JAPANESE ACCOUNT OF COLONIAL LIFE.

Inangahua Times, Volume IV, Issue 1, 11 April 1877, Page 2

JAPANESE ACCOUNT OF COLONIAL LIFE.

A Japanese gentlemaa, who for some time was on a Tisifc to Aft AwtMUta Cotouitf, w aaM to fcare recently Minted a lecture in Japan, the translation of which gires the following ;— Although I studied with care and assiduity the wKj*» professed by .the» people, I am obliged to admit that it offers a tangled web of inconsistencies to [the philosopher. They say that the founder of their creed was a young man born in the humblest walk ot life, m a distant country nearly two thousand years a*o, or about fire hundred years after tho d'yine Buddah began his glorious mission This founder laid down some admiral

maxims or rather g*re his adhesion to maxims already hid down by the sages of rIJ for the guidance of his followenTaad the corterftonjifmmimk Hi.iin. mediate Jflower*-~atosUy rude illiterate men aiwff|u(cast; *§§^ were to m* bued wigThU pefrsufwe gifetfeoeas thai she wfi*t>it# r,r tttjpiers boras* trordm^ort serago jaiftrasy for his lovieg f chanty. After a thousand jean of bbod. . " 9hpd. ignorance, ami debasement, tIMMpS ancestors of th*.i» people slowly etMTgeflf from the m? ;>S thraldom in which they^ were hdd. nvi ~. n tbeir owa booses 4 the uook« .a w!i : v> 'ha teachings o# their fwirdsT we.-* '• rm*n, nstw4 el blindly adh#!^ o >'>»• .•.j.i.t > - an.l repelling svj|eais Uil- uj .»y g«oeratieas or % :a'.o : s. **'!: - i hisiorjr o; our <>wn laa4 ' s>oiv.v v* »j i aiowl all %s%t mental rifolijtieiff.. .w aw .nap! isheJ, and at* tt»o- ? k ?1 '*i' •«?*"»« Irfti jKir^ har* comb n i) v°«k ?.'ice t.!i* Jjys o:' the great ia* vo? -tots, ilia rer>l!tton is farfroacomr;!3i». a ul stmaue is i> au»* seem, the lin-r«|K>re of th>*ie ce-uurie** ago» tt jf af".'v;l ■>? 'beh' on temerity, left Qft. . .oatired n»rrly ail the fundamental dogmas of .best predecessors, and oaly re* voU*ri on nwttars of comparative iM3gaifi« cw. You, mj friends, who are happily coumrvMA with the sayings of the sage*— who nwAit »vkL puuosophic calm the approacb of dissolution, eqaallf ftftond from ujraanly fear and ttßaTOUiag tagnt, cojscious thai death » bat asotter mom for the absorptioa into tbea^tytOßl tint renneates the uoi?erse; y«tt, I say, would be prone to rtceire with pardonable siomment aa oatline of At MMgfeas tenets profeised fay this people, were it not that, as thinking men, fOtt Will, I■• sure, join with me in deeming Urifctb* beliefs aspirations, tfnd nope* II oar fellow-men, however grotesaae they May be, are subjects more fitted for pattest investtgatioa than %ht laQßhter. I tbaU not, howerer, impose too m«eh oa tow sense of decorum b> catering into* Meg seeomii of the mimberieM dofmas iasertwined amount the preempts <rf «U Founder, and whicn, on earelbt afiniliM» fall to pieces like a emid'a bowe of Mim, I may, how.erer. mrattO* ooe, the UtttA which seems all but tttirertal, »amily, the attendance on a certain day, noli or less remote, in a certain fallej of limited extent, of all the human beinjp who #f*r inhabited this earth of Odrs, with the sane bodies they had whUe Uring! fffe speaker having allowed ten nrinotea for the sabstdeaee of varioaa sigM ot aatoa* ishment and dissent, eottinuedas follows) — Scio, the alchemist, whom I «*e before me to-night, can tell yon thai the hmmm body is chiefly composed of water* which in itself is composed of the two geases hrdrogen and oxygen. He can also show that when we dfe the snbsUnee of o«r bodies returns to its elements, and theso a^aio become material from which too substance nf other organised beine*— •&• mats tt»<\ plant^—tre built up. PotUmm of the dead body of to»day may be (bond in the leg of a c'liir to-morrow, or may bo seen falling in snwfl ikes on the mo— i tains of Oynma y«der. Part of the body which I call mine at present dm fcwfv Iwlonged to an AasrraKaji eara«* tea thousand years *«*» SBd yon emnot ail to see how manifestly unjntf it wwaM be to the sarage in question if at some fataro time I should come forward and elanai at mine materials which he posses«od un« numbered m&s »gi. Bulyoft wooldd* the people a serious injustice if yo« thought that thejr eon/brmed strictly to all the rules laid down with saeh miwrtenesa in the sacred books. Daring mj residence in the capital I attended ftw« qaently a celebrated temple of pwhKe worship, and heard the same gailydiwstd people confess with the most aitoiiMMf coolness that during the period wbieh had elapsed since their former ittenctmm seven days ago, they had ekietf detoM themselves to slandering and efceasjan their neighbors. ; They then hew|S»tipr» gireness in terms \the moslil^itttJSia* aisfd amendment in Jangia«% the »Osl pitiful, and with estrsotaiMty rejfuUnty commenced, 011, tUe , IbUowiiy^ 'mm "Sm praeticea^tbey had,; deplored ©a thepre* vioQj. I n^»»d genfle«*iurjtb a mild an I beni«a*nk eoantea«MNh wbtso responsM were deUwred wiHi feottleaa »» tonation and onmistakanble> <asfcMn» Heis»«idtobe twt ria*,a»4i*hel4iai great wtewi by tao member* of m charch. His money was eMitf mad* in bosmeis, and it was noticed sM» Mse> before he retired from active !»&%•* • curious circunteiimce, that one of the sides of the balanoe m whidi he «reifisd soap, sugar, and other artWes i«saa couple of inches shorter thin tteotfcjt, and he fr supoosed to have ftewMJlr cheated hims^bf uoconiciously flaeuw the weights: in the shorter sstK He prospered* h^irever, whwh i» •■ •#*• tional proof of how tirbss *»gj rewarded, * even -iw twe w^fe ■ ASMPeew thai the portion of the reliajeM aerfiea, itiwhW^SS^tf<a^«l^ utt treasnres^ fer rr^^^^fjLffiJWllr ms^ce th« assanwl aa si^csssioa described inthelaHO»«« <?**W*!' as l smog/ «d with touching paihoshe eenfossed that he waaiadeed, '* «f«f*f lable sinner,' Befbw taking leave of titas I sabjett I ssiy «*»*»«»• wwmmHsiMw ! trhieh came ondet »ytß#n_olJStiiia«s», and which wffl **tH****%t**t osn the sinjr«toaii«BaK*»«»»«i* »» the reltgiots praetfees of the people fas* deembihj. Happening om day tejgjl one of the t«rlpest^Nm«g,*wtaek ittisnepwpleire c^MI JJjfJ^gJ venation with an »»**«•»•" * JU seen a month prejionsjf r^g^Jfi; of the gardens, gare no evidence of menial jwnsnmnfw* Jad on m» departs I jgfpfteMk him howlt «ame to panthat he was oosj* JKd to amadhoose^^^jMApoor creature sotrowraiiy. m «»«R!li^ SgfofbUow theteaehinjpof mvltostst Isold most of my progrty .tojijj £ the poor; that fact was alone smßefeftt to warrant my committal at a W •< The social observances of Uus distajit people are no?ei and intefestof. Shoogh great tttaaimitj fift^imji weal woald probably be found amflnnt them aboukl any catieeal calamity. S«eh as war or famine. detoUte the laid* yet, in their e^rrday life, the prieetate Of caste is carried out to an extent unkaowt amongst us, and restraints the bjsjl

laughable are e Wally endured ia order to be in wb«» **>«! c * ]l j** *■****•■ two &»ili** wif Hvo in arlj icent houses fo» wiri. mtbmtt e*tr ttiHim «eh other* witty t -<»r id«la#on aaf ot the iniiuiwrable wbj.cM df Jii^Mt dally cropping up, merely lecaasd the > b*»d ¥ one family frill* ait 1 chtipunp cattle, and the nther— men ; or because one terti an art We «ti lai^e qunnfiHe*, aiid the other tetnU the same coumnditj in snail parcfti. Even amonnf the teamed men— scholar, as they a»e called— wfcdfe fmiMli should be for i^ote such childish oopsideratioas, these tinueattins distinctions are to be found. Two men wUI icareely acceet each other, |eeanae one haa obtained his know ledge through the high school of unirar* aity, and the other has received ibesame kMwle^e «( hii own fireside and by his unaided efforts. The degrading influence of * fashion' seems to leaven the whole tocial body in its endless ratifications, from the Governor to the beggar, and I am obliged to confess that it is chiefly upheld by the women, and these the most frivolons and empty-headed of their sex. Unlike mx own dear country, a mas is esteemed or despised in Victoria on aeconnt of bis oenrpation, and stranger still, be wbo does nothinar is held is a reverence Htt'e short of veneration. I fear that generations £iU r^^e to mm before ihi» nation, for wldeb I eherfsh a certain vegaH, although I »«m« at their lingnlar foibles, will torn th* a MM who respects or despises another merely because of the tetter's avocation is not far removed from a fool."