THE WAYS OF THE EAST.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1522, 19 August 1912, Page 3

THE WAYS OF THE EAST.

DIVINITY OF THINGS. A curious blending of. solemnity and super.-tition. surrounded the death scenes at Tokio, where the great Mikado breathed his last, but the quainlne-s is forgotten in the feeling of respect and sympathy for a people whose grief is so genuine and profound, writes a correspondent of the "Argus."

Buddhist nuns released tortoises in the palace moat iu vain supplication for the recovery of the Emperor, the connecting idea evidently being that tho tortoise, a creature of great longevity, might have some talismanic. iiiHuence in extending the Mikado's span of life. . Viewed in one light, this may be subject.for a smile of something like contempt, yet acts and beliefs quite as fantastic am known in the Western world.

Vast crowds, composed of soldiers, rustics, and every other da--, lor days surrounded the building where Mutsii-Hito lay dying. Thoy knelt praying with .upon Hie earth, priests of ilie Shinto I'ail.h riuwl tciijporory nltnrt, mid tho glnaiii of UwuauitU of lanterns lighted ,ui> ft &m

of people prostrate in combined grief and worship. Nothing quite.like this could accompany the demise of the Crown in any other nation. Some Western monarchs are by ancient tradition almost priests as well as kings—they have been sacredly anointed— but the Mikado is god as well as emperor. A nation which ha.s so aptly adopted all the discoveries and inventions of modern science as to win a place among the great Powers of the world still clings to the unchanged belief in the Divine ancestry of its hereditary ruler. The Mikado is a direct descendant of tlie Sun-goddess; ho unites in bis person the' attributes of the Deity; and in all ihat is hoped for and achieved by his people he figures as more than a mere mundane ruler and director of counsels. For example, the signal victories won in the war against Jinssia were not due only to tho sagacity of rulers and leaders and tho valour of combatants; they were attributed in the largest measure to "tho virtues of the Mikado. - " His reign has been a marvellous one indeed for Japan. It has-seen tho country emerge from iv hermit empire, governed on the feudal system by Tycoon and daimios, into a great militant and conquering power which may hereafter make a bid for the mastery of the Orient. It would be strange if tho nation were not convulsed with emotion at the passing of n sovereign who has presided over such changes, nnd of whom sueh. mysterious things are reverently believed.