A mental awakening by education was the final solution of the rural
problem, the Governor thought. Religion was also important for the
development of the village. Believers not under the eyes of others
would avoid wrong-doing because watched by heaven. Lectures on
agriculture and sanitation had a good influence when delivered by
priests. Temples were often schools before the era of Meiji and so
priests were socially active. Under the new dispensation the work was
taken out of their hands. So they had come to care little for the
affairs of the world. But they were influential and the prefecture had
asked for their help. The merits of many priests might not be
conspicuous, but the number of them who were active was increasing and
the villagers deferred to them if they took any step.

The most hopeful thing in the villages was the awakening of the young
men: they were becoming "sincere," a favourite Japanese word. For the
most part the credit societies were not efficient, but in one county
credit societies had lessened the business of the banks. The best way
to furnish capital to farmers was out of the capital of their fellow
farmers.

Possibly the girls of the villages were not making the same advance as
the boys. They did not go to their field labour willingly. Sometimes
when a woman was asked by a neighbour on the road, "Have you been
working on the farm?" she would answer, "No, I have been to the
temple." The host of women's papers had a bad effect. With regard to
the _habutae_ (silk goods) factories, there was a bright side, for
they gave work to the girls in winter, when they were idle "and
therefore poor and sometimes immoral." On the other hand, factory
girls tended to become vain and thriftless and the stay-at-home girls