THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1906.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8154, 8 June 1906, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1906.

In a recently published book, Mr Aaton, a distinguished member of the very small group of profound scholars to whose industry genius end eminent philosophic and philological capacity we owe all our scientific knowledge pf the history, religions, statecraft and language of Japan, states that Shintbism as compared with , the great religions of the world is, perhaps, the least developed of all which have an adequate literary record. According to one of the early American missionaries it is, as a religion, hollow, empty and jejune beyond

any other that it is known among men. It has no bible, no dogma, no moral code of its own. It has neither heaven nor bell, no system of reward or punishment after death, no regular ceremonial worship, no priesthood whose lives are exclusively devoted to its services, and the deep earnest faith that is so marked a feature amotig devoted followers of other religions, Christian, Mahommedan, or Buddhist, is never found amongst its adherents. And yet it has exercised a deep ini fluence on tna history and character of the Japanese people. Its foundation lies in the belief that the islands of Jipan were the first formed in the world out of tde infinite space that prevailed before the origin of all thing 9, when neither heaven nor earth existed, and that the sovereignty of those islands was subsequently conferred on the direct ancestor of the Mikado who was himself the near descendant of the Gods of Heaven. Prom this belief springs the fanatical love oi' ail Japanese for theii oountry, the land of tbe gods, far ariove all others, and the reverence for the sovereign, which not only secures the most unquestioning acceptanae of every decree which his infallible wisdom Dromulgates, but ascribes to his virtues every glory that is won by the arms of his soldiers and sailors. In every household'in Japan, from the palpce down to that of the humblest peasant, Shinto altars find a place, and prayers are offered before them every night. Ever Japanese is at birth placed under tbe protection of a special tutelary Shinto deity, and, no matter how poor, he makes at leastone pilgrimage in his lifetime to the temple of Ise, the Meoca of Ma faith. How intense is the national regard for those temples may be assumed from the '[fact that one of the greatest leaders of modern Japan, one of her greatest statesmen was assassinated a very few years ago because be had profanely touched the curtain of the altar with his walking'oane and tbe memory of bis assassin was not execrated but lovingly cherished to a degree that amounted almost to oauonisatiou. A oulb whioh has such effects among a quick-witted, materialistic people oan hardly be the vapid thing, which, in ignorance, Europeans have been accustomed to hold it.

Considerable expedition baa been shown in Greytown in regard to the establishment of agricultural classes. The plot of land adjoining the Schoolgrounds, and -recently set aside for purposes of cultivation by the scholars, has been fenced and laid cut, and the scholars are now engaged in the work of scientifically cultivating it. A clasa for adults has, also, been formed in Greytown, and meets one night a week, and there is every reason to hope that it will be taken advantage of by many residents of the district. In Masterton it seems that some delay has ooourred in connection with the fencing of the ground, and generally Greytown-ssems to be evincing a little in the respect mentioned, than is being shown locally. Agricultural classes on the lines in which tbey now are being inaugurated have long been wanted in the district, and every effort should be made to ensure no unnecessary delay in getting to work.