| | 1 | Author: | Watanna, Onoto, 1879-1954 | Add | | | Title: | Where the Young Look Forward to Old Age  | | | | Published: | 2004 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | Perhaps one of the sweetest characteristics of the
Japanese is their innate love, obedience, and respect for
their parents. The Japanese character in this respect has
not its parallel the world over. To a Japanese the word
“duty” might be said to be the most significant word in the
language. But the Japanese interpretation of the word has a
far different meaning to the generally accepted one. Duty,
to a Japanese, means not merely obedience and discipline,
but strong, sweet, cultivated, parental devotion. I use the
word “cultivated” because this feeling has been and is
cultivated in Japan. Nevertheless it does not lose its
naturalness. On the contrary, this devotion of the young for
the old—the adoration of the parent by the child—becomes a
natural cultivation. It is exemplified not only in the
larger and formal acts of Japanese life, but in the minutest
and smallest detail. The little Japanese child obeys without
question, and generally in a lovable, willing manner, the
gentle “demand” of its parents, and even in cases where the
parents are harsh the natural love of authority is still
there and the child is obedient. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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