A MODERN UTOPIA
want that sort of people among our samurai. Passing an examination is a proof of a certain steadiness of purpose, a certain self-control and submission———"
"Of a certain 'ordinariness.'"
"Exactly what is wanted."
"Of course, those others can follow other careers."
"Yes. That's what we want them to do. And besides these two educational qualifications, there are two others of a similar kind of more debatable value. One is practically not in operation now. Our Founders put it that a candidate for the samurai must possess what they called a Technic, and, as it operated in the beginning, he had to hold the qualification for a doctor, for a lawyer, for a military officer, or an engineer, or teacher, or have painted acceptable pictures, or written a book, or something of the sort. He had in fact, as people say, to 'be something,' or to have 'done something.' It was a regulation of vague intention even in the beginning, and it became catholic to the pitch of absurdity. To play a violin skilfully has been accepted as sufficient for this qualification. There may have been a reason in the past for this provision; in those days there were many daughters of prosperous parents—and even some sons—who did nothing whatever but idle uninterestingly in the world, and the organisation might have suffered by their invasion; but that reason has gone now, and the requirement remains a merely ceremonial requirement. But, on the other hand, another has developed. Our Founders made a collection of several volumes which they called, collectively, the Book of the Samurai, a compilation of articles and extracts, poems
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