The more we study the varied annals of India, Persia, Phoenicia, Egypt, Palestine, Arabia, China, Thibet, Korea, Japan, the more are we struck with the truth of that old saying: “History repeats itself.” The same causes produced the same results in Japan as in other parts of Asia and Europe.
The Japanese do not, like the Chinese, trace their origin to a Darwinian idea of evolution. Like the Hindoos, Persians, and Jews, they claim to have been created by a Supreme Being; to be the offspring of two celestial persons, Izanagi and Izanami. The emperors pretend to direct descent from the beautiful sun-goddesses Amaterasu and Ise. The sacred histories of Japan, ignoring the fact that the Ainos were the aboriginal population of Japan, relate with much detail that about 660 B.C. Jimmu Tenno, the Son of Heaven, or first mikado, began his reign.
His immediate ancestors were created somehow or other in that refulgent orb, the sun, floated down to the earth, have deposited on a high mountain in the Dragon-Fly Land and furnished with the three insignia of their solar origin -- the sacred metallic mirror which reflects their celestial birth (now preserved in one of the temples of Ise), the sword of retribution to enable them to punish evil-doers (now treasured in the magnificent temples of Askasa), and the ball of crystal, emblem of eternity (in the possession of the present emperor).
Thus from time long past the mikado was held too sacred for ordinary mortals to approach. Only a few trusted individuals were allowed to see and converse with him. As for the government of his kingdom he was far too holy to attend to such sublunary affairs. Hence he gradually came to be regarded as a divine being, fit only to be enshrined and worshiped, while the princes aided by the empresses of Japan administered the affairs of the country.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
