Excerpt from The Mikado: Institution and Person, a Study of the Internal, Political Forces of Japan

From the launching in 1850 of Commodore Perry's flagship, the Susquehanna, which I witnessed, to the end of the life of Mutsuhito the Great, in July, 1912, and the world events in 1915, my interest in Japan has never flagged. The present volume was written in large part during the lifetime of the august monarch, but the manuscript was withheld for much the same reasons of delicacy that prompt one to refrain from publishing the letters of a friend in the lifetime of their writer. In this age, however, the people who revere their great ruler's memory should fear neither the light of investigation nor the revelation of a human life, in however exalted a position.

Mikadoism is the symbol of all that is dear to the Japanese; yet, like all social forces, whether religion, or the magic of a great name, or the national flag, the dogma is often abused by its so-called friends, is made an unnecessary engine of cruelty, or is debased to selfish or mercenary purposes.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге The Mikado (William Elliot Griffis)