some other East Asiatic peoples stood in much the same relationship to the Chinese as did the Japanese, but the prestige of Chinese civilization, coupled with occasional rule of their lands by the Chinese, persuaded them at certain times in their history to identify themselves with the Chinese, and to look upon themselves as members of the Chinese cultural empire.
The Japanese were saved from surrendering their cultural independence and national initiative by their greater isolation and their freedom from Chinese political control. Living in their own land and speaking their own language, they remained fully aware that they were Japanese, not Chinese. Yet they realized their insignificance when compared with the Chinese. Perhaps in compensation for a sense of inferiority, they early developed a strong consciousness of their national identity and a deep sense of pride in all things Japanese.
Such an attitude was already clearly observable in the Kamakura period, when Nichiren and other religious leaders injected a strong nationalistic note into their teachings. It was clearer in the political writings of the early Ashikaga period. A scholar of this time who supported the cause of Daigo II wrote a history to prove the validity of Daigo II’s claim to rule. He gave this history a strong nationalistic tinge by stressing the unique virtues of the Japanese political system, which he attributed to the fact that Japan was a land of divine origin, ruled by an imperial line of divine ancestry.
Shinto priests, who again began to play a part in the intellectual life of Japan during the feudal ages, did