Abstract

Capt. Brinkley's History of the Japanese

The article literary appraises the book "A History of the Japanese People: From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era," by F. Brinkley with collaboration from Baron Kikuchi. This handy volume, is a miracle of book craftsmanship. The 150 illustrations, engraved on wood by Japanese artists, as well as the sixteen full-page half tones, are attractive and illuminating. The collaborator, Baron Kikuchi, in a modest preface, rightly states that it would have been difficult to find any one better fitted than Brinkley for the task of writing a history of Japan that should deal sympathetically and satisfactorily with the many knotty subjects such as the relation of the Imperial dynasty to the people, the family system, the position of Buddhism, the influence of Confucianism.