IV
THE VOICE FROM WITHIN
IT seems to be the general impression among foreigners that it was the West who, with the touch of a magic wand, suddenly roused us from the sleep of centuries. The real cause of our awakening, however, came from within. Our national consciousness had already begun to stir when, in the year 1853, Commodore Perry reached our shores, and had waited but for that event to inaugurate a universal movement toward renationalization.
Three separate schools of thought united to cause the regeneration of Japan. The first taught her to inquire;
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