ILLUSTRATIONS INTERDENOMINATIONAL CHRISTIAN WORKERS' CONFERENCE IN HON. K. KATAoka, Statesman and ChristiaN, Frontispiece AN ANCIENT EDICT BOARD DIRECTED AGAINST CHRISTIANITY, VERSITY CAMPUS, MAP OF JAPAN, . JAPAN AND ITS REGENERATION I THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN I. The Name The Japanese call their country Dai Nippon. Dai signifies "Great"; while Nippon, or Nihon, as it is sometimes pronounced, means Sun-Origin." The latter part of the title was probably first used by the Chinese, since it was from the Japanese Islands lying to the east of their empire that the sun came to them. The Chinese pronunciation of the characters employed in writing the name is Jih-pên, or Ji-puan. From this came the name Zipangu by which Marco Polo introduced the country to the knowledge of Europeans, and other modifications of the sounds have given us in English the word Japan. II. Situation.I. The Japanese Empire consists of a chain of islands stretching along the northeast coast of Asia. Formerly it claimed the southern part of Saghalien; but this was ceded in 1875 to Russia, and the Kurile ka Islands accepted in exchange. The Bonin and Loochoo Máugu Islands are now recognized as belonging to Japan. As a result of the war with China its domain was increased in 1895 by the addition of Formosa; but the present volume does not deal with this new possession. (See, however, Appendix A.) 2. The most southern of the Loochoo Islands is in 24° north latitude, while the Kuriles extend nearly to 51°. The extremes thus correspond very nearly with the southern part of the Persian Gulf and Southampton, England; or with Key West and the northern part of Newfoundland. The range of longitude-124° to 157° east of Greenwich-may be compared with that from Boston to 3. The distance between the largest island and Korea is about one hundred miles; but the island of Tsushima, which belongs to Japan, is only twenty-five miles from the continent of Asia. III. Area.-I. The Japanese Islands have an area of ted dabout 146,500 square miles. This is somewhat more than the area of Great Britain and Ireland (121,000 square tus miles), two and one-fifth times that of New England (66,500 square miles), and about equal to that of the two Dakotas (149,000 square miles). lfound or Texas miles).found 2. There are four large islands and more than two thousand smaller ones. The relative size of the former may be tabulated as follows: Tamino (1895 2 Shikokus 1 Kyushu. 3 = 3. The name Hondo, though not in common use, is the proper one for the largest island, which on many of our maps is designated as "Nihon" or "Niphon," the name of the whole empire being thus incorrectly applied to one island. IV. Physical Features.-I. Though there are a few plains, the country as a whole may be considered as a mass of mountains. These sometimes plunge abruptly into the sea; but in most places the shore is fringed by a strip of arable land. This broadens out near the mouths of the rivers, which bring down great quantities of soil from the hills. The more lofty mountains are from four thousand to nine thousand feet high. Mt. Fuji, a beautiful truncated cone towering in solitary grandeur far above all other mountains in its vicinity, rises to an elevation of 12,360 feet above the level of the sea. It is no wonder that the Japanese love Fuji, and that even foreigners have called it "the peerless mountain." Its unique form has inspired the artists of Japan. It is frequently the central object in the background of ideal pictures. It is painted on the fan that the Japanese uses, on the screens that divide his rooms, on the bowl from which he eats his rice, and at the bottom of the delicate china cup from which he sips his tea; it is dyed upon the cotton kerchief that (ne laborer knots about his brow, and is woven into the texture of the silken fabrics that are worn by the wealthy. Most of the mountains are of volcanic origin. Some volcanoes are still active. De Vries Island, lying near the entrance to the Bay of Yedo, is constantly wreathed with smoke, as is also the peak of Mt. Asama, northwest of Tokyo. Mt. Aso, in Kyushu, is said to have the largest crater in the world. The last eruption of Mt. Fuji was in 1708; and though snow may at all seasons be found upon its summit there are places where the ground is so hot that eggs may be cooked. In 1888 Bandai San, which had been quiet for more than a thousand years, suddenly broke forth in an eruption that blew off one side of the mountain and covered a large section of the surrounding country with stones, mud, and ashes. Several villages were destroyed and 461 persons lost their lives. 2. Most of the rivers are necessarily short, since there is but little distance between the mountains and the sea. In a dry season there will often be little more than a dry bed of sand and stones where, after a few hours of rain, a wide and tumultuous torrent blocks the way of the traveller. The bridging of these streams forms one of the most difficult problems connected with the construction of railroads. Mountains may be pierced by tunnels that, if well constructed, will be as enduring as the hills themselves; but a great flood tears away, as though they were but children's toys, costly bridges that it has taken months to construct. On the lower courses of the rivers artificial embankments have been built to keep back the water from ricefields, which in many cases are even lower than the beds of the rivers. When heavy rains swell the streams these banks may give way, so that the water pours out upon the surrounding country, destroying life and property. There is seldom a year when one or more sections of the country are not visited by disastrous floods. 3. The lakes, which are said to be more than two hundred in number, are for the most part small; but many of them, standing in silent grandeur among the mountainslike the Hakone Lake near the celebrated Hakone Pass, west of Tokyo or nestling in luxuriant beauty amidst the |