Now the long prevalent feudal social order has left its stamp on the Japanese language no less than on every other feature of Japanese civilization.  Many of the quasi personal pronouns are manifestly of feudal parentage.  Under the new civilization and in contact with foreign peoples who can hardly utter a sentence without a personal pronoun, the majority of the old quasi personal pronouns are dropping out of use, while those in continued use are fast rising to the position of full-fledged personal pronouns.  This, however, is not due to the development of self-consciousness on the part of the people, but only to the development of the language in the direction of complete and concise expression of thought.  It would be rash to say that the feudal social order accounts for the lack of pronouns, personal or others, from the Japanese language, but it is safe to maintain that the feudal order, with its many gradations of social rank, minute etiquette, and refined and highly developed personal sensitiveness would adopt and foster an impersonal and honorific method of personal allusion.  Even though we may not be able to explain the rise of the non-pronominal method of sentence structure, it is enough if we see that this is a problem in the evolution of language, and that Japanese pronominal deficiency is not to be attributed to lack of consciousness of self, much less to the inherent “impersonality” of the Japanese mind.

An interesting fact ignored by advocates of the “impersonal” theory is the Japanese inability of conceiving nationality apart from personality.  Not only is the Emperor conceived as the living symbol of Japanese nationality, but he is its embodiment and substance.  The Japanese race is popularly represented to be the offspring of the royal house.  Sovereignty resides completely and absolutely in him.  Authority to-day is acknowledged only in those who have it from him.  Popular rights are granted the people by him, and exist because of his will alone.  A single act of his could in theory abrogate the constitution promulgated in 1889 and all the popular rights enjoyed to-day by the nation.  The Emperor of Japan could appropriate, without in the least shocking the most patriotic Japanese, the long-famous saying of Louis XIV., “L’etat, c’est moi.”  Mr. H. Kato, ex-president of the Imperial University, in a recent work entitled the “Evolution of Morality and Law” says this in just so many words:  “Patriotism in this country means loyalty to the throne.  To the Japanese, the Emperor and the country are the same.  The Emperor of Japan, without the slightest exaggeration, can say, ‘L’etat, c’est moi.’  The Japanese believe that all their happiness is bound up with the Imperial line and have no respect for any system of morality or law that fails to take cognizance of this fact.”