THE JAPANESE NATION IN EVOLUTION: Steps in the Progress of a Great People

New York [1907], Crowell. Red cloth, gold decorations, very clean & solid, index, 22 b.w. photos, top edge gilt, 408p., 12.5 x 19.5 cm.* AUTHOR'S SIGNED & DATED PRESENTATION COPY * * RARE FIRST & ONLY ORIGINAL EDITION * . *** **** *** . . AN EXCELLENT INSIGHT TO THE ORIGINS OF THE JAPANESE . . . THE MODERN PROGRESS OF A DEVELOPING NATION . * Contents: Covers prehistoric Nippon, the Aryan white race in the archipelago, Malay element in Japan, Idzumo cycle of legends, Yamato people and Mikadoism, Yamato Damashii, stone and iron age. . Japan in the light of records: Aryan religion, political revolution of A.D. 645, first new Japan, church & state, woman the conservator, imperialism, expansionism & feudalism. . The Japanese Nation: one people: two capitals, Japan rejects Mongolism, Japan as a dark and bloddy ground, the the Christian century, self-isolation hermit nation. . Bushido in revelation. Modern Occidental Influences: the native intellect fertilized, Russian menace in the North, diplomacy & bcommotion, the new government and the new Japan, foreign servants & helpers. Japan among the nations: the new national army & navy, panoplied Japan, a public school army, the war with Russia, a foothold on the continent. . Becoming a world power, ambitions, burdens, problems, second to none. A superb and true insight to what Japan really was and is. . *** WILLIAM E. GRIFFIS 1843-1928: . He was an American orientalist, Congregational minister, lecturer, missionary to japan and a prolific author. . In September 1870 Griffis was invited to Japan by Matsudaira Shungaku, for the purpose of organizing schools along modern lines. In 1871, he was Superintendent of Education in the province of Echizen. In recompense, he was provided with an annual salary of $2,400, a house in Fukui and a horse. . In 1872-74, Griffis taught chemistry and physics at Kaisei Gakko (the forerunner of Tokyo Imperial University). He prepared the New Japan Series of Reading and Spelling Books, 5 vols. (1872). He also published primers for Japanese students of the English language; and he and contributed to the Japanese press and to newspapers and magazines in the United States numerous papers of importance on Japanese affairs. . Griffis was joined by his sister, Margaret Clark Griffis, who became a teacher at the Tokyo Government Girls' School (later to become the Peeresses' School). By the time they left Japan in 1874, Griffis had befriended many of Japan's future leaders. . Griffis was a member of the Asiatic Society of Japan, the Asiatic Society of Korea, the Historical Society of the Imperial University of Tokyo, and the Meirokusha. . In 1907, the Japanese government conferred the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, which represents the fourth highest of eight classes associated with the award. . Liberally extracted from Wikipedia, see below. . *** Color scans of this and most others are posted to our website. . *** Please visit our website for others by or about Griffis. . *** BIBLIOGRAPHY: . P. Barr: DEER CRY PAVILION * H.Cordier, BIBLIOGRAPHIE JAPON: col. 662 * See Wikipedia for William_Elliot_Griffis *. …