the welfare and
happiness of the people. No political creed has ever held that intellectual
strength should be cultivated for the purpose of exploiting inferiority and
ignorance. The inhabitants of this empire live, for the most part, by manual
labor. No matter how industrious they are, they hardly earn enough to supply
their daily needs. They earn, on the average, about twenty sen daily. For
them there is no question of aspiring to wearing fine clothes or to inhabit
handsome houses. Neither can they hope to reach positions of fame and honor.
What offense have these poor people committed that they also, should not share
the benefits of Western civilization? Indeed, by some, their condition is
explained on the hypothesis that their desires do not prompt them to better
themselves. There is no truth in such a supposition. They have desires, but
nature has limited their capacity to satisfy them; their duty as men limits it,
and the amount of labor physically possible for a human being limits it. They
achieve as much as their opportunities permit. The best and finest products of
their labor they reserve for the wealthy; the worst and roughest they keep for
their own use. Yet, there is nothing in human society that does not owe its
existence to labor. Now, to satisfy the desires of one luxurious man, the work
of a thousand is needed. Surely, it is monstrous that those who owe to labor,
the pleasures suggested by their civilization, should forget what they owe to
the laborer, and treat him as if he were not a fellow being. But civilization,
according to the interpretation of the West, serves only to satisfy men of
large desires. It is of no benefit to the masses, but is simply a system under
which ambitions compete to accomplish their aims. That the Western system is
gravely disturbing to the order and peace of a country is seen by men who have
eyes, and heard by men who have hears. The future of Japan, under such a
system, fills us with anxiety. A system, based on the principle that ethics and
religion are made to serve human ambition, naturally agrees with the wishes of
selfish individuals; and such theories as those, embodied in the modern formula
of liberty and equality, annihilate the established relations of society, and
outrange decorum and propriety. Absolute equality and absolute liberty being
unattainable, the limits prescribed by right and duty are supposed to be set.
But as each person seeks to have as much right and to be burdened with as
little duty as possible, the results are endless disputes and legal
contentions. The principles of liberty and equality may succeed in changing the
organization of nations, in overthrowing the lawful distinctions of social
rank, in reducing all men to one nominal level; but they can never accomplish
the equal distribution of wealth and property. Consider America…It is plain
that if the mutual rights of men and their status are made to depend on degrees
of wealth, the majority of the people, being without wealth, must fail to
establish their rights; whereas the minority who are wealthy, will assert their
rights; and, under society’s sanction, will exact oppressive duties from the
poor; neglecting the dictates of humanity and benevolence. The adoption of
these principles of liberty and equality in Japan would annul the good and
peaceful customs of our country, render the general disposition of the people
harsh and unfeeling, and finally prove to be a source of calamity to the
masses…
Though at first sight, Western civilization
presents an attractive appearance, adapted as it is to the gratification of
selfish desires; yet, since its basis is the hypothesis that men’s wishes
constitute natural laws, it must ultimately end in disappointment and de- moralization.
Western nations have become what they are after passing through conflicts and
deviations of the most serious kind; and it is their fate to continue the
struggle. Just now, their motive elements are in partial equilibrium, and their
social condition is more or less ordered. But if this slight equilibrium
happens to be disturbed, they will be thrown once more into confusion, and
change; until, after a period of renewed struggle and suffering, temporary
stability is once more attained. The poor and powerless of the present may
become the wealthy and strong of the future, and vice versa. Perpetual
disturbance is their doom. Peaceful equality can never be attained until built
up among the ruins of annihilated Western states and the ashes of extinct
Western people.
Author’s Footnote: These
extracts from a translation of the Japan Daily Mail, November 19, 20,
1890, of Viscount Tōrio’s famous conservative essay do not give a fair idea of
the force and logic of the whole. The essay is too long to quote entirely; and
any extracts from the Mail’s admirable translation suffer by their
isolation from the singular claims of ethical, religious, and philosophical
reasoning, which bind the various parts of the composition together. The essay
was furthermore remarkable as the production of a native scholar, totally
uninfluenced by Western thought. He correctly predicted those social and
political disturbances which have occurred in Japan since the opening of the
new parliament. Viscount Tōrio is also well known as a master of Buddhist
philosophy. He holds a high rank in the Japanese army.
