,,the ,,invention ,,of ,a ,,new         
,,religion  ,by ,b4 ,h4 ,chamberlain    
,,emeritus ,,professor ,,of ,,japanese  
,,and ,,philology ,,at ,,the ,,imperial 
,,university ,,of ,,tokyo1 ,,japan #aiab
   ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,a few        
diacritical marks have had to be        
removed1 but ,chamberlain did not use   
macrons to represent lengthened vowels4 
,what were footnotes are numbered and   
moved to the end of the relevant        
paragraphs4      ,,the ,,invention ,,of 
,a ,,new ,,religion 7#a7      7,note #a7
  ,the writer of this pamphlet could but
     skim over a wide subject4  ,for    
full information see     ,volume ,i4 of 
,mr4 ,j4 ,murdoch's recently-published  
,history of ,japan1 the only critical   
work on that     subject existing in the
 ,english language4  ,voltaire and the  
other eighteenth-century philosophers1  
who held religions to be the invention  
of priests1 have been scorned as        
superficial by later investigators4 ,but
 was there not something in their view1 

after all8 ,have not we1 of a later and 
more critical day1 got into so          
inveterate a habit of digging deep that 
we sometimes fail to see what lies      
before our very noses8 ,modern ,japan is
 there to furnish an example4 ,the      
,japanese are1 it is true1 commonly said
 to be an irreligious people4 ,they say 
so themselves4 ,writes one of them1 the 
celebrated ,fukuzawa1 teacher and type  
of the modern educated ,japanese man3 ,i
 lack a religious nature1 and have never
 believed in any religion4 ,a score of  
like pronouncements might be quoted from
 other leading men4 ,the average1 even  
educated1 ,european strikes the average 
educated ,japanese as strangely         
superstitious1 unaccountably occupied   
with supra-mundane matters4 ,the        
,japanese simply cannot be brought to   
comprehend how a mere parson such as the
 ,pope1 or even the ,archbishop of      
,canterbury1 occupies the place he does 
in politics and society4 ,yet this same 
agnostic ,japan is teaching us at this  

very hour how religions are sometimes   
manufactured for a special end--to      
subserve practical worldly purposes4    
,mikado-worship and ,japan-worship--for 
that is the new ,japanese religion--is1 
of course1 no spontaneously generated   
phenomenon4 ,every manufacture          
presupposes a material out of which it  
is made1 every present a past on which  
it rests4 ,but the twentieth-century    
,japanese religion of loyalty and       
patriotism is quite new1 for in it      
pre-existing ideas have been sifted1    
altered1 freshly compounded1 turned to  
new uses1 and have found a new centre of
 gravity4 ,not only is it new1 it is not
 yet completed2 it is still in process  
of being consciously or semi-consciously
 put together by the official class1 in 
order to serve the interests of that    
class1 and1 incidentally1 the interests 
of the nation at large4 ,the ,japanese  
bureaucracy is a body greatly to be     
admired4 ,it includes most of the       
foremost men of the nation4 ,like the   

priesthood in later ,judaea1 to some    
extent like the ,egyptian and ,indian   
priesthoods1 it not only governs1 but   
aspires to lead in intellectual matters4
 ,it has before it a complex task4 ,on  
the one hand1 it must make good to the  
outer world the new claim that ,japan   
differs in no essential way from the    
nations of the ,west1 unless1 indeed1 it
 be by way of superiority4 ,on the other
 hand1 it has to manage restive steeds  
at home1 where ancestral ideas and      
habits clash with new dangers arising   
from an alien material civilisation     
hastily absorbed4  ,down to the year    
#ahhh1 the line of cleavage between     
governors and governed was obscured by  
the joyful ardour with which all classes
 alike devoted themselves to the        
acquisition of ,european1 not to say    
,american1 ideas4 ,everything foreign   
was then hailed as perfect--everything  
old and national was contemned4         
,sentiment grew democratic1 in so far   
7perhaps it was not very far7 as        

,american democratic ideals were        
understood4 ,love of country seemed     
likely to yield to a humble bowing down 
before foreign models4 ,officialdom not 
unnaturally took fright at this         
abdication of national individualism4   
,evidently something must be done to    
turn the tide4 ,accordingly1 patriotic  
sentiment was appealed to through the   
throne1 whose hoary antiquity had ever  
been a source of pride to ,japanese     
literati1 who loved to dwell on the     
contrast between ,japan's unique line of
 absolute monarchs and the short-lived  
dynasties of ,china4 ,shinto1 a         
primitive nature cult1 which had fallen 
into discredit1 was taken out of its    
cupboard and dusted4 ,the common people1
 it is true1 continued to place their   
affections on ,buddhism1 the popular    
festivals were ,buddhist1 ,buddhist also
 the temples where they buried their    
dead4 ,the governing class determined to
 change all this4 ,they insisted on the 
,shinto doctrine that the ,mikado       

descends in direct succession from the  
native ,goddess of the ,sun1 and that   
,he himself is a living ,god on earth   
who justly claims the absolute fealty of
 his subjects4 ,such things as laws and 
constitutions are but free gifts on ,his
 part1 not in any sense popular rights4 
,of course1 the ministers and officials1
 high and low1 who carry on ,his        
government1 are to be regarded not as   
public servants1 but rather as          
executants of supreme--one might say    
supernatural--authority4 ,shinto1       
because connected with the ,imperial    
,family1 is to be alone honoured4       
,therefore1 the important right of      
burial1 never before possessed by it1   
was granted to its priests4 ,later on1  
the right of marriage was granted       
likewise--an entirely novel departure in
 a land where marriage had never been   
more than a civil contract4 ,thus the   
,shinto priesthood was encouraged to    
penetrate into the intimacy of family   
life1 while in another direction it     

encroached on the field of ethics by    
borrowing bits here and there from      
,confucian and even from ,christian     
sources4 ,under a regime of ostensible  
religious toleration1 the attendance of 
officials at certain ,shinto services   
was required1 and the practice was      
established in all schools of bowing    
down several times yearly before the    
,emperor's picture4 ,meanwhile ,japanese
 polities had prospered2 her warriors   
had gained great victories4 ,enormous   
was the prestige thus accruing to       
,imperialism and to the rejuvenated     
,shinto cult4 ,all military successes   
were ascribed to the miraculous         
influence of the ,emperor's virtue1 and 
to the virtues of ,his ,imperial and    
divine ancestors--that is1 of former    
,emperors and of ,shinto deities4       
,imperial envoys were regularly sent    
after each great victory to carry the   
good tidings to the ,sun ,goddess at her
 great shrine at ,ise4 ,not there alone1
 but at the other principal ,shinto     

shrines throughout the land1 the cannon 
captured from ,chinese or ,russian foes 
were officially installed1 with a view  
to identifying ,imperialism1 ,shinto1   
and national glory in the popular mind4 
,the new legend is enforced wherever    
feasible--for instance1 by means of a   
new set of festivals celebrating        
,imperial official events4  ,but the    
schools are the great strongholds of the
 new propaganda4 ,history is so taught  
to the young as to focus everything upon
 ,imperialism1 and to diminish as far as
 possible the contrast between ancient  
and modern conditions4 ,the same is true
 of the instruction given to army and   
navy recruits4 ,thus1 though ,shinto is 
put in the forefront1 little stress is  
laid on its mythology1 which would be   
apt to shock even the ,japanese mind at 
the present day4 ,to this extent1 where 
a purpose useful to the ruling class is 
to be served1 criticism is practised1   
though not avowedly4 ,far different is  
the case with so-called historical      

facts1 such as the alleged foundation of
 the ,monarchy in #ffj ,b4,c4 and       
similar statements paralleled only for  
absurdity by what passed for history in 
mediaeval ,europe1 when ,king ,lear1    
,brute1 ,king of ,britain1 etc41 etc41  
were accepted as authentic personages4  
,for the truth1 known to all critical   
investigators1 is that1 instead of going
 back to a remote antiquity1 the origins
 of ,japanese history are recent as     
compared with that of ,european         
countries4 ,the first glimmer of genuine
 ,japanese history dates from the fifth 
century ,,after ,christ1 and even the   
accounts of what happened in the sixth  
century must be received with caution4  
,japanese scholars know this as well as 
we do2 it is one of the certain results 
of investigation4 ,but the ,japanese    
bureaucracy does not desire to have the 
light let in on this inconvenient       
circumstance4 ,while granting a         
dispensation re the national mythology1 
properly so called1 it exacts belief in 

every iota of the national historic     
legends4 ,woe to the native professor   
who strays from the path of orthodoxy4  
,his wife and children 7and in ,japan   
every man1 however young1 has a wife and
 children7 will starve4 ,from the late  
,prince ,ito's grossly misleading       
,commentary on the ,japanese            
,constitution down to school            
compendiums1 the absurd dates are       
everywhere insisted upon4 ,this despite 
the fact that the mythology and the     
so-called early history are recorded in 
the same works1 and are characterised by
 like miraculous impossibilities2 that  
the chronology is palpably fraudulent2  
that the speeches put into the mouths of
 ancient ,mikados are centos culled from
 the ,chinese classics2 that their names
 are in some cases derived from ,chinese
 sources2 and that the earliest         
,japanese historical narratives1 the    
earliest known social usages1 and even  
the centralised ,imperial form of       
,government itself1 are all stained     

through and through with a ,chinese dye1
 so much so that it is no longer        
possible to determine what percentage of
 old native thought may still linger on 
in fragments here and there4 ,in the    
face of all this1 moral ideals1 which   
were of common knowledge derived from   
the teaching of the ,chinese sages1 are 
now arbitrarily referred to the         
,imperial ,ancestors4 ,such1 in         
particular1 are loyalty and filial      
piety--the two virtues on which1 in the 
,far-,eastern world1 all the others     
rest4 ,it is1 furthermore1 officially   
taught that1 from the earliest ages1    
perfect concord has always subsisted in 
,japan between beneficent sovereigns on 
the one hand1 and a gratefully loyal    
people on the other4 ,never1 it is      
alleged1 has ,japan been soiled by the  
disobedient and rebellious acts common  
in other countries2 while at the same   
time the ,japanese nation1 sharing to   
some extent in the supernatural virtues 
of its rulers1 has been distinguished by

 a high-minded chivalry called ,bushido1
 unknown in inferior lands4  ,such is   
the fabric of ideas which the official  
class is busy building up by every means
 in its power1 including the punishment 
of those who presume to stickle for     
historic truth4                         
9999999999  ,the sober fact is that no  
nation probably has ever treated its    
sovereigns more cavalierly than the     
,japanese have done1 from the beginning 
of authentic history down to within the 
memory of living men4 ,emperors have    
been deposed1 emperors have been        
assassinated2 for centuries every       
succession to the throne was the signal 
for intrigues and sanguinary broils4    
,emperors have been exiled2 some have   
been murdered in exile4 ,from the remote
 island to which he had been relegated  
one managed to escape1 hidden under a   
load of dried fish4 ,in the fourteenth  
century1 things came to such a pass that
 two rival ,imperial lines defied each  
other for the space of fifty-eight      

years--the so-called ,northern and      
,southern ,courts2 and it was the       
,northern ,court1 branded by later      
historians as usurping and illegitimate1
 that ultimately won the day1 and handed
 on the ,imperial regalia to its        
successors4 ,after that1 as indeed      
before that1 for long centuries the     
government was in the hands of ,mayors  
of the ,palace1 who substituted one     
infant ,sovereign for another1 generally
 forcing each to abdicate as soon as he 
approached man's estate4 ,at one period1
 these ,mayors of the ,palace left the  
,descendant of the ,sun in such distress
 that ,his ,imperial ,majesty and the   
,imperial ,princes were obliged to gain 
a livelihood by selling their           
autographs6 ,nor did any great party in 
the ,state protest against this         
condition of affairs4 ,even in the      
present reign--the most glorious in     
,japanese history--there have been two  
rebellions1 during one of which a rival 
,emperor was set up in one part of the  

country1 and a republic proclaimed in   
another4  ,as for ,bushido1 so modern a 
thing is it that neither ,kaempfer1     
,siebold1 ,satow1 nor ,rein--all men    
knowing their ,japan by heart--ever once
 allude to it in their voluminous       
writings4 ,the cause of their silence is
 not far to seek3 ,bushido was unknown  
until a decade or two ago6 ,,the ,,very 
,,word ,,appears ,,in ,,no ,,dictionary1
 ,,native ,,or ,,foreign1 ,,before ,,the
 ,,year #aijj4 ,chivalrous individuals  
of course existed in ,japan1 as in all  
countries at every period2 but ,bushido1
 as an institution or a code of rules1  
has never existed4 ,the accounts given  
of it have been fabricated out of whole 
cloth1 chiefly for foreign consumption4 
,an analysis of medieval ,japanese      
history shows that the great feudal     
houses1 so far from displaying an       
excessive idealism in the matter of     
fealty to one emperor1 one lord1 or one 
party1 had evolved the eminently        
practical plan of letting their         

different members take different sides1 
so that the family as a whole might come
 out as winner in any event1 and thus   
avoid the confiscation of its lands4    
,cases1 no doubt1 occurred of devotion  
to losing causes--for example1 to       
,mikados in disgrace2 but they were less
 common than in the more romantic ,west4
  ,thus1 within the space of a short    
lifetime1 the new ,japanese religion of 
loyalty and patriotism has emerged into 
the light of day4 ,the feats            
accomplished during the late war with   
,russia show that the simple ideal which
 it offers is capable of inspiring great
 deeds4 ,from a certain point of view   
the nation may be congratulated on its  
new possession4                         
9999999999  ,the new ,japanese religion 
consists1 in its present early stage1 of
 worship of the sacrosanct ,imperial    
,person and of ,his ,divine ,ancestors1 
of implicit obedience to ,him as head of
 the army 7a position1 by the way1      
opposed to all former ,japanese ideas1  

according to which the ,court was       
essentially civilian72 furthermore1 of a
 corresponding belief that ,japan is as 
far superior to the common ruck of      
nations as the ,mikado is divinely      
superior to the common ruck of kings and
 emperors4 ,do not the early            
history-books record the fact that      
,japan was created first1 while all     
other countries resulted merely from the
 drops that fell from the creator's     
spear when he had finished his main     
work8 ,and do not the later annals prove
 that true valour belongs to the        
,japanese knight alone1 whereas foreign 
countries--,china and ,europe alike--are
 sunk in a degrading commercialism8 ,for
 the inhabitants of the ,land of the    
,gods to take any notice of such        
creatures by adopting a few of their    
trifling mechanical inventions is an act
 of gracious condescension4  ,to quote  
but one official utterance out of a     
hundred1 ,baron ,oura1 minister of      
agriculture and commerce1 writes thus in

 ,february of last year3--     ,that the
 majesty of our ,imperial ,house towers 
high    above everything to be found in 
the world1 and that    it is as durable 
as heaven and earth1 is too well        
known to need dwelling on here444444    
,if it is    considered that our country
 needs a religious faith1    then1 ,i   
say1 let it be converted to a belief in 
the    religion of patriotism and       
loyalty1 the religion of                
,imperialism--in other words1 to        
,emperor-worship4  ,the ,rev4 ,dr4      
,ebina17#b7 one of the leading lights of
 the ,protestant pastorate in ,japan1   
plunges more deeply still into this     
doctrine1 according to which1 as already
 noted1 the whole ,japanese nation is1  
in a manner1 apotheosised4 ,says he3--  
,though the encouragement of            
ancestor-worship cannot    be regarded  
as part of the essential teaching of    
,christianity 7671 it 7#c7 is not       
opposed to the    notion that1 when the 
,japanese ,empire was founded1    its   

early rulers were in communication with 
the    ,great ,spirit that rules the    
universe4  ,christians1    according to 
this theory1 without doing violence     
to their creed1 may acknowledge that the
 ,japanese    nation has a divine       
origin4  ,it is only when we    realise 
that the ,imperial ,ancestors were in   
close    communion with ,god 7or the    
,gods71 that we understand    how sacred
 is the country in which we live4  7,dr4
    ,ebina ends by recommending the     
,imperial ,rescript on    ,education as 
a text for ,christian sermons47         
7,note #b7  ,we quote from the          
translation given      by ,mr4 ,walter  
,dening in one of the invaluable        
,summaries of ,current ,japanese        
,literature1      contributed by him    
from time to time to the      columns of
 the ,japan ,mail1 ,yokohama4           
7,note #c7  ,it means ,christianity4    
,it needs no comment of ours to point   
out how thoroughly the nation must be   
saturated by the doctrines under        

discussion for such amazing utterances  
to be possible4 ,if so-called           
,christians can think thus1 the         
non-,christian majority must indeed be  
devout ,emperor-worshippers and         
,japan-worshippers4 ,such the go-ahead  
portion of the nation undoubtedly       
is--the students1 the army1 the navy1   
the emigrants to ,japan's new foreign   
possessions1 all the more ardent        
spirits4 ,the peasantry1 as before      
noted1 occupy themselves little with new
 thoughts1 clinging rather to the       
,buddhist beliefs of their forefathers4 
,but nothing could be further removed   
from even their minds than the idea of  
offering any organised resistance to the
 propaganda going on around them4  ,as a
 matter of fact1 the spread of the new  
ideas has been easy1 because a large    
class derives power from their          
diffusion1 while to oppose them is the  
business of no one in particular4       
,moreover1 the disinterested love of    
truth for its own sake is rare2 the     

patience to unearth it is rarer still1  
especially in the ,east4 ,patriotism1   
too1 is a mighty engine working in the  
interests of credulity4 ,how should men 
not believe in a system that produces   
such excellent practical results1 a     
system which has united all the         
scattered elements of national feeling  
into one focus1 and has thus created a  
powerful instrument for the attainment  
of national aims8 ,meanwhile a          
generation is growing up which does not 
so much as suspect that its cherished   
beliefs are inventions of yesterday4    
,the new religion1 in its present stage1
 still lacks one important item--a      
sacred book4 ,certain indications show  
that this lacuna will be filled by the  
elevation of the more important         
,imperial ,rescripts to that rank1      
accompanied doubtless by an             
authoritative commentary1 as their style
 is too abstruse to be understanded of  
the people4 ,to these ,imperial         
,rescripts some of the poems composed by

 his present ,majesty may be added4 ,in 
fact1 a volume on the whole duty of     
,japanese man1 with selected ,imperial  
poems as texts1 has already appeared4   
7#d7       7,note #d7  ,for over a      
thousand years the composition      of  
,japanese and ,chinese verse has formed 
part of a      liberal education1 like  
the composition of ,latin      verse    
among ourselves4  ,the ,court has always
      devoted much time to the practice 
of this art4      ,but the poems of     
former ,emperors were little      known1
 because the monarchs themselves        
remained      shut up in their palace1  
and exercised no      influence beyond  
its walls4  ,with his present           
,majesty the case is entirely different4
  ,moreover1      some of his           
compositions breathe a patriotism       
formerly undreamt of4                   
9999999999  ,one might have imagined    
that ,japan's new religionists would    
have experienced some difficulty in     
persuading foreign nations of the truth 

of their dogmas4 ,things have fallen out
 otherwise4 ,europe and ,america evince 
a singular taste for the marvellous1 and
 find a zest in self-depreciation4 ,our 
eighteenth-century ancestors imagined   
all perfections to be realised in       
,china1 thanks to the glowing           
descriptions then given of that country 
by the ,jesuits4 ,twentieth-century     
,europe finds its moral and political   
,eldorado in distant ,japan1 a land of  
fabulous antiquity and incredible       
virtues4 ,there is no lack of           
pleasant-mannered persons ready to guide
 trustful admirers in the right path4   
,official and semi-official ,japanese1  
whether ambassadors and                 
ministers-resident or peripatetic counts
 and barons1 make it their business to  
spread a legend so pleasing to the      
national vanity1 so useful as a         
diplomatic engine4 ,lectures are        
delivered1 books are written in         
,english1 important periodicals are     
bought up1 minute care is lavished on   

the concealment1 the patching-up1 and   
glossing-over of the deep gulf that     
nevertheless is fixed between ,east and 
,west4 ,the foreigner cannot refuse the 
bolus thus artfully forced down his     
throat4 ,he is not suspicious by nature4
 ,how should he imagine that people who 
make such positive statements about     
their own country are merely exploiting 
his credulity8 ,,he has reached a stage 
of culture where such mythopoeia has    
become impossible4 ,on the other hand1  
to control information by consulting    
original sources lies beyond his        
capacity4  ,for consider this peculiar  
circumstance3 the position of ,european 
investigators vis-a-vis ,japan differs  
entirely from that of ,japanese         
vis-a-vis ,europe4 ,the ,japanese       
possess every facility for studying and 
understanding ,europe4 ,europeans are   
warded off by well-nigh insuperable     
obstacles from understanding ,japan4    
,europe stands on a hill-top1 in the    
sunlight1 glittering afar4 ,her people  

court inspection4 ,come and see how we  
live--such was a typical invitation     
which the present writer recently       
received4 ,a thousand ,english homes are
 open to any ,japanese student or       
traveller who visits our shores4 ,an    
alphabet of but six-and-twenty simple   
letters throws equally wide open to him 
a literature clearly revealing our      
thoughts1 so that he who runs may read4 
,japan lies in the shadow1 away on the  
rim of the world4 ,her houses are far   
more effectually closed to the stranger 
by their paper shutters than are ours by
 walls of brick or stone4 ,what we call 
society does not exist there4 ,her      
people1 though smiling and courteous1   
surround themselves by an atmosphere of 
reserve1 centuries of despotic          
government having rendered them         
suspicious and reticent4 ,true1 when a  
foreigner of importance visits          
,japan--some ,british ,m4,p41 perhaps1  
whose name figures often in the         
newspapers1 or an ,american editor1 or  

the president of a great ,american      
college--this personage is charmingly   
received4 ,but he is never left free to 
form his own opinion of things1 even    
were he capable of so doing4            
,circumstances spin an invisible web    
around him1 his hosts being keenly      
intent on making him a speaking-trumpet 
for the proclamation of their own views4
  ,again1 ,japan's non-,aryan speech1   
marvellously intricate1 almost defies   
acquisition4 ,suppose this difficult    
vernacular mastered2 the would-be       
student discovers that literary works1  
even newspapers and ordinary            
correspondence1 are not composed in it1 
but in another dialect1 partly          
antiquated1 partly artificial1 differing
 as widely from the colloquial speech as
 ,latin does from ,italian4 ,make a     
second hazardous supposition4 ,assume   
that the grammar and vocabulary of this 
second indispensable ,japanese language 
have been learnt1 in addition to the    
first4 ,you are still but at the        

threshold of your task1 ,japanese       
thought having barricaded itself behind 
the fortress walls of an extraordinarily
 complicated system of writing1 compared
 with which ,egyptian hieroglyphics are 
child's play4 ,yet next to nothing can  
be found out by a foreigner unless he   
have this1 too1 at his fingers' ends4   
,as a matter of fact1 scarcely anyone   
acquires it--only a missionary here and 
there1 or a consular official with a    
life appointment4  ,the result of all   
this is that1 whereas the ,japanese know
 everything that it imports them to know
 about us1 ,europeans cannot know much  
about them1 such information as they    
receive being always belated1           
necessarily meagre1 and mostly          
adulterated to serve ,japanese          
interests4 ,international relations     
placed--and1 we repeat it1 inevitably   
placed--on this footing resemble a      
boxing match in which one of the        
contestants should have his hands tied4 
,but the metaphor fails in an essential 

point1 as metaphors are apt to do--the  
hand-tied man does not realise the      
disadvantage under which he labours4 ,he
 thinks himself as free as his opponent4
  ,thus does it come about that the     
neo-,japanese myths concerning dates1   
and ,emperors1 and heroes1 and          
astonishing national virtues already    
begin to find their way into popular    
,english text-books1 current literature1
 and even grave books of reference4 ,the
 ,japanese governing class has willed it
 so1 and in such matters the ,japanese  
governing class can enforce its will    
abroad as well as at home4 ,the         
statement may sound paradoxical4 ,study 
the question carefully1 and you will    
find that it is simply true4            
9999999999  ,what is happening in ,japan
 to-day is evidently exceptional4       
,normal religious and political change  
does not proceed in that manner2 it     
proceeds by imperceptible degrees4 ,but 
exceptions to general rules occur from  
time to time in every field of activity4

 ,are they really exceptions1 using that
 term in its current sense--to denote   
something arbitrary1 and therefore      
unaccountable8 ,surely these so-called  
exceptions are but examples of rules of 
rarer application4  ,the classic        
instance of the invention of a new      
national religion is furnished by the   
,jews of the post-exilic period4 ,the   
piecing together1 then1 of a brand-new  
system under an ancient name is now so  
well understood1 and has produced       
consequences of such world-wide         
importance1 that the briefest reference 
to it may suffice4 ,works which every   
critic can now see to be relatively     
modern were ascribed to ,moses1 ,david1 
or ,daniel2 intricate laws and          
ordinances that had never been          
practised--could never be               
practised--were represented as ancient  
institutions2 a whole new way of        
thinking and acting was set in motion on
 the assumption that it was old4 ,yet1  
so far as is known1 no one in or out of 

,palestine ever saw through the illusion
 for over two thousand years4 ,it was   
reserved for nineteenth-century scholars
 to draw aside the veil hiding the real 
facts of the case4  ,modern times supply
 another instance1 less important than  
the first1 but remarkable enough4       
,rousseau came in the middle of the     
eighteenth century1 and preached a      
doctrine that took the world by storm1  
and soon precipitated that world in     
ruins4 ,how did he discover his gospel8 
,he tells us quite naively3--     ,all  
the rest of the day1 buried in the      
forest1 ,i    sought1 ,i found there the
 image of primitive ages1    whose      
history ,i boldly traced4  ,i made havoc
 of men's    petty lies2 ,i dared to    
unveil and strip naked man's    true    
nature1 to follow up the course of time 
and of    the circumstances that have   
disfigured it1 and1    comparing man as 
men have made him with man as    nature 
made him1 to demonstrate that the       
so-called    improvements 7of           

civilisation7 have been the source    of
 all his woes1 etc4 7#e7       7,note   
#e7  ,confessions1 ,book ,,viii41 year  
#agec4   ,in other words1 he spun a     
pseudo-history from his own brain4 ,what
 is stranger1 he fanatically believed in
 this his pure invention1 and1 most     
extraordinary of all1 persuaded other   
people to believe in it as fanatically4 
,it was taken up as a religion1 it      
inspired heroes1 and enabled a barefoot 
rabble to beat the finest regular armies
 in the world4 ,even now1 at a distance 
of a century and a half1 its embers     
still glow4  ,of course1 it is not      
pretended that these various systems of 
thought were ,,arbitrary inventions4 ,no
 more were they so than the cloud       
palaces that we sometimes see swiftly   
form in the sky and as swiftly dissolve4
 ,the germ of ,rousseau's ideas can be  
traced back to ,fenelon and other       
seventeenth-century thinkers1 weary of  
the pomp and periwigs around them4      
,rousseau himself did but fulfil the    

aspiration of a whole society for       
something simpler1 juster1 more true to 
nature1 more logical4 ,he gave exactly  
what was needed at that moment of       
history--what appeared self-evident2    
wherefore no one so much as thought of  
asking for detailed proofs4 ,his deism1 
his statements concerning the state of  
nature and the social contract1 etc41   
were at once recognised by the people of
 his day as eternal verities4 ,what need
 for discussion or investigation8  ,the 
case of ,judaea is obscure2 but it would
 seem that something analogous must have
 happened there1 when the continuity of 
national life had been snapped by the   
exile4 ,a revolutionised and most       
unhappy present involved a changed      
attitude towards the past4 ,oral        
tradition and the scraps of written     
records that had survived the shipwreck 
of the kingdom fell1 as it were1        
naturally into another order4 ,the      
kaleidoscope having been turned1 the    
pattern changed of itself4 ,a few gifted

 individuals voiced the enthusiasm of a 
whole community1 when they adopted      
literary methods which would now1 in our
 comparatively stable days1 be branded  
as fraudulent4 ,they simply could not   
help themselves4 ,the pressing need of  
constructing a national polity for the  
present on the only basis then          
possible--,yahwe worship--,,forced them 
into falsifying the past4 ,the question 
was one of life and death for the       
,jewish nationality4                    
9999999999  ,europeans there are in     
,japan--,europeanised ,japanese         
likewise--who feel outraged by the      
action of the ,japanese bureaucracy in  
the matter of the new cult1 with all the
 illiberal and obscurantist measures    
which it entails4 ,that is natural4 ,we 
modern ,westerners love individual      
liberty1 and the educated among us love 
to let the sunlight of criticism into   
every nook and cranny of every subject4 
,freedom and scientific accuracy are our
 gods4 ,but ,japanese officialdom acts  

quite naturally1 after its kind1 in not 
allowing the light to be let in1 because
 the roots of the faith it has planted  
need darkness in which to grow and      
spread4 ,no religion can live which is  
subjected to critical scrutiny4  ,thus  
also are explained the rigours of the   
,japanese bureaucracy against the native
 liberals1 who1 in its eyes1 appear1 not
 simply as political opponents1 but as  
traitors to the chosen                  
people--sacrilegious heretics defying   
the authority of the ,one and ,only     
,true ,church4  ,but1 you will say1 this
 indignation must be mere pretence4 ,not
 even officials can be so stupid as to  
believe in things which they have       
themselves invented4 ,we venture to     
think that you are wrong here4 ,people  
can always believe that which it is     
greatly to their interest to believe4   
,thousands of excellent persons in our  
own society cling to the doctrine of a  
future life on no stronger evidence4 ,it
 is enormously important to the         

,japanese ruling class that the mental  
attitude sketched above should become   
universal among their countrymen4       
,accordingly1 they achieve the          
apparently impossible4 ,we believe in   
it1 said one of them to us recently--we 
believe in it1 although we know that it 
is not true4 ,tertullian said nearly the
 same thing1 and no one has ever doubted
 ,,his sincerity4