The Land of Great Peace

History substantiates the claim of Japan to the title, "Land of Great Peace."

From the beginning of the historical period, 660 B.C., to the civil wars preceding the establishment of the Tycoons, in the 12th century, there had been no war, and in 1603 Iyeyas Mika-wa-no-kami organized a government which secured to the empire a peace of two hundred years. In 1806 there was inaugurated a national festival for the sole purpose of commemorating this fact, probably without precedent in the history of any nation during our era. The longest peace known during the thousand years of Rome was of forty-four years, under the Antonines, in the 2d century, A.D. The native name for this island-empire is Nipon or Dai Nipon, i.e., the "Land of the Rising Sun," which well describes its location as the most eastern of all the Asiatic empires; its national emblem represents the sun rising out of the sea. The marvellous story of the empire of Japan may be traced through more than twenty-five centuries. The present Mikado, or Emperor, is the 122d, in a direct line, of a dynasty which began to reign 2549 years ago, for the Mikado reigned, though he did not govern, all through the three hundred years, while the Tycoons (Great Lords) ruled but did not reign. The Mikado upholds the religion of Confucius. But in the year 1888 he is reported to have asked to have some Christian missionaries sent to Japan, that his people and himself might be instructed in the Christian religion.

There is something allied to the wonderful in the career of this highly favored land of the Orient, whether we consider its physical features, its people or its government.