of these words is taken. The Ban-Tan line, connecting the provinces of Harima and Tajima, receives its name from the fact that the first of the two Chinese characters employed to write the word Harima is pronounced Ban in other contexts, while the first character of Tajima is properly Tan, though not so pronounced in this particular instance. Perhaps this may make the European tyro's head swim, but to the Japanese it appears perfectly plain and simple.
Japan has now its "Bradshaw," under the title of Ryokō Annai, published monthly. The rapid swelling of this useful periodical from half-a-dozen pages to two fat little volumes is a striking index of Japan's material progress.
Book recommended. The Annual Report of the Imperial Railway Department.
Religion. Undevotional by temperament,[1] the Japanese have nevertheless accorded a measure of hospitality to the two greatest religions of the world—Buddhism and Christianity. Their own unassisted efforts in the direction of religion are summed up in archaic Shintō. Modern Shintō has been profoundly influenced by Buddhism and Confucianism.
- ↑ Thus, for instance, wrote the late Mr. Fukuzawa, Japan's most representative thinker and educationalist: "It goes without saying that the maintenance of peace and security in society requires a religion. For this purpose any religion will do. I lack a religious nature, and have never believed in any religion. I am thus open to the charge that I am advising others to be religious, when I am not so. Yet my conscience does not permit me to clothe myself with religion, when I have it not at heart. * * * * Of religions, there are several kinds,—Buddhism, Christianity, and what not. Yet, from my standpoint, there is no more difference between these than between green tea and black tea. If makes little difference whether you drink one or the other. The point is to let those who have never drunk tea partake of it and know its taste. Just so with religion. Religionists are like tea-merchants. They are busy selling their own kind of religion. As for the method of procedure in this matter, it is not good policy for one to disparage the stock of others in order to praise his own. What he ought to do, is to see that his stock is well-selected and his prices cheap, etc., etc." (We quote from the translation given in the "Japan Herald" for the 9th September, 1897.) Similar utterances from the mouths of leading men might be quoted by the score Characteristic, too, is it that whereas one of the first subjects on which the average Europe an seeks information is the nature of Japanese religious belief, no Japanese with whom we have come in contact has ever questioned us regarding Western religion. The subject apparently interests none except those few who become converts.
