The Rule of Taste
A- History of Japan to 1334. By George Sansom. (Cresset Press, 63s.) A- History of Japan to 1334. By George Sansom. (Cresset Press, 63s.)
THIS is the first of three projected volumes by Sir George Sansom, which will follow the history of Japan down to Perry's 1854 treaty. No one in the English-speaking world is better suited than Sir George to undertake such a definitive study, and those who have read his Short Cultural His- tory of Japan will realise that he is not the sort of historian who deals with political events in isolation—they are always related to the society and culture in which they took place. Thus, in the present volume, we are never far from the Manyoshu, The Tale of Genii, the. Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon and the scrolls and images of the period. This is proper, for, as Sir George says, during much of this period Japan was 'a society governed less by a rule of conduct than by a rule of taste.' Along with this flourishing of the arts and an almost neurotic cultivation of sensibility went a decline in government, and for over three hundred years the Emperors, with few exceptions, were mere puppets in the hands of the Fujiwara Regents; and though 'it is important to under- stand that the divinity of the sovereign, as it is conceived of throughout Japanese history, is not something which is claimed, but is a basic assump- tion, a historical growth from primitive sources,' this divinity has often been a useful weapon in the hands of cynical and self-seeking men, from Michinaga in the late tenth century to the militarists in the 1930s. Indeed, these words of Michinaga's fit well enough the public attitudes of the instigators of the 1936 insurrection and the China Incident : 'Great as are our power and
prestige, nevertheless they are those of the Sovereign, for we derive them from the majesty of the Throne.'
The inspiration of China, absorbed and adapted rather than simply swallowed whole; the over- whelming importance of land and systems of land tenure throughout Japanese history; the tolerance, lack of passion, lack of dogma, and sometimes the sheer untidiness, of Japanese religious attitudes; the cult of the family and the clan—these are some of the enduring features of Japanese history and culture inspected by Sir George, and the fact that the end-limit of this particular volume is 1334 should lead no one to imagine that the ground covered is irrelevant to modern Japan. The Japanese are steeped in their own history; their most popular Kabuki plays, such as Chushingura, and their most popular films, draw on remote historical events—remote in time but not in sentiment, precepts and moral tales from a golden age. The society of aristo- crats, connoisseurs, wise men and heroes which was the Japan of Yeats's imagination did exist. It was capable of moments which combine, in the true spirit of Zen, extraordinary aesthetic per- ception with what looks like plain flippancy. This is revealed, for example, in the anecdote which Sir George tells about the Emperor Shirakawa, who had summoned a stricken old campaigner to the Palace to tell the story of his campaigns. 'The old soldier began, "Once when Yoshiiye had left the Defence Headquarters' for the fortress at Akita, a light snow was falling and the men . . ." at which point His Majesty broke in and said : "Stop there! It is a most elegant and striking pic- ture. Nothing more is needed." He gave the old man a handsome present and sent him away.' Such a story may seem a long way from the spirit of Bushido or the Rape of Nanking; but it tells one something equally important—indeed, more important—about the nature of Japan.
ANTHONY THWALTE
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