ABSTRACT
In these lectures it has been my purpose to treat of history only, and history does not include a survey of the contemporary scene, much less a gaze into the future. You will, perhaps, expect me to touch upon the present day in Japan; and indeed it is a subject to which I have given much thought, for I have spent many years in this country and, both as an official and as a private person, I have been not only an observer but also a modest participant in the life of its people.
