“Japanese foot soldier”
Japan: Historical and Descriptive (1877)
The Japanese think they must be prepared to resist any attack from the vast empire of China, and are jealous of the neighbouring peninsula of Corea. Then, too, in the case of a war with any of the great powers, though their troops would be no match for a European army, yet by taking advantage of their knowledge of the mountain ranges of their islands, they might occasion much trouble to a hostile commander. Still, though an army may be necessary to the Yeddo government, yet should it become dissatisfied, it may prove the cause of their overthrow. Such are some of the difficulties which await the present rulers of Japan.
A Visit to Japan, China, and India (1877)
What most struck me in ... military barracks in Japan, was the multiplicity of books and appliances for reading and study. Every common soldier appears to furnish himself, or to be furnished, with quite a small library all to himself—a circumstance that may, perhaps, be traced to the pre-revolution period of Japan, when the samurai class were at once the soldiers and the scholars of the country. Perhaps with the pay of British troops steadily increasing as it is, and with so many facilities for study and recreation as they are now furnished with, the time may not be far distant when our own soldiers will occupy, as they well might, a comparatively high position in the social scale, and when the army will attract to it the surplus members of the civil community of all grades that are respectable and well instructed.
Japan: Its History, Traditions, and Religions (1880)
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