The Literature, History, and Civilization of the Japanese [pp. 306-329]

~1O Til~ LTTERATURE, RISTORY AND ~TYiMZATION [April,
the Niphonese ladies bathe in the street, in front of their own
doors. Women enceinte with us wear loose and convenient
clothing, while it is only when in this condition that the
Japanese women wear close-fitting corsets, tightened as
much as possible. In duels, with us each of the combatants
exposes himself to death at the hand of ~s opponent; with
them each opponent knows beforehand the result of the encounter, for each must inflict death upon himself, which it is
indispensable should be done with the best grace in the
world. We find even in Yeddo excellent masters of deportment for solemn occasions. And, finally, there is nothing,
even to the butterfly, which does not pass in Japan as an
emblem of conjugal fidelity, and which might not be choseii
as the allegorical image of an exemplary young husband.
The Japanese literature is marked with no less originality
than the manners and customs of these singular islanders.
I had occasion last year to remind you that this literature
deserves to be placed in the first rank, not less for its suprising richness than for its real value. I say its real value,
because there are countries in Asia where a formidable number of books have been written, but where European science
can scarcely do more than glean. It is more interesting to
learn by the writings of Bishop Pallegoix that twenty thousand extensive works are cited among the Siamese, than it is
to undertake to read them. The Thibetan collections KancI~our and B~n5ou~~, which compflses no ]ess than 1392 vol- umes, embracing 1023 treatises, deserve to be mentioned
more for this particular than for their contents. It is but
doing justice to Chinese literature, and I hope, it can soon
also be said, to Japanese literature, to affirm that it is in a
great many respects worthy of the attention of Europe.
You will find in the written monuments of the two great
nations of the extreme West, more than one work capable of
being translated, and even of enlarging the already wide
field of our scientific and literary knowledge.
I have requested my Yeddo friends and some Europeans
living in Niphon, with whom I keep up a correspondence, to
send me quite a collection of Japanese works which are not