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to think that we mature and decay earlier than other races; on the contrary, such facts as we are in possession of are conclusively against the belief. For example, our medical authorities have proved irrefutably that the Japanese woman does not reach puberty earlier than her European sister. The theory of early maturity and decay seems to be a favourite among some people, but there is no foundation for it whatever. Further, to finish one’s liberal education at twenty-three or twenty-four may, perhaps, be too late; but our University education is professional, and to enter the professions of, say, law or medicine at the age of twenty-three or twenty-four prepared in all respects is not, surely, too late. There is something more necessary than a mere change in the system; we require more Universities, and consequently more higher schools.

The position of woman in Japan has always been different, to a significant extent, from that of the same sex in other Asiatic countries. Looking back to the history of Japan over thousands of years, we see many renowned figures of the fair sex. There have been several Empresses, some brave, intelligent, and highly cultured. There have been several heroines fighting side by side with our brave warriors. There have been numerous poetesses, novelists, artists.

In fact, in the ninth century, when the study of Chinese was in vogue, the culture of our native light literature was mainly in the hands of the other sex. It was then that we had Murasaki Shikibu, the authoress of the great ‘Genji-monogatari’; Seishonagon, the authoress of the ‘Makura-no-soshi’; and many others. In the latter part of the Tokugawa régime there were also many women well known for their Chinese culture, such as Kamei Shokin, Hara Saihin, Yema Saiko, Cho-Koran. This period also produced several lady poets, as Rengetsu, Chiyo, Botoni, and others. Examples of patriotic women also abound preceding the restoration of the Imperial régime.

Women have always enjoyed a large social freedom, though not to the same degree as in the modern Western nations, and thus we have produced from time to time some conspicuous female figures in history. Even in our own days such examples are not wanting. We see ladies engaged in educational institutions in China and Siam; we even see one has gone to