Before the Internet era, the picture of Japan that was fed to the world came through books written by an elite class of highly educated people: traveling academics, professional journalists and seasoned diplomats. They were much better equipped to offer a balanced, informed view of their subject matter than the modern Japan enthusiast, who is probably some pimply blogger with an overdeveloped knowledge of vending machines, cosplay uniforms, goth-loli or “tentacle porn.”

A shining example of this earlier type of Japan expert was the British scholar Basil Hall Chamberlain, author of this modern paperback reprint of his 1890 classic. Intriguingly, Chamberlain was also the elder brother of Houston Stewart Chamberlain, one of the main intellectual influences on Hitler and the Nazis. While the younger Chamberlain gravitated toward German nationalism and Wagnerian myth — in the process marrying Wagner’s daughter — the older Chamberlain was drawn to the less turbulent waters of Japanese language, culture, history, and mythology.

In 1883, he published his translation of the “Kojiki,” a 7th-century account of Japan’s foundation myth. Compared to the almost unreadable esoteric nature of this work, “Things Japanese” is an accessible and informative work, displaying Chamberlain’s wide-ranging knowledge along with a measure of High Victorian conceit.

A collection of short, sprightly essays, arranged alphabetically, the book saw several revisions and reprints due to its popularity. (This version seems to be from 1904.) The work set many of the templates for foreign commentaries on Japan, from quaint customs discarded in the name of Westernization — teeth blackening, sword bearing, hours of the days whose length varied with the seasons — to cultural clashes caused by the importation of foreign methods and manners. Chamberlain includes an entertaining section on early Japlish, “English as she is Japped,” and an entry on “Fashionable Crazes,” which mentions the rabbit mania of 1873, when some furry rodents fetched prices of up to $1,000.

The great gap between East and West that existed in many areas at the time often prompts Chamberlain to make hard-hitting remarks. “Music, if that beautiful word be allowed to fall so low as to denote the strummings and squealing of Oriental…” he writes at one point.

But such comments are seldom, if ever, the result of spite or ignorance. Chamberlain’s account of the native music also includes a disquisition on the Japanese pentatonic scale and informed speculation about the shamisen being introduced from the Philippines around 1700. Underlying his often waspish and schoolmasterly tone is a warmth and sympathy for the country and its people.

Chamberlain’s fluent knowledge of the language is frequently on display. For example, he highlights the suppressed history of the Ainu in Honshu through the etymology of place names, like Mt Fuji, the Tone River and the Noto Peninsula — “tone” means river in Ainu and “noto” means peninsula. Elsewhere, he points out that such common terms as “danna” (master), “baka” (idiot), and “sora” (sky) have an Indian origin, via Buddhism and Sanskrit.

One of Chamberlain’s most interesting essays is on the Japanese character. Here he presents a range of views by other foreign visitors without necessarily endorsing any of them. These include:

“This nation is a delight to my soul” — St Francis Xavier

“In purity of life, and outward devotion, they far outdo the Christians” — Engelbert Kaempfer

“A brave, courteous, light-hearted, pleasure-loving people, sentimental rather than passionate, witty and humorous, of nimble apprehension, but not profound” — Sir Rutherford Alcock

“They have the nature of birds or butterflies than of ordinary human beings” — Sir Edwin Arnold

From these and other quotes, Chamberlain infers that the Japanese have three main perceived positive qualities, namely cleanliness, kindliness and a refined artistic taste; and three negative: vanity, unbusinesslike habits and an incapacity for appreciating abstract ideas.

Whether the modern reader agrees with such views or not, Chamberlain’s book is an invaluable guide not only to the country, itself, but also to how the world perceived and formed its first impressions of the debutante nation.

More proof of this kind is found in the entry “Books on Japan.” A disproportionate number of the works mentioned seem to be by British authors, keen to present a generally positive view of Britain’s new Far East ally. Chamberlain’s work is free of any such agenda, and serves only as an outlet for his vast knowledge of the country.

While modern critics might decry the Orientalism and Occidental arrogance of Japan experts like Chamberlain, their deep curiosity, wide-ranging erudition and disciplined intelligence ultimately presented a much more informative and positive image of Japan to the world than the otaku-inspired version that is currently emerging.

This review originally appeared in Metropolis magazine (www.metropolis.co.jp).

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5 Comments

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  zaichik at 07:30 AM JST - 13th August

  One of CB's better offerings, apart from the snipe about Japan enthusiasts of today.

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  Noripinhead at 05:44 PM JST - 13th August

  "Chamberlain infers that the Japanese have three main perceived positive qualities, namely cleanliness, kindliness and a refined artistic taste; and three negative: vanity, unbusinesslike habits and an incapacity for appreciating abstract ideas"

  Well, not much has changed, has it? That bit about "Tone" meaning "River" and "Noto" meaning "Peninsula" is interesting. So Tonegawa means "River River" and "Noto Hantou" means "Peninsula Peninsula"! Kind of redundant and saying the same things over and over again.

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  ExPrinceska at 10:59 AM JST - 14th August

  "kindliness" - is this true for Japanese today?

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  ThonTaddeo at 11:28 PM JST - 14th August

  Chamberlain's "Things Japanese" -- the 1904 edition is indeed one of the better ones -- is a must-read for anyone eith even the slightest interest in Meiji-era Japan.

  This is just the beginning, once you start getting interested in Chamberlain's works. He was the first person to give the Okinawan language any kind of serious study, publishing a grammar of it ("Essay in Aid of a Grammar of the Luchuan Language") with the Asiatic Society of Japan in 1895 which is (unfortunately, I suppose) still the best English-language introduction to Okinawan even after over 110 years. His discussion of the Okinawan people anc their culture, published by the Geographical Journal of Gerat Britain and Ireland in 1895, is also well worth a read. He even wrote philosophical works in French in his old age.

  Tuttle also reprinted this edition in the 1970s, and you can still find it in used bookstores from time to time.

  Given that this book has been deemed worthy of a new reprint, perhaps the "pimply bloggers" derided by C. B. Liddell are already among a new generation of Japanophiles discovering this excellent work. It should be on every exchange student and expat's bookshelf.

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  Badsey at 09:30 AM JST - 15th August

  this book is on the free Google bookshelf since it's past copyright -How's that for kindliness?

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