To Mr. Henry Albert Stimson Amherst
Feb. 6th/70
Dear Sir, I received a letter from Mr. W. B. Graves, my old teacher in Philips Academy in Andover, a few weeks ago. He informed me, how you did created quite an interest in the religious wants of my country among your Sabbath school children by telling them about Japan and about my coming to this country and my experience of the Christian truth, and asked me a favor to write to them some thing about Japan and her customs etc. I am very much pleased to hear, that you told them about Japan and interested them so much in a mission course.
I hope, you will still continue the missionary interest among your people and Sabbath school children. It does seem me always, that if any church has more missionary spirit, she is more active and influential than those, which have not. It is my great pleasure and privilege to inform any person about my country, if he desires to know of her not merely for a curiosity but for advancing Christ's kingdom among the benighted nations, and creating the sympathy and fellow feeling of his people or friends toward them.
Since I came to this country I have been requested by several persons to inform them some thing about Japan by letters. But I often refused to do so, because it requires considerable time to write, and prevent my study, though it might be an instrumentality to create some missionary interest among the people. I require a considerable time to get my lesson; and it is quite hard work to keep up my study with the American students. It owes partly to my feeble conception and partly to my deficient command of the language and insufficient fitness. On the other hand, I am not so strong as used to be. So I can't overwork at all. However I devote myself faithfully to my study and take a considerable exercise between my study hours.
Concerning to my writing some thing about Japan, I am often troubled and don't know what to do, because if I write it too brief, I can't express my idea and if I want to express my idea fully, it requires a considerable time. However I will try best I can as to inform you something, which may interest some of your people. I write this directly to you in the order that you might read this first and then tell your people in a better shape than my letter itself could. As I suppose, the most of your Sabbath school scholars are young persons and may be glad to hear some thing about the manner of our children.
They are different from your children in a great respect. They are strictly kept down by their parents, and taught to be obedient to their parents far more than it is excised in this country. Whatever they do, they are obliged to ask their parents' permission. If they do something wrong or displease their parents by disobedience, they are severely punished. The way of punishment is quite different from yours, for the parents beat the children's head instead of a place, which is better adapted to it by Nature.
They begin to go to a school, when they grow up to 6 or 7 years of age. Of course, they must commence with their prime characters, which are nearly twice much as your alphabet in number. They consist of48 characters, for instance イ e ロ ro ハ ha ニ ni ホ ho ヘ he ト to etc. When they get through these prime ones, they learn the mixed writing of Japanese and Chinese characters, which are adapted to the common writing.
Their education consists mainly on the writing, and spend very little time for reading. They never recite what they study, but simply learn how to read it. The patterns are given by their teachers. So they write after the patterns and use the same copying book over and over until they become entirely black.
They are obliged to copy on clean papers on every 6th day what they have practiced during 6 days. They sit at low writing desks, and write with hair brushes which I will represent by a simple drawing to-morrow; for I never like to draw any thing on the Sabbath, though I write letters once and a while on the Lord's day. Their education consists of simply reading, and writing. They learn all names of province, cities and towns of their own country without any maps to point out where they are situated. They study all names of animals, birds, and all objects of Nature, but have not any illustration.
They do not study Geography or Arithmetics at all in the school. Arithmetics are generally taught by a private teacher. They do not use Arabic figures, but counting balls, which can be moved up and down through bamboo-sticks. They can add and subtract as just fast as you do--but not so fast in multiplication and division. This is the common education of the common class of the people. Though some system of morality is taught among them, yet it is not so far advanced as that, which is taught among the high class of the people.
The most of the high ranked people study the books of Confuscious, Mense [Mencius], and many other writers, and Chinese History. Though the teaching of Confuscius is good, simple wholesome and very respectable, yet it is not practiced so much as it is taught among them, because it is the words of a man, and not words proceeded from the mouth of God. Unlike the doctrine of Jesus Christ, it has not any vital power to convert or regenerate the heart of man. Some of them practice it in some extent and bring forth good fruit. But most of them are very proud and look down upon the common people as dust. They drink considerable and call themselves heroes or brave men by the means of the miserable liquid. They are not the idol worshippers. They laugh at the Hindo-religion and treat the priests with ridicule. They deny future life. They think, their soul will disappear like a cloud when they die. Of course, they do not fear of the future punishment. They try to gratify their appetite and passion. But they are bound to obey the government's laws. So they are obliged to die, when they kill man without any cause.
The poor class of the people are kept down by the high class like dogs and especially farmers are obliged to pay very heavy taxes to the government or princes, for instance 7/l0-3/l0 [of the rice crop yield, 7 parts for the prince and 3 parts for the farmer] depends upon the quality of the land. If they (farmers) express any unsatisfactory feeling toward them they are very severely punished.
This class is the regular worshippers of those abominable gods made by hand. They are blinded by those cunning and cursed priests and pay considerable sum of money to support them. The priests say, whoever give much money to the gods should not see the everlasting hell fire.
But the money offered by the people to the gods go to the hands of those priests, abominable foxes. They pretend to be holy and do not keep wife, because they think it is an unclean thing to lie with woman. But they commit abominable sins secretly and spend the money offered to the gods for their own selfish-gratification.
I pity this class of the people. They are obliged to pay very heavy tax to the government or princes and also obliged to support such abominable priests. They seek after truth, but they cannot find it. They desire to be saved. The way is not known to them. There is no guide to direct them into the path of heaven. Such is the state of the poor heathen. It is pitiable indeed. Since they open the ports to the foreign trade the farsighted mind begun sooner to see what is going on among these Western nations. They learned the better system of the government from the foreigners, and begun to agitate and tried to overturn the power of the civil government. They were succeeded admirably and established a better, freer constitutional government. I was informed by my father in his last letter, that the government is going to census the people, to help the poor and needy, and establish schools throughout the cities, towns and villages.
He ordered the people to put away all idols or images from the public and private places, in the order to abolish the Hindo-religion and to predominate the native religion, called Sintoo. But Sintoism is quite different from the Buddhism. It tells only the present life and can't satisfy the soul, which seek the Eternal home. But a religion among them, which tells the future life and the future reward and punishment, has been so recently done away. A11 images are thrown down. One hindrance of the Christian religion has been moved away. Then on what religion they would rely?
Yes they are almost ready to receive the Christianity. Several Japanese in this country have embraced the Christian truth, and desire to carry it to home.
Now the Sun of Righteous is dawning upon the dark portion of the world. The Gospel has already landed there, though it is not yet openly preached to them. Would you sympathize with me and those benighted millions. Would you create more missionary interest and spirit among your people and ask them to pray for the coming of Christ kingdom on the earth, even to the uttermost part of the earth. Would you also ask some persons, who still chose their own way and folly and do not care for their spiritual happiness, to distinguish themselves from those children of the darkness and become the humble followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless your effort and influences among your people and bring them all to the knowledge of His Saving grace.
Yours in Christ,
Joseph Nee-Sima
Excuse my hasting letter, misspell and improper grammar.
Will you pray for me, that I may become a true disciple of Jesus Christ?