Chapter IX: Introduction: To Part I

This treatise, the “Koku Yu Dai I,” is published with the object of making known the institutions of the Country of the Gods, and of declaring the intentions of the Imperial Government, and to this end five copies will be distributed to every Kori or parochial sub-division of every province throughout the country. The officials, and not only they, but all well-disposed men, will give their earnest attention to this object, and will exert themselves to instruct all persons, down to the women and children, in the principles of this treatise.

The privilege of publishing this treatise has been granted to the Imperial Library of Kiōto, kept by Murakami Kambei, and all persons may freely purchase it.

The above will be made known throughout all the sub-divisions of the Province of Yamashiro.

(_Signed_) GOVERNMENT OF KIŌTO.

“KOKU YU DAI I”

Man is the sublime essence of all things. Between heaven and earth there is no more honourable thing than man. Our country is specially called the Country of the Gods, and of all the countries in the world there is none the institutions of which excel those of our country. Is it not a disgrace past speaking of that the privileged being called man, who dwells in the excellent Country of the Gods, should pass his life in heedless vanity? Man differs from the birds and from the beasts in that he can discern the laws of reason, and in that he has a heart capable of gratitude and virtue. Loyalty and filial piety are also the essence of the heart of man. He who in ever so slight a degree is wanting in this heart has the face of a man but the soul of a beast, and though he be shaped as a man, yet is he even less than the birds and the beasts.

If, then, a man wishes to fulfil his duties as a man, and having been born in the Country of the Gods desires not to turn his back upon the spirits of that country, let him above all things bear in mind the privilege of being born a Japanese, and set his heart upon repaying the debt of gratitude which he owes to his country.

We have said that the institutions of the Country of the Gods excel those of other countries. Of old the heavenly ancestors of the Emperor created this country, and established the duties of men in their mutual relations. Since that time the line of Emperors has never been changed. Generation has succeeded generation in the rule of this country, and the Imperial heart has ever been penetrated by a tender love for the people. In their turn the people have reverenced and served generation after generation of Emperors. In foreign countries the lines of Princes have been frequently changed; the people owe their Sovereign a debt of gratitude which extends over two or three generations; the relations of Sovereign and subject last for a hundred or two hundred years; the Prince of yesterday is the foe of to-day; the minister of yesterday is the rebel of to-morrow.

In our country we have no such folly. Since the creation of the world we have remained unmoved; since the creation of the world the Imperial line has been unchanged and the relations of Sovereign and subject have been undisturbed; hence it is that the spirit of gratitude has intensified and grown deeper and deeper. The especial point in which the institutions of our country excel those of the rest of the world is the creed which has been established by the heavenly ancestors of the Emperor, and which comprises the mutual duties between lord and servant.

Even in foreign countries, where lords and servants have over and over again changed places, these mutual duties are handed down as a matter of weighty importance. How much the more does it behove us to pay a debt of deep and inexhaustible gratitude which extends over the ages.

Is there any man who thinks that he has never received a penny from the Emperor? Is there any man who thinks that he is not beholden to the Emperor for one tittle of help in his need? Is there any man who believes that it is of his own merit that he passes through the world, and who feels not the favours which he has received from his country? If there be such a man, great is his mistake. He is like the man in the proverb who is grateful for the light borrowed from his lamp, but is heedless of the thanks which he owes to the moon and to the sun.

The favours which a man receives from his country are so vast as to be without bounds. Reflect carefully upon this. Since it is by the heavenly ancestors of the Emperor that this country was created, there is no single thing existing in the land which is not the Emperor’s. At our birth the water in which we are washed is the Emperor’s. At our death the ground in which we are buried is the Emperor’s. The rice which we eat, the clothes which we wear, the cap which we put on, the staff which supports us, are all the produce of the Emperor’s land.

Again, the money which enables us to pass through life easily is coined by the will of the Emperor; so that whether we hoard our wealth or give out our coin to meet our daily wants, it is by the help of the Emperor that we are able to transact our business.

Further, lest wicked men should hinder us, offices and guard-houses are established in different places. Ruffians and thieves are punished; children may be trusted to walk abroad with money, and no man will rob them; old men and women may be left to watch the house, and lawless men will not break in. You plant your fields with rice and your gardens with green things. You set out goods for sale and clothes to dry in your shops and wayside stalls, and no man comes to steal them; here is no small cause of gratitude. If perchance any evil deed should be done, no means are left untried to discover the guilty man, and the Imperial orders are issued to punish him according to his crime.

If there were no such Imperial authority to exercise justice, each man would have to trust to his own strength. The weak would be slain by the strong; the old would be pushed over by the young; rice and money would be seized by force. But since this exercise of justice exists, although a single or double hedge may be easily broken through, there is no need to set guards, for there are none to force an entrance, and so we pass our lives in peace and safety.

There are yet further ways in which the generations of Emperors have cared for the sorrow of their people. Remember with reverence that there was once an Emperor who in the cold winter night stripped his clothes that he might know by his own feelings the sufferings of the poor.[22] When he looked at the rice before him he reflected that the grain was planted by the sweat of the farmers, and acknowledged their labours. We must be truly grateful that morning and night the Emperor’s prayers have been offered up that his people might be spared from storm and from rain; from famine, plague, and cholera. Nor is it for ourselves alone, nor for our generation only, that our gratitude is due. Since the creation of the world generation after generation of our ancestors have passed their lives under the shadow of their Emperors. How many endless generations of our children’s children shall be nurtured under the same gracious protection?

During the last three hundred years, the land being at peace, the power of the Emperor was gradually relaxed. Although the Emperor existed, it was as though he were no more. The consideration and love of the Emperor for his people did not reach them; it was arrested on its way. Bribery and corruption flourished; even good men fell into evil ways, and bad men prospered. The Emperor was greatly afflicted; he neither ate nor rested in peace. Still, however great might be the afflictions which he had to undergo himself, they were as nothing to those which he suffered on account of his people’s grief.

Now at last the Imperial Government has been restored to its ancient form; the affairs of the country are placed upon a brilliant basis; the hearts of great and small are united; the desires of all men have been accomplished, and men may more than ever pass their lives in peaceful tranquillity. Preserving those institutions in which the Emperor’s country excels all other countries, we will illustrate the power of our Emperor to the world. Reverently receiving the Imperial will, we will humbly obey his commands; we will set our hearts upon serving him for his sake. Bent upon requiting every particle or hair’s breadth of favour received during generations after generations, we will not turn our backs upon our duty as the people of the Country of the Gods.

First year of Meiji (1868).

(Printed officially by the Imperial Printers. Published at Kiōto by Murakami Kambei and Inouyé Jihei; at Yedo, by Mohei at the Suwaraya; and Ichibei, at the Idzumiya.)