were smart and skilful.  The paraders seemed lost in their desire to do their best for their credit’s sake and their own good.  After the first movements, the “troops” with “rifles” held as if there were bayonets at the end, made rushes with loud cries.  The secret of this somewhat surprising display far away in the heart of Japan was that the work of the young men had been done under the direction of two fit, be-medalled army surgeons, reserve officers, who were present in order to answer my questions.

Every morning half an hour before sunrise these Y.M.A. members assemble in the grounds of their Shinto shrine or of their school, where they exercise until the sun shows itself.  In the evenings after work they also fence, wrestle, lift weights and develop their wrists.  This wrist development is done by two youths grasping a pole, one at either end, and then trying to rotate it one against the other.

The members endeavour to cultivate their minds as well as their bodies, and they also observe in their dress a self-denying ordinance.  On ceremonial occasions they permit themselves to wear a full-length kimono and the hakama or divided skirt, but they deny themselves the third article of a Japanese man’s full dress, the haori or silk overcoat.  An effort is also made to dispense with the use of “luxurious” geta (the national wooden pattens).[19]

The object of all this varied discipline is to develop physique, self-control, self-respect and what the Japanese call the spirit of association, or, as we might say, good fellowship.  The spirit of association is needed in order to promote greater administrative, educational and social efficiency.  The modern Japanese village is no longer an historical but a political unit which covers a considerable district.  It is, as I have explained, a combination of clusters of aza (hamlets).  Each of these aza has its local sentiment, and this local sentiment when untouched by outside influences tends to become selfish, narrow and prejudiced.  If, however, anything is to be done in the development of rural life there must be co-operation between aza for all sorts of objects.

I was assured that in addition to the development of physique, moral and the spirit of association, there was to be seen, under the influence of the Y.M.A., a development of good manners and mental nimbleness.  A special result of early rising and discipline in one area had been that “the habit of spending evening hours idly has died away, immorality has diminished, singing loudly and foolishly and boasting oneself have disappeared, while punctuality and respect for old age have increased.”  I was even assured that parents—­whom no true Japanese would ever dream of attempting to reform at first hand—­parents, I say, moved by the physical and mental advance in their sons, have “begun to practise greater punctuality.”