-THE- 
 
 JOHN -FRYER- 
 CHINESE- LIBRARY- 
 
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KASE ETSUKI 
 
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 EETAINER RESTORED 
 
 BY 
 
OAIN LIBRARY 
 
 JGHN FRYER 
 CHINESE LIBRARY 
 
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KASE ETSUKI 
 
 OR 
 
 RETAINER RESTORED.** 
 
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 A MEMOIR 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. JOHN C. AMBLER. 
 
 TO BE SOLD FOR THE BENEFIT OF EVANGELISTIC WORIC IN 
 
 CONNECTION WITH THE JAPAN MISSION OF THE 
 
 PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
MAIN LIBRAE y 
 
 JOHN FRYER 
 
 CHINESE LIBRARY 
 
 Printed at 
 
 THE TOKYO TSUKIJI TYPE FOUNDRY, 
 TOKYO, JAPAN. 
 
To my first teacher in Japanese 
 Mr. T. Mori, of Osaka, Japan. 
 
 THIS LITTLE MEMOIR IS 
 
 Gratefully Dedicated. 
 
" And we also bless thy holy Name for all thy servants 
 departed this life in thy faith and fear ; beseeching thee to 
 give us grace so to follow their good examples, that with 
 them we may be partakers of thy heavenly Kingdom. Grant 
 this, Father, for Jesus Christ's sake, our only Mediator and 
 advocate. Amen. 19 
 
 Part of the prayer for the Church Militant, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Canon Tristram of Durham, England, has recently visited 
 Japan, China, and Ceylon. Concerning the Buddhism of these 
 countries he says : " If this is the light of Asia, all we can say is 
 that the light that is in it is darkness." Of Japan he says : " Has 
 Japan hope ? What hope is there in Buddhism, beyond the yearning 
 for all their subsequent life to be obliterated in " Eternal sleep " ? 
 You see it in their faces. While the children are bright and happy, 
 as children always are, I never saw an elderly Japanese whose face, 
 unless he was a Christian, did not seem gloomy and hopeless and 
 vacant." In this humble attempt to show what " the Light of the 
 World " can do towards dissipating this gloom and vacancy of life, 
 I must acknowledge indebtedness to several Japanese friends who 
 have put me in possession of historical and other data and to Rev. 
 H. J. Foss, of Kobe, Japan, for some of the translations. Also to 
 Mr. W. D. Cox of Tokyo for a revision of the text. 
 
 I have also availed myself of translations contained in Rev. 
 William Imbrie's " Handbook of English and Japanese Etymology," 
 and in Prof. B. H. Chamberlain's " Romanized Japanese Reader." 
 
 All of the verses contained in this memoir are correct renderings 
 of the Japanese originals. 
 
 / 
 J. C. A. 
 
ELEGY NEAR A HEATHEN GRAVEYARD, 
 
 METEE OF GEAY'S ELEGY. 
 
 1. The temple bell rings out the lingering day, 
 The priest to Buddha chants his evening hymn ; 
 A mystic stillness gathers o'er the way, 
 
 As darkness overspreads the twilight dim. 
 
 2. Yon old grey stone with rounded face and form, 
 One hand in blessing raised, the other still ; 
 
 Sits motionless through sunshine, rain, and storm, 
 Sphinx-like a type of stern, unbending will. 
 
 3. Hard by this figure, carved on lotus flower, 
 A low wall runs, a gate stands open wide ; 
 Within, the dead await that dreadful hour, 
 When all must rise, who in those graves abide. 
 
 4. Who may this be, wrought thus in solid rock, 
 With fixed features, placid, mutely calm ? 
 Unmoved, unfeeling, he would seem to mock 
 The mourning scenes he views, and gives no balm. 
 
 5. Fashioned with care and skill, of comely size, 
 Shaped by man's hand, creation of his mind, 
 A priest from far was called to ope his eyes,* 
 He hears not, speaks not, handles not, is blind. 
 
 6. From age to age, undaunted, undismayed 
 By summer's heat, by winter's icy cold ; 
 
 He eats not, sleeps not, feels nor sun, nor shade, 
 His body's lichen-covered, green with mould. 
 
 * Idol-worshippers in Japan have a ceremony for consecrating an idol called Kaigen, 
 which means " opening the eyes." For this occasion a famous priest is invited from a 
 well-known temple and performs various incantations, after which the God is supposed to 
 take possession of the idol. 
 
"7. The widow's moan, the orphan's anguished wail, 
 Break at his feet and die away again, 
 Those pleading accents which o'er men prevail, 
 Surge around him as wild waves beat the main. 
 
 8. The pilgrim heavy-laden, toil-worn, sad, 
 From distant hamlet comes to seek repose, 
 Drags hither weary limbs in tatters clad, 
 
 Does penance, counts his beads, tells out his woes. 
 
 9. The cares of age, the burdened weight of years, 
 Find no relief, no peace, no rest in him ; 
 Untouched by gloom, remorse, repentance, tears, 
 Where human looks would soften, his more grim. 
 
 10. At early dawn, awaked from troubled sleep, 
 The peasant comes to worship at his feet, 
 Then toils in fields of rice through miry deep, 
 And comes again at eve with service meet. 
 
 11. When sickness, sin, or sorrow he bewails, 
 He hither turns with penitential face ; 
 And finds, alas ! a block of stone that fails 
 To give him strength or comfort, aid or grace. 
 
 12. In vain man strives to pierce that heart of stone, 
 No solace there, from burdens no release, 
 
 Alas ! to heathen 'tis as yet unknown 
 
 There is but One can bid life's tempests cease. 
 
 13. Uprise then, Christian heralds ! loud proclaim, 
 Emmanuel, the Babe of Bethlehem, 
 
 With hearts of burning love, with tongues of flame, 
 In heathen lands preach Christ, " The Light of Men.' 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 " Conquer self, and next thy men, 
 Overcome the foernen then : 
 An thou would'st a general be 
 Thou must gain these victories three." 
 
 In the suburban districts of large cities or near the ruins of 
 abandoned castles in the Japan of to-day, one often observes numbers 
 of neat little villas surrounded by high hedge-rows of Japonica, or of 
 cedar always neatly trimmed arid green throughout the year. In 
 these somewhat retired settlements live a community who thus 
 choose to isolate themselves from their fellows almost as a distinct 
 class ; the sections they thus occupy being generally known as " the 
 Shizoku quarter." The term " Shizoku " is applied to that class 
 who a quarter of a century ago, daring the feudal period of Japanese 
 history, were known as " Samurai," the tvvo-s worded men of the 
 military class who, like the Spartans of old, were trained from 
 their youth in the arts of war, and the strength of whose manhood 
 was entirely given to the use of arms. The Samurai is the Ivanhoe 
 of Japanese romance, he is the knight-errant who figures in all tales 
 of love, the faithful vassal who cleaves to his master with a devotion 
 stronger than death, the brave warrior who counts his life not dearer 
 than his honor, his name is a synonymn in every Japanese mind 
 for all that is hardy, brave, arid true in their country's history. As 
 a young enthusiast writes of this soldier-class under the ancient 
 regime : " Their spirit was the seed of our civilization." 
 
 Free from taxation and with inherited property and functions 
 the Samurai relied largely upon his sword for his prestige among 
 men, so that this weapon became as necessary a part of his daily 
 equipment as any other portion of his dress, which distinction gave 
 rise to the popular adage of those days : " The sword is the soul 
 of the Samurai." 
 
2 ' : .vM 
 
 If. i-; nut remarkable that from this class has come a large 
 majority oi' the' most intelligent, loyal, and immoveahle of those 
 who have decided for Christ in Japan. And as they gave sinew and 
 muscle to their country when earthly warfare was alone thought of, 
 it is to their lasting credit that they have in these days heen the 
 most efficient leaders of their people when spiritual affairs are those 
 of most commanding importance to the Empire of Japan. As a 
 matter of fact the Christian Missionary must own an appreciative 
 sympathy with the Japanese proverb which says : " The cherry 
 blossom is the king of flowers, the Samurai the king of men." 
 
 In presenting what is known of Kase Etsuki, it is humbly 
 hoped that justice may be done in part to this old warrior-class, 
 to which he belonged and which has played such an active part 
 in introducing and helping to propagate the seeds of truth among 
 the people. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was born about the year 1837, in 
 the prefecture of Gifu and the province of Mino. He was of good 
 Samurai rank, his father serving at the time as a retainer of 
 the Daimyo, Baba Chikuzen. From his youth Kase Etsuki showed 
 a marked inclination for learning, and this stood him in good stead 
 in later life, as will presently be shown. From the first, too, he 
 was keenly alive to the interests of his lord, and he thus by easy 
 degrees rose to the first rank among his vassals. In the days when 
 men were valued chiefly, if riot entirely, for their military prowess, 
 he excelled in the arts of fencing, riding, and the other accomplish- 
 ments which distinguished a warrior of olden time. Especially 
 was he a master in the use of the bow and in trials of skill, the 
 accuracy with which his aim sent the arrow to the target was a 
 forecast of the power he would have, when, in his declining years, 
 he should be engaged in a more difficult kind of warfare. As a 
 young man of promise he was, when only sixteen years of age, 
 assigned to an apprenticeship in Tokyo under the keeper of his 
 Daimyo's wardrobe His father died the following year and his 
 mother three years afterwards, both with the comforting assurance 
 that their son had already attracted the notice of those who had 
 the bestowment of favors and that, under the then-existing regime, 
 he was in the way of rapid promotion. When about twenty-eight 
 years of age, he had the good fortune to secure as his wife the 
 
o 
 
 I 
 
 IP 
 
daughter of a Samurai in the service of a neighboring Daimyo, 
 and the next year she shared with him in his joy when he was 
 promoted to the first rank among the deputy-officers who superintend- 
 ed the affairs of his master's estate. 
 
 In the winter of 'this year, that is about 1865, a rebellion 
 broke out among the farming classes who paid tribute to his feudal 
 lord, and, although the rebels came against the castle with a 
 formidable array of weapons, their spears being improvised of 
 bamboo and their shields made of straw, Kase Etsuki succeeded in 
 treating with them so cleverly that a settlement of the difficulty 
 was secured without bloodshed. From this circumstance he rose 
 considerably in the confidence of all, as one who had evidenced 
 well his capacity to carry out the trusts which had been committed 
 to him. 
 
 In those days it was always customary to commit the custody 
 of the castle each year to one responsible Samurai, and he thus 
 becoming a man of prominence would, of course, be the recipient 
 of many presents and fees of various kinds from farmers and others, 
 which he was supposed to transmit to the lord of the castle. Many 
 maintained that Etsuki was very foolish because he would not 
 appropriate such fees and thus enrich himself, as did others. His 
 characteristic reply was " I would rather remain a poor man at 
 peace with myself than thrive upon ill-gotten gains." 
 
 This brief recital of the course of his life up to this point 
 will enable us to form a fair estimate of this very promising young 
 Samurai. None, we may suppose, walked prouder than he among 
 his fellows, none more ready to rush to the front at the call to 
 arms, none more to be relied upon in emergencies, and when swift 
 destruction seemed to be threatening the interests of his Daimyo, 
 Kase Etsuki knew his place in the ranks of those who were fore- 
 most in their defence. 
 
 Always ready in peace and war, he soon gained the admiration 
 and esteem of all who took a serious view of life, winning for 
 himself, among those of his rank, a position honorable in every 
 respect. He was fully in harmony with the spirit of his age, was 
 war-loving, and yet, when occasion required, would be as gentle 
 and kind as a woman. He was above mean trickeries and low 
 deceits, loyal, brave, honest, simple, never feeling so much at home 
 
as when accoutred for battle and marching with measured step 
 among the faithful retainers of his lord. 
 
 Fortune seemed to smile upon him at this time; and young, 
 active, ready, with hand and heart for all crises, the life of the 
 feudal period was entirely congenial to his nature and tempera- 
 ment. 
 
 The castle of Baha Chikuzen must have stood many a siege in 
 those old days, and the peculiar strength of such structures is shown 
 from the fact that the neighboring castle of Ogaki, now about six 
 hundred years old, still stands proudly and only slightly mutilated, 
 a land-mark in history dividing past and present. And yet the old 
 castle-town of Ogaki was the centre of the terrible earthquake 
 convulsions of 1891, and no pen can describe the desolation wrought 
 by this catastrophe coupled with a fearful fire which raged furiously 
 at the same time. During the period of the shocks even strong 
 buildings of foreign architecture were laid level with the ground, 
 great fissures opened in all directions, rivers were turned from their 
 courses, and for miles in either direction the railway track was 
 torn and twisted as though by the hand of some infuriated monster. 
 Above the blackened remains of that once populous city nothing 
 was left worth describing after nature had finished her work of 
 destruction but the proud old castle of Ogaki. We may mention 
 too, that the more distant city of Nagoya passed through a period of 
 desolation and woe at this time from the same earthquake disturb- 
 ance and that the enormous loss of property and life would be 
 impossible to describe, and yet the majestic castle of Nagoya with 
 its gables crowned by dolphin made of plated gold and containing 
 many treasures and relics of a by-gone age, is still the admiration 
 and wonder of all beholders. 
 
 It is also interesting here to recall that the country of Mino 
 where was situated the castle of Baba Chikuzen was, from its near 
 proximity to Kydto, the capital of old Japan, one of the famous 
 battle-grounds of the feudal era, and was of necessity the theatre 
 of some of the bloodiest struggles when the Emperor, hitherto a 
 captive in Kyoto, contended for his rights with the Shogun who held 
 the reins of government with Tokyo as his centre of usurpation. 
 Let us not then think it strange that nothing remains at this time 
 to mark the castle of Kase's master but the gateway of the outer 
 
-.-" '-. -', 
 
 < v 
 
 Kase Itltsuki during the Feudal Period. 
 
keep, yet in those old days the heart of Kase Etsuki was held within 
 that stronghold as with lock and key, and he looked with honest pride 
 upon its every stone. A proud day was it for him when word came 
 that his lord had spoken of him as a faithful one, and he regarded 
 with truthful reverence every member of that lordly house. We can 
 imagine, too, that the young heir-apparent must have possessed this 
 retainer's affection in no ordinary degree, and he must have rejoiced 
 with others when a tale was related of some childish saying or some 
 deed of prowess which enabled those loyal vassals to predict his 
 capability to become the successor of his honored father. 
 
 It must have been a source of no little grief to the retainers of 
 Baba Chikuzen's castle that, by the custom which prevailed in the 
 time of the Shogunate, the masters of smaller fiefs chose to reside 
 continuously in Tokyo, and did not, like Dairayos with large incomes 
 and many vassals, divide the year between their manorial castles 
 and their fine residences in the capital city of the Shogunate. 
 
 So it was that Etsuki only had occasional opportunities of 
 joining the retinue which surrounded this feudal lord as he made 
 his progresses in the city of Tokyo. In those good old days much 
 display was made by all Daimyos, especially while residing in the 
 great metropolis of the Shogunate, and during parts of the year the 
 streets were gay with the rival processions of the representatives of 
 greater or less conspicuous houses. During .certain seasons about 
 three hundred of these feudal lords of various ranks and degrees 
 fixed their residence in Tokyo, and when they had occasion to 
 appear in the streets, they loved to show their power by the size 
 and magnificence of the cortege which followed them. At such times 
 great anxiety prevailed as to which of two processions should take 
 the lead, both being upon the same street and going in the same 
 direction. The crucial point was reached when, at the entrance 
 of a street, two such pageants met, in which case the usage prevailed 
 that the Daimyo whose retainers were in the lead should take 
 precedence of the other, irrespective of their relative rank or social 
 standing. If at such crises the smaller Daimyo could gain the 
 right of way, we can imagine the chagrin of his greater rival at 
 being obliged to wait while the small band of retainers passed 
 triumphantly ahead with their master, after which he must follow 
 in the rear with his attendance of some five hundred or more richly- 
 
dressed vassals. The Daimyo Balm Chikuzen was, owing to the 
 property qualifications of the period, only entitled to a following 
 of about twenty Samurai, but none the less would it have been 
 his pride to ruffle the feathers of some pompous lord whom he 
 could take at a disadvantage in no other way than by these clever 
 street manoeuveres, and so we may believe he valued greatly all such 
 opportunities and strove not to be despised, and if Kase Etsuki happen- 
 ed to be present on such memorable occasions, we may be sure he would 
 have taken great pains to show in manner, dress and bearing of what 
 stuff he was made arid that he would have made a conspicuous effort 
 to reflect some of the dignity of him whose vassal he was. 
 
 Or let us call up before our mind's eye another picture from this 
 now almost- forgotten past, borrowing our description from a popular 
 novelist of Japan. Our gaze is fixed upon a young Samurai, threading 
 the streets of Tokyo with an air of consequence which even passers 
 in the street unconsciously recognize. He has a bright, intelligent 
 face, a quick, vivacious expression in his eyes, a cue tightly bound 
 up, a light, bounding step and a well-knit frame, indicative of 
 strength and endurance. His well-fitting coat, handsome trowsers 
 and leather-soled sandals all lend an air of dignity and of importance 
 to his appearance. A man, evidently an attendant of inferior rank, 
 follows at a respectful distance. He is dressed in a blue coat with 
 striped sash, and he wears a wooden sword, with brass fastenings. 
 In these two men we have Kase Etsuki in the feudal period, 
 followed bv his servant. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 " Gone is the barrier, the warriors gone, 
 That stood 'neath busy Fuwa's rustic eaves : 
 No one is left but the keen wind alone, 
 Blust'ring and scattering autumnal leaves." 
 
 Confucius stood one day upon the bank of a river pensively 
 watching its ceaseless flow, and, the story goes, he thus gave 
 expression to the thought which agitated his mind. <l It may be 
 that the impermanent is thus: day and night it pauses not." In 
 this changeful, fleeting world they who have not the capacity of 
 adaptation to circumstances must be carried along helplessly down 
 the relentless stream of time. In the memorable year of 1854 the 
 empire of Japan was startled by the news that eight ships of war 
 carrying large numbers of the hated foreigners, who had been 
 driven from the country in a religious persecution nearly three cen- 
 turies before, had cast anchor in Yedo Bay. The country was 
 roused to a high pitch of excitement over this event, and still 
 more were the people of Japan startled by the news, which spread 
 from district to district, that negotiations were pending between 
 the Shogun and the embassy from the west. The indignation 
 over this was increased when it was known that, in defiance of 
 imperial edicts excluding the foreigner, the Shogun had signed 
 treaty papers with America and the great European powers, thus 
 opening certain ports of Japan to the nations of the earth. 
 
 From this time, wiseacres began to shake their heads ominously, 
 prophets of evil arose proclaiming the dissolution of all things, and 
 indistinct mutterings with now and then slight collisions on the street 
 between progressives and radicals, plainly foreshadowed the coming 
 storm which was to end in the overthrow of the Shogunate. In 
 many hearts the hidden fires of fanaticism and of hate now began 
 to smoulder, and the opportunity was only wanting, when fanned by 
 
8 
 
 a storm of popular fury, they should burst into flame. The growing 
 discontent in the country and the dislike of the foreigner found vent in 
 a cry alarming in its nature to the then-settled order of things that 
 cry was " Honor the Mikado and drive out the hated barbarian." 
 
 A great and exciting cause which hastened the abolition of the 
 feudal system was the growing power of leaders of internal factions 
 who were jealous of the reigning house. Conspicuous among these 
 disaffected retainers were the lords of the Satsuma and Choshu clans, 
 both of which had immense influence, hating each other no less than 
 the Shogun himself. So gradually a war-cloud, small indeed at 
 flrst, began to widen and darken until it was plainly seen that the 
 political sky was overcast and that a great and universal storm was 
 imminent. Questionings more and more began to arise in the minds of 
 men this feudal system could not last, was it right that the Shogun 
 should hold the sovereignty of Japan with the true sovereign as his 
 prisoner. News now came pouring in day by day of a most alarming 
 character. It was known that seven of the most influential of the 
 nobility, including Princes Sanjo and Iwakura, had escaped from 
 Kyoto in disguise and under cover of night and that these men had 
 erected the standard of revolt against the Shogun in the district of 
 Choshu. Matters grew worse and worse until the Shogun found him- 
 self becoming actually estranged from those upon whom he had most 
 depended, and it became evident that the most powerful factions 
 were gathering their forces upon the side of the emperor, who had 
 hitherto been but a tool in the hands of the Shogun. Next an 
 estrangement began to appear evident between the emperor and the 
 Shogun, as the Emperor's Star rose in the ascendant, then finally 
 the relations between the Emperor and the Shogun were roughly 
 broken. 
 
 Now it became evident that the Emperor was going to demand 
 his ancient rights at the point of the sword, and the rival clans, many 
 of them for private reasons espoused his cause and openly declared 
 for him. These forces were daily increasing to a host, and the 
 Shogun, seeing all too late the vanity of resistance determined to 
 hand over the government to the Emperor. But even this desperate 
 expedient failed, the pressure on either side being too great. The 
 war-cloud burst, it soon became apparent that feudalism was doomed, 
 resistance was vain, Ease's master went down with the rest, his castle 
 
was destroyed, his retainers thrown upon the cold charity of the world. 
 Japan emerged from barbarism to civilization, from the dark ages 
 to the present. The warlike Samurai must now become the peaceful 
 citizen, they are forever separated from their Daimyos and the 
 rallying-places are broken up. The struggle for what was must be 
 succeeded by the struggle for what is, and what is to be. A leaf in 
 the page of history has been turned, and they of the feudal days 
 must become a part of the new period to which the country had 
 progressed, and to this point must we also advance with our hero. 
 We can imagine how his first attitude of sullen defiance had 
 changed as the war advanced to fiery zeal, how he fought long and 
 desperately and with others around him exhausted all his ingenuity 
 and experience in the strategy of ancient warfare. It was all in vain. 
 The inexorable decree had gone forth as the fiat of the Almighty. 
 Japan of the past must give place to Japan of the present, she 
 must step forth from her long exclusion and take her place beside 
 her sister nations in the march of civilization. 
 
 We can form a picture in our mind of Kase Etsuki as he came 
 forth from that period of conflict deprived of his rights, his weapons, 
 his living, and told to adapt himself to the new condition of things, 
 or die of want. A famous poem of old Japan reads thus in com- 
 menting upon the pathetic changes which come to man in the vicis- 
 situdes of life. 
 
 " To say it is a body made of dew 
 
 How very 
 
 False it is : 
 
 The life that vanishes. 
 
 With every breath." 
 
 Two stories illustrative of the character of the man we are 
 considering come to us from this period. His biographer tells us 
 that Kase Etsuki was chosen as one of a trusty band, especially 
 deputed to protect the person of his Daimyo on his return from 
 Tokyo to his domain. During this period foes haunted the roads 
 on every side, and so especial coolness and courage was needed. 
 80 it was fortunate that such a tried and tested man as this 
 Samurai was put in command. He, by a series of skilful and daring 
 adventures managed to elude public vigilance, and we are told how 
 
10 
 
 at one place his master was borne across a river in an ordinary 
 wooden- tub carried by his retainers, at another place trees were 
 thrown across a river to form a bridge, and so, concealing them- 
 selves sometimes in mountains and making all despatch where the 
 roads were clear, the party at last reached the castle, all through 
 the undaunted spirit of their bold leader, Kase Etsuki. 
 
 At this time an event happened of tremendous import to all con- 
 nected with the ill-fated Shogun, Tokugawa Keiki, who has outlived 
 his day of greatness and now spends his time in retirement in the 
 city of Shizuoka, Japan. Negotiations had rapidly advanced between 
 the imperial party in Kyoto and the Shogun, who was then residing 
 in his castle at Osaka, and affairs having reached an important 
 crisis, the Shogun was requested to repair to Kyoto where he was to 
 have an audience with the Emperor. As the juncture was an exceed- 
 ingly critical one, the Shogun travelled in great state and strongly 
 guarded to the capital city of Japan. By one of those unfortunate 
 mishaps, so common in troublous times, the neighboring castles which 
 still favored the Shogunate suspecting treachery poured their retainers 
 into and around the city of Kyoto, which was also well filled with the 
 dangerous Choshu and Satsuma soldiers. There being much intense 
 hate at this time on either side, it was hardly to be expected that 
 so many beings inimical in their relations should be armed and 
 yet near each other without an outbreak. And so it happened that 
 when the party conducting the Shogun, which had now swelled to 
 a small army, reached Fushimi, a village at a distance of about 
 three miles from Kyoto, the imperial forces could not be controlled 
 and so a terrible battle took place resulting in the complete rout 
 and confusion of the retainers of the Shogun. After the battle, and 
 in the disorder which prevailed the Shogun made good his escape 
 and did not stop his flight until he found refuge in a temple in 
 Uyeno park in the city of Tokyo, from which he sent terms of 
 capitulation to the Emperor in Kyoto offering to deliver up the 
 stronghold of the Shogunate, the great castle in Tokyo which for 
 three hundred years had been the seat of government of that power- 
 ful warrior despotism. 
 
 Kase Etsuki's master now found himself with others who had 
 been engaged with the Shogun's forces at Fushimi under proscrip- 
 tion as traitors who could not be saved from destruction. Such a 
 
11 
 
 thing had never been overlooked in Japan as that any one who had 
 directed his arms against the sacred and inviolable person of his 
 imperial majesty could afterwards escape with his life. The Daimyo 
 Baba Chikuzen had one trusted retainer only to whom he could 
 entrust the delicate mission of suing for pardon after so great an 
 offence. Upon whom could his choice fall but upon Etsuki, and the 
 confidence was not misplaced, as, by the use of great diplomacy he 
 succeeded at last in making terms for his master with Prince 
 Iwakura, then chief of the council of war in session at Kyoto. We 
 may imagine the sense of satisfaction with which Etsuki brought 
 back news of the pardon to his anxious master, and next having 
 accompanied his lord to Kyoto to pay fealty to his sovereign, to 
 receive the royal pardon and the right to be enrolled as a citizen of 
 the restored monarchy, the scene closes upon him in this period. 
 
 And now the prospects of the Shogunate having been shattered, 
 feudalism abolished, the landed estates of the Daimyos confiscated, 
 the purlieus of their castles destroyed, these feudal lords were hence- 
 forth obliged to live in Tokyo, as a pledge of future loyalty to their 
 imperial master whose capital city was thenceforth to become Tokyo. 
 Through these trying times this faithful vassal must have been dazed, 
 shaken, grieved, shocked by turns, and at last almost prostrated with 
 sorrow and mortification. From the wife of this man we learn that 
 about this time, following the example of many others, Kase Etsuki 
 tried to commit suicide to show his desperation over his master's fallen 
 fortunes, and that a watch was set upon him to prevent this deed. A 
 well-rendered translation of a beautiful Japanese poem reads thus : 
 
 " As years pass by, and I turn to scan 
 The bridge of life with its thin, weak span j 
 Ah me ! how perilous seems the road 
 That I with my careless steps have trod." 
 
CHAPTER 111. 
 
 " In my error 
 
 I began to take 
 
 My shadow for myself 
 
 My real self 
 
 I quite forgot." 
 
 By the decree of heaven Kase Etsuki was not to share in the 
 fortunes of his master, but must henceforth pick his way alone 
 through the changes and chances of this troublesome world. Like 
 a caged heron he must now suit himself to circumstances to which 
 he was little adapted, and under which his spirit must have sorely 
 chafed. 
 
 Over and over again must he have sat over his hibachi* and 
 regaled his guests with " tales of old deeds and savage wars," 
 and often and often must he have avowed with flushed cheeks his 
 wish to return to his life by the side of his old master and near 
 the castle he regarded with so much pride. And when on the 
 recurrence of festivals he turned out with his fellow-villagers to vie 
 in deeds of arms, it was found that Kase Etsuki's arm had lost 
 none of its cunning, but as of old, his arrow found the bull's eye and 
 occupied a solitary place which the most skilled could not reach. 
 On such days men would wonder at this man. It was then seen 
 that he was really a creature in the midst of change and that only 
 adverse circumstances kept him cramped in means. We must not 
 be surprised that Kase Etsuki's subsequent history reminds us 
 forcibly of the proverb of the rolling stone, when the fact is called 
 to mind that in the unsettled times ensuing upon the Restoration 
 of the Empire, these men of the Samurai class were thrown upon 
 the world to the number of about four hundred and fifty thousand. 
 So far as regarded the practical affairs of ordinary life they were 
 as inexpert as children, so that in the pressure following upon 
 the abolition of the military age, it was only by strong exertion 
 
 * Charcoal brazier. 
 
Etsuki Narrating his Past Experiences. 
 
. ' I ' . " 
 
13 
 
 and more than usual enterprise that they could maintain the respect- 
 able position they had hitherto held among men. Owing to this 
 great social convulsion it is at this time a well-known fact that 
 in parts of Japan those who once called few men their superiors 
 are now glad to eke out a living as jinrikisha *men, or are follow- 
 ing trades and callings equally as menial and precarious. What 
 else was to be expected when a' reverse such as this occurred in 
 the history of a class of persons of whom we have the following 
 account from a well-known writer. " The Samurai's idea of honor 
 forbade him to embark in any occupation which was associated 
 with money-making, and led him to look down with contempt on 
 the artisan and especially on the shop-keeping class, though he 
 might engage in agriculture. The duties of the great mass of the 
 Samurai class consisted in serving as soldiers in time of war, and 
 in peace in keeping guard over the dwelling of their lord, forming 
 part of his retinue, and appearing upon festive occasions in cere- 
 monial dress." As this memoir is intended to give the actual facts 
 in the history of one person of this class, no attempt is made to 
 conceal the vacillating spirit with which he met the change, and 
 yet one can see through it all that he was one ready to confront 
 adversity with a courageous heart. 
 
 " When all the blandishments of life 
 
 are gone, 
 
 The coward sneaks to death, the brave 
 
 live on." 
 
 Etsuki had once loved learning for learning's sake, and it only 
 seemed natural that one who had sought her friendship in times 
 of good fortune should become her protege when he needed sub- 
 stantial aid. A school for boys having been established in his native 
 village his first settled occupation after the Restoration became that 
 of teaching, but this position he shortly after resigned to become 
 the mayor of his village. His restless spirit had not, however, been 
 trained to the confined and sedentary life which such official duties 
 entailed, so having relinquished this office after a few months he 
 began casting anxious looks in other directions for some new way 
 of making a living. So we next find him engaged in the Post 
 and Telegraph Department as an agent for the supplies needed in 
 
14 
 
 that service, and this enabled him to lead an active life, as he was 
 obliged to travel much, and had enough of business responsibility 
 to keep Loth mind and body constantly on the alert. It need not, 
 however, surprise us to find him later on employed in business as 
 agent of the garrison in the city of Sendai, in northern Japan, and 
 then after various changes he again returned to his first employ- 
 ment of teaching school. Shortly before this last engagement he 
 had returned to his native province of Mino, and the warm welcome 
 he then received at the hands of his countrymen showed that the 
 memory of his past services as a Samurai had not yet faded from 
 their minds. He was honored by the choice of his prefecture 
 to membership in its council, but he immediately declined the 
 election, and soon the memories which crowded upon him in the 
 haunts of his former life proving sad and irksome he sought a 
 change of ideas elsewhere. How could the sight of that well-known 
 moat, the ruined battlements, the overgrown and neglected pleasure- 
 garden of his loved master with its lotus' pond and rustic bridges, 
 looking now so sad and woful in their desolation, the very spot 
 where he had lived in his palmiest days how could it be anything 
 but painful to that faithful heart ! 
 
 So from one thing to another Kase Etsuki drifted, like a ship 
 without mast or rudder, his ability always recognized, but certainly 
 leading a purposeless life and evidently not prospering. Could 
 those words of the poet be true he must have thought 
 
 " With the passing world, 
 
 As with a passing world, 
 
 Do not trifle 
 
 The passing world 
 
 Is all the world you have." 
 
 In these years he found his wife an unchanging friend and wise 
 counsellor, loving, sensible, cheerful, ingenious, she did what she 
 could to help him bear his uncongenial surroundings, and tried 
 where she could to remove the sense of ennui which came over 
 him so frequently in his changing life. It was evident, however, 
 that the warrior with his taste and prejudices whetted and trained 
 in other directions could not settle down easily to a life of regular 
 routine. 
 
The Archery Club. 
 

15 
 
 Having after this moved to the city of Tokyo he had taken up 
 the business of a merchant, but as little was he suited to this as 
 is the tropical plant to arctic snows. He was not made of the stuff 
 that loves to barter and change ; he did not value money and was 
 too generous to keep it ; he was proud and could not consort easily 
 with those of a baser sort ; he had known the day when, as a Samurai, 
 he despised trade and looked upon such classes with a contemptuous 
 eye. He felt abased in becoming a merchant and yet he knew no 
 other resource; his whole nature revolted against tricks of trade, 
 and his known reputation for integrity and his inexperience made 
 him an easy prey to all who had a single eye to the main chance. So 
 we find him at last retiring from business, and, as though he would 
 bury all recollection of the disgust he had felt in this mercantile 
 venture, he next sought occupation in the silk districts and threw 
 himself with spirit into the silk culture. Here he attained such 
 success that he was elected to an important office in a silk company 
 and here he maintained himself for some time, showing during the 
 time of his connection with this company a spirit of so much fairness 
 in all his dealings that he was looked upon as an example to all 
 for honesty in an avocation in which few shine conspicuously for this 
 virtue. 
 
 His wife recalled this period with a bright smile when repeating 
 after Etsuki's death incidents from their married life. She said 
 she particularly loved to dwell upon it, for during this time her own 
 talents and experience came into demand, as in silk culture women 
 are always enabled to give very substantial help. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 "Mark how the golden spring flower blends 
 With golden sprays in the lake below : 
 Where truth begins, where shadow ends 
 Who can know ? " 
 
 ' Etsuki was not one of those upon whom the moral teachings 
 of the great sages could be lost, and as learning had been dear to 
 him from an early day, it is not likely he would have esteemed 
 lightly those portions which come to the Japanese from the sources 
 of greatest moral and mental profit. From childhood be reverently 
 imbibed the precepts and doctrines of Confucius, and had found by 
 experience that this great teacher had much to tell which was true 
 and wise. He had early in life discerned the meaning and beauty 
 of the five-fold relationship which man should aim to follow, viz : 
 the. relationship of parent and child, master and servant, husband 
 and wife, friendship, and brotherhood, and the meaning of the 
 terse Japanese proverb which says " ron yori shoko," "proof is better 
 than argument " was not lost upon him. 
 
 Buddhism, too, had from early life lifted her warning finger and 
 pointed him to the road where conscience leads the way, and 
 Shintoism, so far as it teaches men to revere the memory of 
 the great departed heroes of one's country was not unattractive to 
 him. From an early period he had given earnest heed to the 
 warning voices about him, and had followed steadily, though often- 
 times hesitatingly, in the pathway of virtue and truth. Many times 
 he must have deplored the shape which Buddhism had assumed, and 
 having deeply thought upon the subject, although he was himself 
 of the Buddhist persuasion, could he have failed to wonder at the 
 huge structure of deceit and superstition which had grown and 
 accumulated with changes of times and people since Shakya first 
 preached in India ? As, too, the really eminent teachers among 
 

 Kase Etsuki as a School Teacher at the Age of 36. 
 
the Buddhist priesthood belonged to a by-gone age, he had none 
 about him who, either by word or example, were capable of be- 
 coming his instructors. Indeed, had not Etsuki been a man of pure 
 feeling and an earnest searcher for truth, we cannot doubt that, like 
 many another in the Japan of to-day, he would have revolted against 
 and have thrown aside the moral teachings of the Buddha, when 
 he thought of them in connection with the degrading idolatry and 
 polytheism about him. Yet he could not deny himself the satisfaction 
 of searching and studying out the moral beauty and deep thought 
 which lies hidden away in the real teachings of the great Shaky a. 
 He may have met in the course of his reading or sometimes his 
 ear may have caught from the lips of some learned Buddhist priest, 
 whose honesty of heart overbore the necessity of preaching imposture, 
 such mystifying strains as these, addressed to the devout : " The 
 heart itself is Buddha " we must not enquire for Buddha in other 
 directions." The heart itself is the law : What other law should 
 we search after besides ? Men of superior wisdom realize this as 
 soon as they hear the word, and all their doubts speedily cease stupid 
 persons, though they hear such things do not at once believe. Think- 
 ing that they can only attain to Buddhahood by a lengthy accumu- 
 lation of merit through penance and mortification, they invoke 
 Buddha morning and evening, read the sutras, practice the rites of 
 incense-burning, prostrations, flower scattering, processions ; or else 
 of alms-giving, observance of the commandments, humiliation and 
 fasting ; while those whose foolishness is most extreme perform such 
 absolute mortification as leaving off eating, giving up salt, severing 
 their arms at the elbow, cutting off their fingers, abstaining from, 
 speaking, or going about naked. This is simply to be unconscious of 
 the fact that one should attain to enlightenment at once in this life, 
 and it is to beg solely for the attainment of Buddhahood in the next. 
 Tf a man has a heart which thus places Buddhism at a distance, 
 he will never reach the true way; for although he should perform 
 ever such mortifications of casting away body, life, and wealth, they 
 will all be perverted devotion appertaining to the world of sense." 
 Inquiry having been thus aroused the conclusion must have forced 
 itself upon Etuski that when freed from all subtleties of expression, 
 the true meaning of the delusive language used to impress the 
 uninitiated is indeed that "heart itself is Buddha," and that its 
 
18 
 
 motions towards either good or evil when followed, make in every 
 man either a paradise or a hell. His faith having resolved itself 
 at last into this simple creed, it is no wonder that his superstitious 
 and idolatrous neighbors were no little surprised and shocked to 
 hear him speak often of yearnings within which the worship of 
 images could not satisfy. 
 
 Though not a composer of verse, Kase Etsuki had a keen 
 appreciation of the compositions in which those of the old days 
 loved to clothe their thought, and he paid much attention to the 
 cultivation of flowers, a form of recreation in Japan. 
 
 His was a nature which responded to all the gentler emotions 
 of nature, poetry, and art. Like all deep-souled natures he loved 
 solitude, and in lonely spots he would often stand enjoying the 
 enchanting scenery in which his beautiful country abounds. The 
 pretty little arbors with their straw-thatched roofs which so grace- 
 fully dot every Japanese landscape were for him favorite places 
 of resort. It was noticed how often he went alone to these and 
 if he found he had been forestalled by others he would sit apart 
 from them, as though preferring the sights and sounds of nature 
 unmixed with the harsh cries of men inflamed with sake. Sake ! 
 the curse of all Japanese life from the highest official to the 
 lowest coolie that which meets the infant newly born into the 
 world at the family festival of rejoicing the necessary adjunct of 
 every important event and crisis of life which degrades the wedding 
 festivities, which presides as a dark spirit over the funeral obsequies, 
 which literally plagues with its deadly blight many a life from 
 the cradle to the grave. Even the gods which are thought to 
 protect the family altar, are found to be beings which can only be 
 propitiated by liberal offerings of sake, and when they have been 
 well feasted, it is the custom to make distribution of the contents 
 in the bottles of consecration. Yea ! sadder still sake absolutely 
 finds its way on occasions into the coffin of the one it has victimized 
 in life, the friends of the dead putting in a bottle of sake by the 
 side of the remains as though they would wish a lost soul to carry 
 with him to the place of torment the evidences of its condemnation. 
 
 The roar of the waterfall, the rnoan of the forest pine, the 
 gentle murmur of running water, the note of the nightingale, the 
 plaintive cry of the wood-pigeon, all of these found a ready and 
 
Kase Etsuki as a Merchant at the Age 
 of 41 taken with his Nephew. 
 
19 
 
 eager listener in this lover of nature. He loved to fall into those 
 dreamy reveries which possess one as he stands under the stars 
 and looks at the flickering lights in distant homesteads, and he 
 always enjoyed the softened effects of moonlight upon land and 
 water. He must have known that pretty conceit which makes the 
 moon in each scattered drop of spray represent the principle of 
 benevolence which runs throughout mankind 
 
 " When the roaring water-fall 
 
 By the night storm is shivered, 
 
 The moon light is reflected 
 In each scattered drop." 
 
 None of nature's many sermons were lost upon this devout soul, 
 and it is not rash to believe that the thought of God was one 
 familiar to him and with David he could say. " Many, Lord my 
 God, are they wonderful works which thou hast done, arid thy 
 thoughts which are to us-ward." 
 
 We are told by his wife that he went with faithful regularity 
 to see the brilliant maple-leaves and the trees opening into blossom, 
 and we may credit him with the fancy prevalent among the Japanese 
 that a plum tree blossoming out amid the snows of winter, may 
 he likened to a brave spirit which rises superior to adversity. 
 
 At such seasons when others found the sake bottle and the 
 dancing girl essential to real enjoyment he, with genial good humor, 
 would possibly say that different objects brought different persons 
 to the same place that for himself, he went only to see nature in 
 her clothing of beauty and he did not care to put himself to shame 
 before her. Nature, he would say, could tell to him her plain and 
 beautiful story without either the sake-bottle or the samisen,* and 
 often he would quote with feeling the Japanese verse 
 
 " Looking at the blossoms, 
 Makes the heart beautiful." 
 
 Let this suffice to show the inner history and disposition of Ease 
 Etsuki up to this period of his life. 
 
 * Guitar. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 " All the grotind seemed frozen dead 
 
 Yet the blessed dew was shed, 
 
 And the lawn in living green 
 
 Bright with fresh young blades was seen." 
 
 From what has been said, we feel we must riot deny to Kase 
 Etsuki a deeply religious nature. He only despised that which goes 
 under the name of religion, while disregarding that for which the 
 spiritual nature most craves, viz: a living, personal God. For this 
 reason Buddhism was unsatisfying to him as a religion, and, although 
 valuing many of its sayings, his spirit rebounded equally from the 
 iron-bound secularism of Confucius and from the degenerate teach- 
 ing of Shintoism. 
 
 Yet character and conscience had been too much a study with 
 him to deny a hearing to those infinite yearnings within his soul, 
 nor could he agree with the sentiment expressed in that witty verse 
 which some teachers quoted : 
 
 " Would'st thou God or Buddha honour 
 
 Honour first thy sire ! 
 
 There's no God more honorable, 
 
 No nor Buddha higher." 
 
 From adverse circumstances and other causes he had of late 
 years been in that state of loneliness, and, at times, of desolation 
 of spirit which leads men naturally to self-introspection, and, as a 
 consequence, he had been led to believe there is a God, if man 
 " can only feel after Him and find Him." 
 
 In the year 1867 at all public places and at almost every 
 crossing in the streets and on the roadside, large notice-boards 
 proclaimed to all passers, that the Christian religion was a corrupt 
 sect strictly proscribed, and that all who were partial to its teachings 
 
s 
 .2 
 
 
21 
 
 would be carefully watched and punished. This must have given 
 to liberty-loving minds who believe in freedom of religious thought 
 an impression of no little wonder that man should be fettered in his 
 most secret thoughts. In some minds an eager desire must have 
 been aroused to know more about any form of worship which could 
 cause so great a stir, for certainly the existing religions hardly 
 started a passing interest in many minds. We do not know how 
 Etsuki was affected by these sign-boards. Certain it is that when, 
 in the Providence of God, a Bible came into his keeping, it met 
 all of the hitherto indefinable needs of his spiritual nature, and the 
 saying of the master long centuries ago became verified. " He that 
 doeth truth cometh to the light." A learned commentator has 
 beautifully said that tl earnest pursuit of holiness produces an 
 immediate sympathy in the heart when Christ is seen, because one 
 sees there an ideal realized, and also the possibility of realizing 
 the same ideal. Every truly upright man rejoices to come in contact 
 with Christ, the living embodiment of holiness, because the deepest 
 impulse upon which he acts can thus come to the light." 
 
 This man had at last found the truth and he knew it he only 
 needed henceforth that his spirit should expand and enlarge as the 
 facts and promises in the Gospel flowed into his hungering and 
 thirsting soul. What need had he of the great and superabundant 
 literature which the Higher and Lower schools of criticism are 
 furnishing ? He had the word and the promised Comforter to teach 
 him the meaning, and that was sufficient. Again and again must 
 he have thanked God that His word had come to him in the verna- 
 cular tongue, and it became his meat and drink because it ministered 
 to the needs of his soul. 
 
 The now extinct volcano of Fuji " the peerless mountain " 
 with its snow-capped peak is the ideal of beauty engraven upon the 
 mind of every Japanese, yet sometimes even when near its base 
 this mountain may be shrouded from view by heavy mists. God 
 alone can lift those dense fogs and reveal to man the beautiful 
 outlines of that pyramid of snow. Do men complain that they 
 cannot see God ? The only answer is, pray that God will remove 
 those dark mists of sin or prejudice which obscure the beatific vision. 
 The words of Jesus are true, though they do not seem to correspond 
 with much of human experience. " Blessed are the pure in heart, 
 
22 
 
 for they shall see God," and a Chinese proverb tells us this same 
 truth, too, in other words : 
 
 " If one takes up clear water in his hand, he will see the 
 reflection of the moon. 
 
 It may have been a desire for information about the truths 
 of salvation which in May of 1889 brought Etsuki to Tokyo, arid 
 while in Tokyo he was so fortunate as to become acquainted with 
 a missionary of the Church of England. From him he learned 
 enough to supplement that which was wanting in his knowledge 
 of God and his great love for sinful man. 
 
 It only needs a short interval for the tree to burst forth into 
 leaf after the juices have run up into the trunk. The ground had 
 been already prepared, so the seed had taken root from the start, 
 and henceforth " neither height, nor depth, nor death, nor life nor 
 any other creature " would be able to separate Kase Etsuki from 
 the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 
 
 Do not let us think it easy to declare one's self for Christ 
 in a land like Japan. Under such circumstances the first formality 
 oftentimes is to strike the name from the family list kept in the 
 temple-register of the village this would give rise to frequent visi- 
 tations from the priest to the relations, when condolences would be 
 offered on either side. Then would follow innumerable consultations 
 when all the branches of the family, direct and collateral, would 
 meet to draw up resolutions of condemnation against one who had 
 deserted the worship of his ancestors and had taken up with a corrupt 
 religious sect, All this would naturally be painful to a sensitive 
 temperament, but in this case the seed had fallen into good ground 
 and neither ridicule, sneers, nor estrangements could henceforward 
 prevent its growth. When the love of God really takes possession 
 of a human soul, the fear of public disfavor diminishes in inverse 
 ratio to its intensity. We are told that " the spirit of man is the 
 candle of the Lord," and when He the Almighty sets it aglow it 
 burns with fire taken from off His altar and radiates everywhere 
 the light which is fed by the oil of His anointing grace. So ripe a 
 Christian did he soon become that he was admitted into the Church 
 by the rite of baptism in the month of June, and in the month 
 of July was confirmed by the Bishop of the Church of England in 
 Japan. 
 

 
23 
 
 Hitherto since the fall of the fortunes of his Daimyo the 
 life of Kase Etsuki had seemed without a purpose. He had lived 
 upon the food which past memories afforded him. True he loved 
 his gentle wife and heartily disapproved of the sentiment ex- 
 pressed in those sad words, li there is noplace for woman in the three 
 worlds past, present, and future " and he must have deplored 
 the lot to which many of his countrywomen are consigned through 
 mistaking their true position. Still his strong man's heart had 
 many times longed for one upon whom he could lean as of old, 
 who could replace in his affections all he had lost when service to 
 his master had been removed from his life, whom he could regard 
 with a proper sense of pride, to whom he could give proofs of his 
 heart's affection. 
 
 As the revelation of God reconciling the world unto Himself 
 by the death of His Son gradually took possession of this man's 
 soul, all the images of the past seemed to pall and diminish before 
 the splendor of such a Being, and the thought of entering His 
 service was almost a greater privilege than he could bring his mind 
 to realize. 
 
 What was the Daimyo he had loved to the Maker and Ruler 
 of heaven and earth ? What were the resources of a small feudal 
 tenure to the riches and treasures stored up in heaven ? Had he 
 once rejoiced over the infant prattle and puny deeds of the young 
 scion of the house he had served, what was this compared to the 
 life of the Son of God among men what words of grace and truth 
 proceeded out of His mouth, how transcendent the deeds of Him who 
 controlled the issues of life and death. 
 
 As Kase read the Gospel story with the illumination vouchsafed 
 to him through the Holy Ghost, he became henceforth a transformed 
 being " Counting all things but loss for the excellency of the know- 
 ledge of Christ Jesus our Lord." From this time forth his Bible 
 was to become his constant companion, prayer his continual resource 
 and relaxation, Jesus and His love for lost sinners his never-ending 
 theme. His heart's affection twined itself about the truths of 
 salvation, and he clung to them with a loyalty and intensity of 
 which only such natures as his are capable. 
 
 Henceforth nothing came amiss, all which came to him whether 
 of good or of evil was direct from the hand of God, and he deemed 
 
24 
 
 it infinite joy to suffer for His sake if by any moans he might thus 
 show to others the deep reality of his love. He sought out op- 
 portunities of showing his perfect trust in and obedience to the will 
 of God, to witness his faith in the atoning work of His Son. Jesus 
 had said, as of old, " follow me," and Kase Etsuki " left all arid 
 followed Him/' 
 
 \ 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 "Oh! the mountain cherry trees at 
 Yoshiuo, that hlossom each spring ! 
 Cleaving the trees, look for the abode 
 Of the flowers." 
 
 A legend tells us that a renowned Buddhist priest by the name 
 of Ikkyu once, when upon a pilgrimage, passed a shrine, and that a 
 grim-looking giant seven feet in height suddenly darted forth from the 
 shadow of a dense wood near by and confronted the doughty priest 
 with the question " How about Buddhism ?" " It is in my breast," 
 was the quick reply. " Then I will cleave thy breast and look," 
 said the savage creature drawing a sword. Upon this, Ikkyu re- 
 peated the above lines without a tremor in his voice, upon hearing 
 which the apparition vanished quickly. 
 
 Our Lord Jesus Christ took this same form of illustration when 
 pressed by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of heaven would 
 appear. " Behold," said he, " the kingdom of God is within you," and 
 one who afterwards imbibed the meaning of His words has added, 
 " The kingdom of God must enter a man before he can hope to 
 enter the kingdom of God." 
 
 In February of the year 1891 we find Kase Etsuki teaching 
 school in the village of Kanawagawa, near to the city of Fuku- 
 shirna, and this vocation he followed until he fell under the sickness 
 which terminated his life. His longer term of service as a teacher 
 of the young would seem to indicate that some new desire had 
 been stirred within him apart from that of gaining a livelihood or 
 of watching the growth of the mental faculties under his training. 
 We cannot doubt that the idea of character-building was now 
 predominantly in his mind, and that he had taken hold of Dr. 
 Arnold's maxim. " I wish my pupils first to be Christians, second 
 to be gentlemen, and third to be scholars." 
 
26 
 
 Arid now this brave man was about to enter upon the last stage 
 of his eventful life. 
 
 While teaching school in this village he was made aware of 
 certain internal troubles which proved upon examination to be of a 
 cancerous nature. With no money he returned in September of 1892 
 to the city of Fukushima in order to be under medical treatment. 
 
 Since " the love of God had been shed abroad in his heart 
 through the Holy Ghost," Kase had learned the great lesson of all 
 life that "God is love" and that all things work together for good 
 to them that love Him." 
 
 We may imagine that there did come a conflict in this brave 
 man's heart when he knew the worst, but he soon ceased to murmur 
 and always spoke with thankfulness of every event of his life even 
 of this as coming direct from' the Lord. 
 
 His disease having fully developed, he was in the summer of 
 J892 brought down to a bed of sickness and suffering from which 
 he was to be released only by death. Before this afflicting stroke 
 fell upon him he had, however, gone to several places where there 
 were archery clubs, and had confounded all on-lookers by his wonder- 
 ful skill with the bow. This must have providentially attracted to 
 him the kind attentions of some skilful doctors who, themselves fond 
 of manly sports, had naturally been drawn to one who far excelled all 
 others. These men faithfully ministered to this man of God until 
 his dying hour, taking no fees of any kind in return. 
 
 Many who had known Kase Etsuki in his past life and had 
 noted the change which had come over him since he had attached 
 himself to the cause of Jesus Christ must have wondered how he 
 would bear this new visitation from the God he so much loved. 
 These must have been surprised to note the cheerfulness and resig- 
 nation with which he bore his sufferings. 
 
 To a mere worldling what could have been more desolate, more 
 distasteful than the gloomy future which seemed to widen out be- 
 fore this man. He had known trouble, he had experienced great 
 vicissitudes, he had lost his property, with some his popularity, but 
 still he clung with pertinacity, nay even with enthusiasm, to that 
 which was left him, his faith in God. This instead of becoming 
 dimmed or growing faint, seemed now to glow with the fervor of 
 gold which has been seven-times heated, and " all things he truly 
 
A Group of Pilgrims. 
 
27 
 
 counted loss for Christ. Christ was the centre of his soul's as- 
 pirations, the ideal image of his humble adoration, his daily thought, 
 his nightly dream, verily it might have been said he breathed Christ, 
 he ate, he drank, he slept with no other thought, until by the very 
 laws of association the name of Christ Jesus and the name of -Ease 
 Etsuki became so intermingled in the minds of men that to think 
 of the servant was to think of his Master and Lord. It was hence- 
 forth no longer Kase Etsuki that lived, but "Christ who lived within 
 him ; and the life he now lived in the flesh, he lived by the faith 
 of the Son of God who loved him and gave Himself for him." 
 
 People wondered at this man, many scoffed at one who could 
 be so easily entrapped in the superstitious teachings of a foreign 
 religion, who could live day by day pouring over that book which 
 had been only a few years before prohibited by the government and 
 its followers proscribed ; who took no part in festivities of any 
 kind into which sake drinking and like accompaniments entered ; 
 who lived a lonely life apart from conviviality and good cheer, 
 and fed his mind upon th oughts of an unseen Deity, who gloried 
 in the story of a Man long centuries ago crucified as a malefactor, 
 and in the curious legends which had clustered about Him, who 
 brooded over visions of a future life veiled as yet in mystery. 
 Some there were who asked why he did not entirely abjure the 
 world and become a hermit, why he did riot at any rate satisfy 
 his curious idiosyncrasy and at least worship something seen. If 
 he loved to waste time in ponderings upon these "old wives' 
 fables/' why did he not worship in temples or make long pilgrim- 
 ages to lonely shrines. 
 
 Some, too, were so much wedded to their own idols of various 
 kinds that they began to hate this silent life which, without 
 obtrusiveness or ofFensiveness of any kind, nevertheless made them 
 feel their follies and hate their faults. Yet no one could deny 
 that, though in this one particular Kase Etsuki might be a deluded 
 man, he was in all things else a model of sobriety and common 
 sense, that his private and public life was above reproach, and 
 that he showed no evidence of melancholia, or other aberration of 
 mind. 
 
 Yea, some would occasionally even listen to Kase, and when 
 thev did in seriousness it soon became proverbial that a noticeable 
 
28 
 
 stillness would seem to steal over their spirits and for days there- 
 after they would be self-absorbed to a curious degree. It had 
 even been known that one here and there had actually been so 
 much impressed as to heed and follow, and so Kase had succeeded 
 after much patient witnessing in gathering here and there little 
 companies of those who believe the seed germs of the future church 
 of Christ in Japan. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " All men seem to know of death 
 Yet of this, they truly do not know 
 Yet it is a law 
 That all must die." 
 
 And now the closing scene in this drama of a life rises before 
 us, tragic as all of human life is, yet in this instance filled with 
 that indescribable peace and joy which can come from only one 
 source. Kase Etsuki finds that he must now at last be called to 
 glorify God in that most trying of all situations, as a confirmed 
 invalid, without means of support. He here, however outlasted even 
 the faith and patience of Job and, like men of faith in all time, 
 that which had been his stay in health of body and of mind was 
 not to desert him in his hour of need. We now have no picture of 
 Job sitting in the ashes, desolate, nay, even cursing the day when he 
 was born. God only willed to use this being who had long since, 
 been entirely surrendered to Him, before his body was raised without 
 spot or wrinkle in the resurrection life. 
 
 Those who knew him best were surprised to see that an inexplic- 
 able gladness seemed to rise in his soul, an exultant pleasure in 
 anticipation of that which would have brought to most mortals only 
 intolerable pain. There was something glorious to this man's bold 
 and naturally war-loving spirit in the sense that he was now to 
 suffer great pain for his Master, and with prayerful courage he 
 summoned all his powers to contend in this conflict where he must 
 witness his last bold confession before angels and men. 
 
 Oftentimes when evidently racked through and through with 
 pain he would smile and rejoice at his privileges. Having no means 
 of his own he and his wife were provided with shelter in a dingy 
 House situated upon a side-street and used as a preaching chapel. 
 Kase even found a source of self gratulation in this mean abode and 
 
30 
 
 lie would glance around at his quarters with the pride of one enjoying 
 a luxurious mansion, and speak of how God had privileged him to be 
 sick in the very abode that He had chosen for a place for His Presence 
 to dwell. When in various ways reminded of his poverty by the 
 necessary privation to which he was subjected, he would merely say, 
 " I have no fear that God has left me," and by ways and means which 
 others knew not of, the money did continue to flow into that sick 
 room, and his wants were supplied. He would sometimes say as 
 though following the course of his secret reflections, " If I lay here 
 through my own fault, I should deserve to suffer want, but why 
 should I dread the future while I trust in the God who clothes the 
 lilies of the field, who feeds the birds of the air, and who has called 
 me to lie here day after day until He has finished his work with 
 me." David in Psalm CXLVI : 2. has fitly described his frame of 
 mind. " While I live will I praise the Lord : I will sing praises 
 unto my God while I have any being." 
 
 During this period he was privileged to have the peculiarly 
 blessed ministrations of a faithful man of God, and this man testified 
 at his funeral to the reactionary influences which such a sick room 
 had worked upon him. Telling most pathetically the story of the 
 ascent of Elijah, he described how the chariot of fire had taken up the 
 great prophet into heaven and how his cloak had fallen upon EHsha. 
 Then after claiming that this sick man had been his master, his 
 teacher, he devoutly in the presence of all, raised his eyes filled with 
 tears toward heaven and invoked God that the cloak of this man 
 might fall upon him. Oftentimes, he said, he had told this dying 
 Christian the story of " Muller's life of trust," and he described 
 how his faith had been strengthened by the account of this other 
 life. 
 
 In the early stages of his sufferings Kase had fondly hoped that 
 one day he would again be enabled to renew the conflict, and like 
 a brave soldier taking a brief furlough until his wounds were 
 healed, he would talk much of the time ahead and of what he would 
 do for his Master when he was again in the fight and when gradually 
 he came to realize that this was not to be, he loved to compare his 
 present state and future hope. At such times, looking pathetically 
 at his wasting limbs he would recall plaintively the days when in till 
 manly sports he had been filled with youthful joy and vigor. There 
 
31 
 
 were moments when he seemed verging upon morbid reflections, but 
 lie would soon again rally his spirits, and the color would rise in his 
 sunken cheeks as he spoke of the time when "having put off his 
 earthly house of this tabernacle, he would have a building of God, 
 a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens." 
 
 One day when describing the future life in glowing colors his 
 wife, who tenderly loved him, could not refrain from tears, as the 
 thought came strongly to her that she must soon be separated from 
 him, when he who had been her companion arid constant joy for 
 many long years, would pass away from her sight. He looked mildly 
 at her and with a touch of reproach in his voice, he said. "If I 
 were going to Tdkyo you would not cry, why then give way when 
 I tell you that I am going to be with my Saviour and in my heavenly 
 Father's home." 
 
 And so the days of his sickness sped along sped along, did 
 I say ? they would certainly have dragged with many an one in a 
 similar condition. But how could they with him who spent his time 
 in counting his blessings and in offering thanks for every new 
 evidence of the favor of God which day by day found its way into 
 that sick-room. To be with such a man was a benediction from 
 heaven direct, to be near him was to be near to God, for, really, he 
 seemed to breathe in an atmosphere different from that of other men 
 in a lower sphere of existence. Neither stillness nor company seemed 
 to fatigue him, for he always appeared to be basking in a bright 
 effulgence which came from the very throne of the Deity itself. 
 When alone he could seek messages and lessons from God to tell 
 out to others, and when in company God verily seemed to come 
 into him, and his countenance became radiant and his conversation 
 heavenly. Did he do any good ? Does the stream which trickles 
 through the waste desert in a silver thread of cool, refreshing water 
 fed from a perennial source do any good ? 
 
 Do the refreshing showers and the glorious sunshine have any 
 effect upon universal nature ? Does ths promise have any meaning, 
 " as the rain which cometh down and the snow from heaven and 
 returneth not thither but watereth the earth so shall my word 
 be that goeth out of my mouth it shall not return unto me void, 
 but it shall accomplish that which I please arid it shall prosper in 
 the thing whereto 1 sent it." 
 
32 
 
 Through the village of Nikko and out into the broad valley 
 beyond rushes a bold stream, watering the country for hundreds of 
 miles, fertilizing the fields, causing abundant rice crops to spring 
 forth in their season, giving drink and sustenance to man and beast. 
 Following this stream to its source, we climb a high mountain 
 about four thousand feet above the level of the sea, encountering at 
 every turn as we go this same boiling and bubbling torrent. After 
 an ascent of many hours we hear at last the boom of a great water- 
 fall arid we come upon " Kegon falls," which roar over a cliff of 
 solid rock to a base about three hundred and fifty feet below. 
 
 This bold stream of water, the Yosemite of Japan, is the over- 
 flow from Lake Chuzenji, a vision of rare beauty which presently 
 breaks upon the view. We are now on the top of a mountain in 
 whose hollow summit this glorious lake is situated, over two miles 
 wide and nearly eight miles long, with its deep basin of sparkling 
 water clear to the bottom, cool, sparkling, never- failing. Its height 
 above the sea-level is four thousand three hundred and seventy-five 
 feet, arid it mirrors in its glassy surface a massive mountain called 
 " Nantaizan," which rises from its edge to a perpendicular height of 
 about three thousand eight hundred feet. Beautiful Chuzenji is a 
 natural waterhead and is an appropriate figure of a spiritual fountain 
 head at which all men may slake their infinite thirst and become 
 themselves sources of spiritual supplies to others. " In the last, that 
 great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried: If any man thirst, 
 let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth in me, as the 
 Scripture hath said, out of his bally shall flow rivers of living 
 water." Dear reader, we should seek what the Saviour has to offer 
 at whatever cost. 
 
 There is in every heart at bottom a capacity for separating the 
 true from the false, for sifting deceit and hypocrisy from sincerity 
 and earnestness. There is an ineradicable difference between ore 
 in the rough and the shining metal which has passed through the 
 crucible. Any one can detect the difference between show and 
 substance, between tinsel and gold. It only needed intercourse with 
 this sufferer to realize that back of his life was a supernatural power 
 which was its force and stay. He had been truly buried with Christ 
 in baptism, had been made conformable to His death and now had 
 risen with Him into newness of life. 
 
39 
 O 
 
 The effect of such a sick-room upon the life around may be 
 better imagined than described. There would have been many who 
 were distant silent observers, some who were nearer, and others 
 still who became fully persuaded. Even though he may not have 
 succeeded in finally conquering some adamantine, money-bound 
 hearts, yet it must have been his privilege sometimes to look 
 into the moistened eye of a hard man of business, and to do this 
 even once should be to a Christian a joy forever. Even a victim of 
 pleasure would occasionally have stepped aside for a brief moment 
 to see the straight and narrow way to which this pilgrim pointed 
 before finally parting company with him and passing on with other 
 careless ones who had already made their choice of the broad road 
 which leadeth to destruction. The neighboring Obaasans (old 
 women) at mention of his name, would gravely have shaken their 
 heads and nervously handled their beads and might they not have 
 been seen later kneeling before the altar of Buddha and praying their 
 " Namu Amida Butsu " " Hail eternal Buddha ! " with more than 
 usual earnestness ? The begging priest might now and then have 
 reported a perceptible decline in the paying out of the temple alms 
 in the neighborhood of this sick man's house, and, if nothing else 
 did, this news would have roused the priests from their lethargy for 
 a time. Their lengthened consultations over this awkward per- 
 plexity might have resulted in a series of resolutions to put fresh 
 flowers upon the altar of the Buddha, to beat the temple gongs, to 
 intone the sacred books, and to pray for the rapid departure of this 
 man's soul rather than for its peace in a future world. 
 
 Sho gyo mujo " All phenomena are fleeting 
 
 Ze sho meppo This is the law of becoming 
 
 and perishing 
 Sho metsu metsui Becoming and perishing shall 
 
 perish completely 
 Jaku metsu i raku And the calm perishing (i.e. 
 
 Nirvana) will be bliss." 
 
 Etsuki's wife had long reserved to herself the right of private 
 judgment and had preferred for some time to stand aloof from her hus- 
 band upon questions of faith. But before this time she had yielded, 
 and had long since become a fervent sharer in all his spiritual joys. 
 
34 
 
 Just here it would be well to insert a touching tribute to these 
 two earnest Christians from the pen of one who knew them well. 
 " For the first six months of his illness in Fukushima, and for more 
 than a year before, when he was a school teacher in the village 
 of Kanawagawa, some seven miles from the former place, Rev. 
 John Gr. Waller and wife, Canadian Missionaries of the Church 
 of England were stationed at Fukushima. They speak in the 
 highest terms of their intercourse with Mr. and Mrs. Kase, how they 
 would after a hard week's work walk into Fukushima to church, 
 over what were generally very bad roads, how earnest they were 
 in the services of how, amidst the many disappointments of mission 
 work this pair were always a source of comfort and encouragement. 
 He was very fond of singing the hymn which he sang on the 
 morning of his death, it being his favorite. 
 
 When in December of 1891 Bishop Bickersteth, of the Church 
 of England in Japan came to Fukushima to administer confirmation, 
 one of the candidates was Mrs. Kase. After the service was over, 
 one of the first questions asked by the Bishop was, " Who was that 
 man who responded so distinctly ? " It was Kase Etsuki. When 
 at the end of 1892 Mr. and Mrs. Waller were removed to another 
 field of work, the pain of parting with their little band of Christians 
 seemed to reach the climax in the case of Mr. and Mrs. Kase. Mrs. 
 Waller says in relation to this scene, " I don't think I can ever 
 forget how I felt when I said goodbye in the little sick room. Mr. 
 Kase raised himself with difficulty to a sitting posture and taking 
 one of my hands in both of his, bade me farewell, thanked me for 
 the little I had done for him, asked the Lord to bless us in our 
 future field of work, and finished by saying that we should never 
 meet again here, but that he certainly would be among those 
 who would welcome me in Heaven. In the meantime Mrs. Kase 
 had thrown her arms about me and sobbed her farewells on my 
 shoulder. Even as the tears streamed clown the cheeks of all three 
 of us, the thought came to me that it was strange the parting with 
 these Japanese, with different dress, language, and customs, seemed 
 to try me almost more than when I bade goodbye to our dear ones 
 in Canada/' 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 " Every time one hears of it (death) 
 
 To think 
 
 It is the sorrow of another 
 That is greater frailty 
 Than even his who is no more." 
 
 On the subject of the frailty of human life, a popular work 
 among the Japanese " Shingaku michi no hanashi " or " Discourses 
 on moral philosophy/' thus reads when translated : 
 
 " Thus moment after moment, hour by hour, are we paying back 
 our bodies to the creditor. And when our yearly payment account 
 is all settled, Tento sarna (that is, " the Heavenly master ") says 
 reckoning the account, "Twice one are your account is all settled, I 
 congratulate you/' Then he draws his pen across his book. And 
 then we are borne to the family temple on the shoulders of the 
 bearers, and it is " Namu kara tano " and "Chan goran don." and 
 this is the sound of the flinging down the soroban (merchant's count- 
 ing machine). And yet even when they hear such sounds, common 
 people think of it as only the settling of the yearly payment * * * 
 Arid so they say, " what shall I do in the spring ? In the autumn I 
 will do so and so." And recklessly planning for the future they 
 neglect the essential present * * for all of us the present that is the 
 very midst of death, living as we are that is dying." 
 
 The good book has the same thing to say, reader, to you and me, 
 in different language. Jas. iv : 13, 14. " Go to now, ye that say 
 to-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there 
 a year and buy and .sell and get gain. Whereas ye know not what 
 shall be on the morrow. For what is your life ? It is even a vapor, 
 that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that 
 ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that." 
 A missionary who was present at Kase Etsuki's deathbed thus 
 writes : 
 
36 
 
 " I thank God that I was allowed to share with others the great 
 privilege which those partook who knew Kase Etsuki, even though he 
 crossed my life just as he was being called away to his final reward 
 in the heavenly kingdom. By a previous appointment I was to be in 
 the city of Fukushima and vicinity for Easter Sunday and a brief 
 season thereafter in the year 1893, for the purpose of helping to 
 comfort and stablish the faithful few in that district. 
 
 The journey was nine hours by rail from Tokyo and in this 
 interval I was moved to pray much that God would be with me and 
 make the visitation a blessing to those to whom I was sent. Nor 
 could I help wondering why so frail a vessel had been chosen for such 
 an errand. 1 asked myself repeatedly why the Lord had not called 
 some other who might be better equipped for all that was needful 
 for such an important mission. I was to understand later that the 
 main object of my appointment was that I might learn, and that 
 little else than this would be required of me, my teacher was in 
 Fukushima by Divine appointment awaiting my arrival. I felt, too, 
 a strange presentiment that some peculiar exigence might require 
 words of special and appropriate comfort in ministering to a flock 
 so scattered, and so I prayed that God would give me words when 
 required out of the fulness of His treasures. Surely "the spirit 
 Himself helpeth our infirmities" and when we know not what we 
 should pray for as we ought, " He Himself maketh intercession for 
 us with groanings which cannot be uttered/' Arrived in Fukushima, 
 I was informed that a sick man was awaiting the Holy Communion 
 in the preaching-place where he lived and that he could not last 
 much longer. As it was late I retired for the night, and on Easter 
 Day I arose early and asked that God would that day fill our hearts 
 with a grateful sense of all the memories revived by the season. 
 
 I received an early summons to attend the bedside of the dying 
 man who requested that he might receive the Holy Communion before 
 the regular hour for service. About 9 a.m. I arrived at the preaching 
 chapel and found there a poor sufferer whose wasted form lay upon 
 some futons (coverlets), and there were appliances to allay the fever 
 which was evidently fast consuming him. First sight told me that 
 he was passing rapidly " into the valley and shadow of death/' 
 
 I can never forget the expression of exuberant joy and perfect 
 trust which lit up his face, though he was apparently aware of his 
 
37 
 
 critical condition. Feeling the extreme risk of waiting I proceeded 
 at once with " the office of the Holy Communion for the sick," and 
 administered the elements to the sick man, his wife, and the faithful 
 man who had been his spiritual adviser. I feared from his appear- 
 ance that he would hardly be enabled to rally his faculties sufficiently 
 to partake in a state of consciousness, but by an effort he roused 
 himself and remained conscious through all, though when I adminis- 
 tered the wine he was too faint to take it from the cup and was 
 obliged to drink it through a rubber tube. 
 
 After this I sat beside him, and he with real affection put 
 forward his hand which I clasped with a fervor which must have 
 expressed the emotions I felt. It seemed as though God had indeed 
 come down to us in the likeness of men, so much of his love was 
 written on this countenance. I reminded him that it was Easter 
 Day and that, may be, he would be called away to be with His Lord 
 on this the anniversary of His Resurrection. The catechist, who sat 
 near his head said with much tenderness in his voice " It is no 
 accident that the minister has come on Easter Day to give you the 
 Holy Communion and when you are so near your end" at which he 
 brightly smiled. I reminded him that they who partake of the Holy 
 Communion in faith are really feeding spiritually upon the Body and 
 Blood of Christ and have His life dwelling in them. I then read 
 the passage John vi : 56'. I was glad to assure him that he was in my 
 belief entirely safe, and that soon he would be with his Saviour. 
 He smiled gratefully. 
 
 After this he called for a hymn, and finding difficulty in re- 
 calling the words, he presently said " No 25 " which we accordingly 
 sung, as follows : 
 
38 
 
 Kami 
 Shu Jesu no ai, 
 Yutaka ni mitsu 
 Yo no mi to no. 
 Ukeyo meg ami 
 Sono aware mi 
 Kanashimi use 
 Uki uio kien 
 
 Chorus 
 
 Kono to no ni 
 Toku kitare 
 Uke vo tamawan 
 
 Kuril o irio miya 
 Shizuga fuseya 
 Tsui ni morenu 
 Uki tameshi. 
 Hito wa kusa no 
 Hana ni hitoshi, 
 Asa no hae \va 
 Yube ni chiran 
 
 Chorus 
 
 Tokosbie no 
 Sachi zo aru 
 Konomi to no ni 
 Toku kitare 
 
 Shu no suk ui wa 
 Yo ni amaneshi 
 Nakite kitare 
 Kui yotsu mi 
 Namida kawaku 
 Tsumi kiyomaru 
 Ai nomi kawa 
 Uke tamawan 
 
 Chorus 
 
 Yorokohi wa 
 Tsune ni michi 
 Ukiwa usuru, 
 Kono mi to no. 
 
 Sono megumi 
 
 When, to our amazement, a voice and strength not his own seemed 
 to be given him, and half raising his emaciated, but still powerful 
 frame, be sung in a clear 'voice with great fervor every word, closing 
 with us in a full tone on the Amen. It was impossible to keep back 
 the tears, and I could myself only follow with a voice choked by 
 the emotions which filled me, looking wonderingly meanwhile upon 
 the glowing face of this dying man, thus facing death in the midst 
 of heathenism with unflinching faith in God, our Saviour. The 
 Japanese, who have lines of poetry prepared to describe all situations, 
 thus express these surprises which often appear of unexpected exhibi- 
 tions of character amid the most uncongenial surroundings. 
 
 The hymn " No 20 " in the Hymnal of the Japanese church is not a translation of 
 any English original and so is curious as a production of some Japanese hymnologist. 
 It first appeared as Hymn " No 25 " in the Congregational ist Hymn book, and the 
 compiler of that hymnal states that it was handed to him by a Japanese. The following 
 is a good rendering of the Japanese and was handed me by a freind. Tune Sheaves. 
 
 " 1. Lo ! the love of Jesus 2. Every lofty palace 3. Lo ! our God's salvation 
 
 Every lowly cottage Through the world prevaileth 
 
 Hath its times of sadness Come with bitter weeping, 
 
 And the Father's mercy 
 Fill this Holy Temple : 
 Children, come and pray 1 
 Grace He freely giveth: 
 Oh ! receive it gladly ; 
 All your woes and sorrows 
 Soon will fade away. 
 
 To His Temple come ! 
 
 Joyfully receive 
 
 All His grace and mercy 
 
 God but waits to give. 
 
 Shadow and decay : 
 Man is like a flower, 
 Blooming in the morning 
 And ere evening closeth, 
 Fading quite away. 
 In this Temple reigns 
 Everlasting joy : 
 
 All your sins repent ; 
 All your tears He drieth 
 All your sins He cleanseth 
 And His eyes of mercy 
 On your face are bent 
 Joy is ever here ; 
 Sorrows flee away 
 Children come and welcome In His Holy Temple : 
 Bliss without alloy ! Children come and pray ' 
 
39 
 
 " None knew the sapling at its birth, 
 Deep in the mountains' forest shade ; 
 But when it bloomed, the cherry's worth 
 In glorious blossoms was displayed." 
 
 There seemed to be a very halo of glory about him as though 
 the rays from the heavenly city were already falling upon him. Some 
 mortals passing in the street might have thought we were singing the 
 requiem of a departing spirit. It may have been that as our feeble 
 voices died away in the closing verse, the strain was re; ewed in a 
 mighty volume by the choirs of heaven and was used to usher this 
 one, now joining the company of the Church triumphant, into the 
 glories of eternity. Upon the close of the hymn he sank back ex- 
 hausted but still with the same joyful smile which never faded from 
 his face while I was present and which, I was afterwards assured, was 
 its settled expression when the death pallors had gathered upon it. 
 
 He feebly called for wine, having felt relieved by the small 
 draught taken at the communion. He evidently wanted to face the 
 destroyer with the same unflinching courage his Great Master had 
 done that the words might he said in truth over him, "Oh! death 
 where is thy sting, oh ! grave where is thy victory." " It will be 
 a blessed thing if I can go to heaven on Easter Day," he said in a 
 clear voice, and one could plainly see no shadow of doubt upon his 
 wasted face, but it shone brightly with the peace of God. It was 
 hard to leave such an one, and I found great pleasure in talking 
 to him of the time when his spirit would be freed from the burden 
 of the flesh and he would be with Jesus. When he asked my name 
 I begged that he would only think of one name as that alone could be 
 of use to him now. He forcibly responded, " I cannot possibly 
 forget the name of my Saviour." And now the Lord seemed to be 
 answering my prayer of the day before, and I was filled with yearn- 
 ing to speak words of comfort. He seemed pleased when I said 
 " When we enter the hotels of Japan, they always say. " Welcome" 
 but these words do not really come from the heart. When, however, 
 he should enter heaven he would hear a welcome which he would 
 know was true. I reminded him that he had on earth often been 
 alone with few who could realize his hopes and fears he had been in 
 this world, ns I was at that time in Fukushima only for a time a 
 
40 
 
 stranger" that he was now nearing his real home and friends whose 
 aspirations and joys would be all like his own. The catechist asked 
 if he understood, his eyes opened full upon the man. " Know what 
 he means by a stranger ? " said he. " Ah, had not this man known, 
 had he not often trod the wine-press alone, had he not felt the chill 
 of isolation, had he not looked for help, but there was no man." 
 Back over the pathway of this life could we have gone, we might 
 have seen this poor soul battling and struggling bravely along the 
 hot and dusty high way of human life with heavy step and aching 
 heart, up the rock-hewn steps his Master had trod before "alone, yet 
 not alone." Was it needful to ask Kase Etsuki what the word 
 " pilgrim and stranger " means to a Christian ? We read the 23rd 
 Psalm and now it could be readily seen that his strength was per- 
 ceptibly waning. After this I was called away to the regular services 
 of the Church and saw him no more until he lay tranquilly reposing 
 in his coffin on the day following. I was told that morning after 
 service that the death mists were evidently gathering in his eyes and 
 that from the time I left his bedside, he had said nothing more. 
 
 Kase Etsuki passed peacefully away on this same Easter Sunday 
 at about 3.30 P.M., as a child might fall into unconsciousness in the 
 strong arms of a father. At his funeral on Easter Monday a small 
 congregation gathered about his coffin in the little preaching chapel 
 which had been his home. The coffin was tastefully draped in black 
 and decorated with a beautiful cross and crown made of cedar and 
 pine and with plum blossoms and with artificial flowers peeping out 
 here and there from the back ground of evergreens. The artificial 
 flowers were the last act of love from the hands of his faithful wife. 
 
 The catechist made one of the most feeling and impressive of 
 addresses, recounting much that is contained in this little memoir, 
 and adding that the sick man had been looking forward eagerly to 
 the visitation of a clergyman, had by mere force of will lasted until 
 Easter Day, had wanted to receive the Holy Communion on the previ- 
 ous evening, but finding it was too late had patiently looked for 
 the morning to come as his powers were fast waning. 
 
 His body was carried to a crematory and burned and for this 
 reason the funeral services were postponed until late in the afternoon. 
 When the service had been feelingly rendered and all had been said, 
 it was quite dark and so a little procession carrying lanterns followed 
 
41 
 
 the remains through the streets of Fukushima and along the rough 
 country roads to the bank of a river on the farther side of the city. 
 From thence only the stalwart coffin carriers and the cateohist accom- 
 panied the body of Kase Etsuki to a distant mountain where it 
 was buried. The last relic I saw was the sword he wore when a 
 Samurai, fit emblem of his faithful services for his master. At the 
 funeral all agreed that the dear brother had merely gone before us, 
 and there were few present who did not echo the hearty wish that 
 we might follow him in God's own time." 
 
 Mrs. Kase remained for some months after this an occupant of 
 the little preaching chapel from which all the brightness had now 
 flown. She then wearily turned her face towards her husband's 
 old home in the province of Mi no, whither she had been constantly 
 summoned by urgent letters from relations. On the way she 
 called at my house in Tokyo and we talked for several hours over 
 the subject always clear to her, she spoke with bated breath and 
 tearful eyes of him who had left her and recalled much which this 
 narrative contains. Soon after her arrival letters came from her 
 new home, telling of how she was endeavoring to witness for the truth 
 as it is in Jesus to thosO whose ears were hardened. In order to pre- 
 serve the family line the relations agreed to build her a house which 
 she was to occupy with an adopted son. Little had they reckoned 
 upon the intensity of her faith when they later required of her that 
 she should occupy this little house which they had fitted up upon 
 condition that she would abjure her faith in Christ. She met their 
 proposal with an obstinate refusal and at last decided to give up her 
 all and devote the rest of her days to Bible-work, for which she is 
 now preparing in Tokyo. 
 
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