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EAST ASIA.
the sun warms the earth, let no Christian dare to set foot in Nip-pon
! Let all
know ! If the King of Spain in person, or the God of the Christians, the great
Shaka himself, violate this decree,
their heads shall fall !
Nevertheless, a number of Catholics continued to practise their religion in some
remote villages, and at the revolution of 1867 about 4,000 of them were exiled to
the Goto Archipelago and other islands, for having refused to take part in the
religious ceremonies in honour of the Mikado. Christianity is at present allowed
to be openly preached in the treaty ports, and the government has even sanctioned
the conversion of Buddhist temples into Protestant or Catholic chapels. The
English and American missionaries, numbering over one hundred altogether, are
the most zealous evangelisers, although the results of ten years' efforts are very
slight. On the other hand, the Buddhist priests, mostly of the Manto sect, which
rejects celibacy and mortification of the flesh, have gone to Europe in search of
arguments to be afterwards used against the Christian missionaries. Most of the
numerous recent sects, such as the " Poor Brethren," the " United," the " Dis-
contented," the " Sea-weeds," have only indirectly felt European influences, and
occupy themselves more with social reforms than with religious changes. The
adventurers landing in their ports are not calculated to inspire the natives with
much respect for the religion of the foreigners, for, as they say, " the tree should
be known by its fruits."
The prevailing moral tone of foreign residents in Japan is admittedly low, even
though it might be unjust to speak of it as absolutely
low tone the only obstacle to the progress of Christianity.
"
immoral. Nor is this
"
There are many
respectable men altogether indifferent on religious matters, and many professing
Christians, who, with an inconsistency almost incredible, take every opportunity of
giving vent to the unreasonable animus which they
countrymen who have come to preach the Gospel to the Japanese.
feel towards their fellow-
The sneers and
invectives, however, of such critics are invariably in exact proportion to their
ignorance of the actual work which missionaries are doing.
" The missionaries of the various Protestant denominations work together amic-
ably, and the Japanese have no sectarian warfare to perplex them in their
consideration of the new religion. The three Protestant Churches represented, viz.
the American Presbyterian, the American Dutch Reformed, and the Scottish United
Presbyterian, have united in the one Presbytery, and together maintain the Union
Theological School, an Institution which, in 1880, had seventeen students preparing
for the Christian Ministry." *
TOPOGRAPHY OF THE KURILES AND YESO.
The cold, foggy climate of the Kuriles and the northern division of Yeso have
prevented the development of agriculture in those bleak regions. In 1875 there
were only 453 settled residents in the Kuriles, besides those of the temporary
fishing and hunting stations on the islands of Kunashir and Iturup. The more
* W. G. Dixon, op. cit., p. 570.