would not be unwilling to listen to a plea for mercy.  The abbot answered that he sympathised deeply with the Ronin, but because he so sympathised with them he was unwilling to take any steps which might hinder the carrying out of the sentence.  It was true, he said, that there were old men among the Ronin, but many, of them were young men—­one was only fifteen—­and it had to be borne in mind that if they escaped death at the hands of the law it was hardly likely that during the whole course of their after-lives they could hope to escape committing sin of some sort or another.  At the moment they had reached a pinnacle of nobility which they could never pass and it was a thing to be desired for them that they should die now, when they would live to all posterity as heroes.  The happiest fate for the Ronin was a righteous death, and as their admiring sympathiser the abbot expressed his unwillingness to do anything which might have the effect of saving them from so glorious an end.

FOOTNOTES: 

[221] Someone said to me, “I have in mind one village where there is a poorly cared-for school and a score of teahouses giving employment to nearly two hundred people.”

[222] “Small boards with crude designs painted on them.  They may be prayers, thank-offerings or protective charms.  A shrine where many thanks ema have been left is clearly that of a god ready to hear and answer prayer.  Worshippers flock to the place and the accumulation of painted boards—­whether prayers or thanks—­increases.”—­FREDERICK STARR, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. xlviii.

[223] The percentage in conscripts in 1918 was 2.2 per cent, against 2.5 per cent, in 1917 and 2.7 per cent, in 1916. ("Not less than 10 per cent. of the population of our large towns are infected with syphilis and a much larger proportion with gonorrhoea.”—­SIR JAMES CRICHTON-BROWNE.) The figures for the general population of Japan must be higher.

[224] See Appendix LXIII.

[225] It sometimes happens that an adopted son is dismissed with “a sufficient monetary compensation” when a real son is born.

[226] I met a fine ex-daimyo, who after the Restoration had served as a prefectural governor.  He was so generous in giving money to public objects in his prefecture that his family compelled him to resign office.

[227] See Appendix XXX.

[228] It is only within the last quarter of a century that the authorities have taken a stand against infanticide.  There is no traditional dislike of an artificial diminution of progeny, for many of the fathers and grandfathers of the present generation practised it.  Methods of procuring abortion were also common.  A certain plant has a well-known reputation as an abortifacient.  A young peer and his wife are now conducting a campaign on behalf of smaller families, and the discussion has advanced far enough for a magazine to invite Dr. Havelock Ellis to express his views.