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not be ashamed, when I say that the origin of Japanese journalism dates back as far as the early part of the seventeenth century. Long before our doors of seclusion were forced open by the impatient nations of the West, our ancestors had found a device by which they kept themselves in touch with current events and news. The news-sheets of those days were roughly got up, being printed from wooden blocks hastily purchased for each issue. They were meagre in news, uncouth in form, and quite irregular in appearance, there being no fixed date for publication. Neither were they issued by any particular and fixed publisher. Anybody could issue them, and at any time they pleased. These sheets were called Yomiuri, which, being translated, means sold by hawking.

The oldest of these sheets that have been preserved in the archives of some of our princely families bear the date of the very beginning of the seventeenth century, and contain very vivid illustrations of some of the tragic scenes of the fall of the renowned Castle of Osaka, a war which consummated the definite establishment of the Shogunate dynasty of Tokugawa. It is quite possible that even before that time there may have been in existence something corresponding to a Yomiuri; but if so, history has not made any mention about them. We have, then, no valid excuse for carrying back the origin of our journalism further than the beginning of the seventeenth century. That is, however, a sufficiently long record for a comparatively young nation like Japan.

These early newspapers, however, even in the heyday of their prosperity, did not attempt to educate their readers by means of editorials; they were content to give the news. Their example might well be followed by editors of the present day, to the relief of the readers. Even in those early days, however, there was competition over the gathering of news, and too premature ‘intelligent anticipation’ of events led to incorrect news being published. But no time was lost in those early newspaper-offices in getting rapidly on the streets with news of great interest. The story is well known of the immortal fame of the forty-seven rôn-in of Ako, who, after years of most painful and heroic struggle, succeeded in avenging the death of their beloved lord in the early part of the year 1703. History records that on this occasion a full printed description of this tragic event was hawked about the streets of Yedo within a few hours. Considering the imperfect means of communication and the primitive state of the contrivances then in use for gathering and publishing news, this feat speaks volumes for the enterprise and pluck of the poor, much-maligned purveyors of news in those days.

These early newspaper sheets were only published in the