FOR YOUNG PEOPLE.

JAPAN.

No country has awakened such interest in recent years as has Japan. There is in that empire a wonderful people with a wonderful history, and the world has but just begun to know about them. Recent books speak about an old and a new Japan. The new Japan began not ten years ago; the old Japan is centuries older than our nation. It is not meant that there are two countries of that name, as when we speak of New England and Old England, but the change in that empire has been so great that it seems like another nation.

In this number of the Herald will be given some illustrations of the old Japan. Two principal forms of religion have prevailed, Shintoism and Buddhism. The latter is a very sad faith, teaching that the souls of men

have lived in a previous state of existence, and that they must pass on from one state to another, suffering in them all until, possibly, they may arrive at what is called Nirvana, which is a sleep, with no consciousness of existence. Because they think that these changes from one form of existence to another will be full of misery, their great desire is speedily to reach Nirvana, or unconsciousness. And so it is said that to repeat to a Japanese those sweet words: "The gift of God is eternal life," or "He that believ8

VOL. LXXV.

eth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live," is to say what is very He has such sad ideas of the future that he does not wish

painful to him.

for eternal life. The picture on the preceding page represents an immense image of Buddha, in this sleep called Nirvana. This idol is at Kamakura, not far from Yedo, and is said to be a work of high art. You will see how immense it is by the comparative size of the grown men who are standing at its base. A small altar stands before the idol, for the burning of incense, and over its head are rows of snail-shells. There is a door on its back through which any one can pass into the hollow body, where little gilt images are ranged on shelves. In 1611, a few years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, an English naval captain visited this idol and wrote his name inside of it. In 1871, a Christian gentleman from America sat on one of the thumbs of the idol and sang the doxology. It will not be long, if Christians are faithful, before the people who now worship a sleeping god will learn of Him who neither slumbers nor sleeps.

Kamakura was anciently the military capital of the empire. At this place there is a famous shrine of Hachiman, built eight hundred years ago. Hachiman was a noted warrior, and after his death was deified. In many parts of Japan there are temples dedicated to him, but this temple at Kamakura, represented above, is the finest of all. It has a rich museum of armor and weapons, and contains also two monstrous idols, carved in wood and covered with vermilion. Offerings are brought the idols, of a singular sort, being nothing else than immense straw shoes for their feet. Thousands of these shoes are hung about the temple. Is it not strange and sad that people who know how to build such fine structures should know nothing about the true God?

Matsuri, or religious festivals, are observed all over the country. The chief feature of them is the procession, which is often four or five miles long. The people dress in their gayest clothing, many of them grotesquely, and with trumpets and banners they bring out immense images of idols, and bear them through the streets. These images represent not their god, but their devil, and the procession is not in his honor but to rejoice over his defeat and capture. They have caught the demon and show his hideous head in triumph. The scene is thoroughly pagan, and is often marked by wildest mirth and drunkenness. Alas for the poor revellers! Instead of their capturing the evil one, they are themselves caught by him. May they soon learn that they can triumph over him, not by dragging his image, but by resisting him in the strength of a Divine Saviour.

The people are singularly divided into classes throughout Japan. The Mikado, or Emperor, was formerly supposed to be divine, and was worshiped, but never seen. In the new Japan he has become an emperor like those in other nations. The picture of Buddha and the engraving upon the next page are to be found in an interesting volume for young people, published by the American Tract Society, entitled "Life and Adventure in Japan." The author, Mr. Clark, has given the following description of the several classes:

"In ancient times society was divided into four classes. The first constituted the literary and military class, called the Samurai. The second,

strange as it may seem, was the agricultural class, or common farmer. The third was the laboring class, or carpenter and artisan. The fourth was the trading or money-making class, the merchant. These were the chief classes that existed from 1604 until 1868. The Samurai stood at the head of the social scale. He was the gentleman - the soldier in war and the scholar in peace. He could wield either the sword or the pen. Of the two, he rather preferred the sword. He might walk the streets without a hat, but never without wearing his two swords.

"In the picture representing the classes of society in Japan, the Samurai is seen standing on the left, with his long and short swords thrust in his belt. In the middle of the picture, sitting upon the ground, is the carpenter, who carries a square rule. The man with a book is a street story

teller; and the girl on the right, with a sickle, is a farmer's daughter who cuts grass, and carries it in the basket on her back. The girl sitting on the left, with a musical instrument, is playing on the samisen, or three-stringed banjo, which is more popular than any other kind of music. The strings are struck with a piece of ivory. The man with a brick-shaped hat on the right of the group is a Ku-Ge, or court noble. The central and highest figure is dressed in the style which once prevailed at the court of the Tycoon. But these ridiculous fashions are now nearly abolished. The two ladies on either side of the highest figure are members of the Mikado's court. Two dots upon their foreheads denote their high rank. All the other ladies have their hair dressed in the style of the middle classes of society. The men have their heads shaved at the top, in the old-fashioned way. The Samurai have the family crests upon their clothing."

In the new Japan these class distinctions are breaking down; and the people of all classes are receiving the gospel.