fjisn

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN

WRITINGS OF WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS.

COREA, THE HERMIT NATION.
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
JAPANESE FAIRY WORLD.
JAPAN; In History, Folk-lore, and Art,
MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY.
HONDA, THE SAMURAI.

THE
RELIGIONS ^OF JAPAN

FEOM THE DAWN OF HISTOEY
TO THE EEA OF MEIJI

BY
WILLIAM ELLIOT GKDFFIS, D.D.
FORMERLY OF THE IMPERIAL UNIVEKSITY OP TOKIO; AUTHOR OF "THE MIKADO'S
EMPIRE" AND " COEEA, THE HERMIT NATION;" LATE LECTURER ON THE
MORSE FOUNDATION IN UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN NEW YORK

'I came not to destroy, but to fuim."— The Son op Man

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCEIBNEE'S SONS
1895

Copyright, 1S95, by
CHARLES SCEIBNBB'S SONS

TROW DIRECTOBY
PRfNXrNQ AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY
NEW YORK

IN GLAD RECOGNITION OF THEIR SERVICES TO THE WORLD
AND
IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MY OWN GREAT DEBT TO BOTH
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK
SO UNWORTHY OF ITS GREAT SUBJECT
TO
THOSE TWO NOBLE BANDS OF SEEKERS AFTER TRUTH
THE FACULTY OP UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
OF WHOM
CHARLES A, BRTGGS AND GEORGE L, PRENTISS
ARE THE HONORED SURVIVORS
AND TO
THAT TRIO OP ENGLISH STUDENTS
ERNEST M. SATOW, WILLIAM G. ASTON AND BASIL H. CHAMBERLAIN
WHO LAID THE FOUNDATIONS OP CRITICAL SCHOLARSHIP IN JAPAN
"IN UNCONSCIOUS BROTHERHOOD, BINDING THE SELF-SAME SHEAF"

PREFACE
This book makes no pretence of furnishing a mir
ror of contemporary Japanese religion. Since 1868,
Japan has been breaking the chains of her intellectual
bondage to China and India, and the end is not yet.
My purpose has been, not to take a snap-shot photo
graph, but to paint a picture of the past. Seen in a
lightning-flash, even a tempest-shaken tree appears
motionless. A study of the same organism from acorn
to seed-bearing oak, reveals not a phase but a life. It
is something like this — " to the era of Meiji" (a.d. 1868
-1894 + ) which I have essayed. Hence I am perfect
ly wilhng to accept, in advance, the verdict of smart
inventors who are all ready to patent a brand-new
religion for Japan, that my presentation is " anti
quated." The subject has always been fascinating, despite its
inherent difficulties and the author's personal limita
tions. When in 1867, the polite lads from Satsuma
and Kioto came to New Brunswick, N. J., they found
at least one eager questioner, a sophomore, who, while
valuing books, enjoyed at first hand contemporaneous
human testimony.
When in 1869, to Eutgers College, came an applica
tion through Eev. Dr. Guido F. Verbeck, of Tokio, from
Fukui for a young man to organize schools upon the

viii PBEFAOE
American principle in the province of Echizen (ultra-
Buddhistic, yet already so liberally leavened by the
ethical teachings of Yokoi Heishiro), the Faculty made
choice of the author. Accepting the honor and privi-
lego^of being one of the " beginners of a better time," I
caught sight of peerless Fuji and set foot on Japanese
soil December 29, 1870. Amid a cannonade of new
sensations and fresh surprises, my first walk was tak
en in company with the American missionary (once a
marine in Perry's squadron, who later invented the jin-
riki-sha), to see a hill-temple and to study the wayside
shrines around Yokohama. Seven weeks' stay in the
city of Yedo —then rising out of the debris of feudalism
to become the Imperial capital, Tokio, enabled me to
see some things now so utterly vanished, that by some
persons their previous existence is questioned. One
of the most interesting characters I met personally was
Fukuzawa, the reformer, and now " the intellectual
father of half of the young men of . . . Japan."
On the day of the battle of Uyeno, July 11, 1868, this
far-seeing patriot and inquiring spirit deliberately de
cided to keep out of the strife, and with four compan
ions of like mind, began the study of Wayland's Moral
Science, Thus were laid the foundations of his great
school, now a university.
Journeying through the interior, I saw many inter
esting phenomena of popular religions which are no
longer visible. At Fukui in Echizen, one of the
strongholds of Buddhism, I lived nearly a year, en
gaged in educational work, having many opportunities
of learning both the scholastic and the popular forms
of Shinto and of Buddhism. I was surrounded by
monasteries, temples, shrines, and a landscape richly

PREF AG B ix
embroidered with myth and legend. During my four
years' residence and travel in the Empire, I perceived
that in all things the people of Japan were too re
ligious. In seeking light upon the meaning of what I saw be
fore me and in penetrating to the reasons behind the
phenomena, I fear I often made myself troublesome to
both priests and lay folk. While at work in Tokio,
though under obligation to teach only physical science,
I voluntarily gave instruction in ethics to classes in
the University. I richly enjoyed this work, which, by
questioning and discussion, gave me much insight into
the minds of young men whose homes were in every
province of the Empire. In my own house I felt free
to teach to all comers the religion of Jesus, his reve
lation of the fatherhood of God and the ethics based
on his life and words. Wliile, therefore, in studying the
subject, I have great indebtedness to acknowledge to
foreigners, I feel that first of all I must thank the na
tives who taught me so much both by precept and prac
tice. Among the influences that have helped to shape
my own creed and inspire my own life, have been the
beautiful lives and noble characters of Japanese offi
cers, students and common people who were around
and before me. Though freely confessing obligation to
books, writings, and artistic and scholastic influences, I
hasten first to thank the people of Japan, whether ser
vants, superior officers, neighbors or friends. He who
seeks to learn what religion is from books only, will
learn but half.
Gladly thanking those, who, directly or indirectly,
have helped me with light from the written or printed
page, I must first of all gratef nlly express my especial

X PREF AGE
obhgations to those native scholars avIio have read to
me, read for me, or read vvith me their native literature.
The first foreign students of Japanese religions were
the Dutch, and the German physicians who Hved with
them, at Deshima. Kaempfer makes frequent refer
ences, with text and picture, in his Beschryving van
Japan. Von Siebold, who v>as an indefatigable col
lector rather than a critical student, in Vol. V. of his
invaluable Archiv (Pantheon von Nippon), devoted over
forty pages to the religions of Japan. Dr. J. J. Hoff
man translated into Dutch, with notes and explanations,
the Butsu-zo-dzu-i, which, besides its 163 figm'es
of Buddhist holy men, gives a bibliography of the
works mentioned by the native author. In visiting the
Japanese museum on the Eapenburg, Leyden, one of
the oldest, best and most intelligently arranged in
Em-ope, I have been interested with the great work
done by the Dutchmen, during two centuries, in leav
ening the old lump for that transformation which in
our day as New Japan, surprises the world. It re
quires the shock of battle to awaken the western na
tions to that appreciation of the racial and other difi"er-
ences between the Japanese and Chinese, which the
student has already learned.
The first praises, however, are to be awarded to the
English scholars, Messrs. Satow, Aston, Chamberlain,
and others, whose profound researches in Japanese his
tory, language and Hterature have cleared the path for
others to tread in. I have tried to acknowledge my
debt to them in both text aud appendix.
To several American missionaries, who despite their
trying labors have had the time aud the taste to study
critically the religions of Japan, I owe thanks and ap-

PREF AGE xi
preciation. With rare acuteness and learning, Eev. Dr.
George Wm. Knox has opened on its philosophical, aud
Eev. Dr. J. H. DeForest on its practical side, the sub
ject of Japanese Confucianism. By his lexicographical
work, Dr. J. C. Hepburn has made debtors to him
both the native and the alien. To our knowledge of
Buddhism in Japan, Dr. J. C. Berry and Eev. J. L. At
kinson have made noteworthy contributions. I have ,
been content to quote as authorities and illustrations,
the names of those who have thus wrought on the soil,
rather than of those, who, even though world-famous,
have been but slightly familiar with the ethnic and the
imported faith of Japan. The profound misunderstand
ings of Buddhism, which some very eminent men of
Europe have shown in their writings, form one of the
literary curiosities of the world.
In setting forth these Morse lectures, I have pur
posely robbed my pages of all appearance of erudition,
by using as few uncouth words as possible, by break
ing up the matter into paragraphs of moderate length,
by liberally introducing subject-headings in italics, and
by relegating all notes to the appendix. Since writing
the lectures, and even while reading the final proofs, I
have ransacked my library to find as many references,
notes, illustrations and authorities as possible, for the
benefit of the general student. I have purposely
avoided recondite and inaccessible books and have
named those easily obtainable from American or
European publishers, or from Messrs. Kelly & Walsh,
of Yokohama, Japan. In using oriental words I have
followed, in the main, the spelhng of the Century Dic
tionary. The Japanese names are expressed accord
ing to that uniform system of transliteration used by

xii PREFACE
Hepburn, Satow and other standard writers, wherein
consonants have the same general value as in English
(except that initial g is always hard), while the vowels
are pronounced as in Italian. Double vowels must be
pronounced double, as iu Meiji (ma-e-je) ; those which
are long are marked, as in 6 or u ; i before o or u is
short. Most of the important Japanese, as well as
Sanskrit and Chinese, terms used, are duly expressed
and defined in the Century Dictionary.
I wish also to thank especially my friends, Eiu
Watanabe, Ph.D., of Cornell University, and William
Nelson Noble, Esq., of Ithaca. The former kindly as
sisted me with criticisms and suggestions, while to the
latter, who has taken time to read all the proofs, I am
grateful for considerable improvement in the English
form of the sentences.
In closing, I trust that whatever charges may be
brought against me by competent critics, lack of sym
pathy will not be one. I write in sight of beautiful
Lake Cayuga, on the fertile and sloping shores of
which in old time the Iroquois Indian confessed the
mysteries of life. Having planted his corn, he made
his pregnant squaw walk round the seed-bed in hope
of receiving from the Source of life increased blessing
and sustenance for body and mind. Between such a
truly religious act of the savage, and that of the Chris
tian sage, Joseph Henry, who uncovered his head
while investigating electro-magnetism to " ask God a
question," or that of Samuel F. B. Morse, who sent
as his first telegraphic message "What hath God
wrought," I see no essential difference. All three were
acts of faith and acknowledgment of a power greater
than man. Eeligion is one, though religions are many.

PREFACE xiii
As Principal Fairbairn, my honored predecessor in the
Morse lectureship, says : " What we call superstition
of the savage is not superstition in him. Superstition
is the perpetuation of a low form of belief along with a
higher knowledge. . . . Between fetichism and
Christian faith there is a great distance, but a great af
finity — the recognition of a supra-sensible life."
" For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth
for the revealing of the sons of God . . . The
creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of
corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children
of God."
W. E. G.
Ithaca, N. Y., October 27, 1894

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PAGE
Primitive Faith : Eeligiok Befoee Books ... 1
Salutatory. — The Morse Lectureship and its provisions, — The Science of
Comparative Religion is Christianity's own child.— The Parliament of
Religious, — The Study of Religion most appropriate in a Theological Sem
inary, — Shortening weapons and lengthening boundaries. — The right mis
sionary spirit that of the Master, who " came not to destroy but to ful
fil,"— Characteristics of Japan. — Bird's-eye view of Japanese history and
religion. — Popularly, not three religions but one religion. — Superstitions
which are not organically parts of the "book-religions." — The boundary
line between the Creator and his creation not visible to the pagan. —
Shamanism : Fetichism — Mythical monsters, Kirin, Phoenix, Tortoise,
Dragon. — Japanese mythical zoology. —The erection of the stone fetich. —
Insurance by amulets upon house and person, — Phallicism. — Tree-wor
ship. — Serpent-worship. — These unwritten superstitions condition the
" book-religions." — Removable by science and a higher religion.
CHAPTEE II
Shinto : Myths and Eitual  35
Japan is young beside China and Korea. — Japanese history is compara
tively modern. — The oldest documents date from A.D. 713. — The Japanese
archipelago inhabited before the Christian era. — Faith, worship aud ritual
are previous to written expression. — The Kojiki, Manyoshu and Norito. —
Tendency of the pupil nations surrounding China to antedate their civili
zation. — Origin of the Japanese people and their religion. — Three distinct
lines of tradition from Tsukushi, Idzumo and Yaniato. — War of the in
vaders against the aborigines. — Mikadoism is the heart of Shinto. — Illus
trations from the liturgies. — Phallicism among the aborigines and common
people. — The mind or mental climate of the primaeval man. — Representa-

xvi TABLE OF CONTENTS
tion of male gods by emblems.-Objeots of worship and ex-voto.-lie^^
of oreation.-The fire-myth, Prometheus.-Comparison of Greek and Jap
anese mythology. -Ritual for the quieting of the fire-god. -The fire-driU.

CHAPTER III PAGE
The Kojiki and its Teachings  59
Origin of the Kojiki. — Analysis of its opening lines. — Norito. — Inde
cency of the myths of the Kojiki. — Modem rationalistic interpretations —
Life in prehistoric Japan. — Character and temperament of the people then
and now. —Character of the kami or gods. — Hades. — Ethics, — The Land
of the Gods. — The barbarism of the Yamato conquerors an improvement
upon the savagery of the aborigines. — Cannibalism and human sacrifices,
— The makers of the God-way captured and absorbed the religion of the
aborigines, — A case of syncretism. — Origin of evil in bad gods — Pollution
was sin, — Class of offences enumerated in the norito, — Professor Kumi's con
tention that Mikadoism usurped a simple worship of Heaven, — Difference
between the ancient Chinese and ancient Japanese cultus. — Development
of Shinto arrested by Buddhism. — Temples and offerings. — The tori-i.—
Pollution and purification, — Prayer, — Hirata's ordinal and specimen pray
ers. — To the common people the sun is a god. — Prayers to myriads of gods.
— Summary of Shinto, — Swallowed up in the Riyobu sj'stem, — Its modem
revival. — K^ichiu. — Kada Adzumaro — Mabuchi, Motoori. — Hirata. — In
1870, Shinto is again made the state religion. — Purification of Riyobu tem
ples. — Politico-religious lectures, — Imperial rescript. — Reverence to the
Emperor's photogr.nph. — Judgment upon Shinto. — The Christian's ideal of
Yamato-damashii.
CHAPTEE IV
The Chinese Ethical System in Japan ... 99
In what respects Confucius was unique as a teacher. — Outline of his life.
—The canon.— Primitive Chinese faith a sort of monotheism.— How the
sage modified it.— History of Confucianism until its entrance into Japan,—
Outline of the intellectual and political history of the Japanese,— Rise of
the Samurai class.— Shifting of emphasis from filial piety to loyalty. —Prev
alence of suicide iu Japan.— Confucianism has deeply tinged the ideas of
the Japanese.— Great care necessary in seeking equivalents in English for
the terms used in the Chino-Japanese ethics ; e g., the emperor, "the father
of the people,"— Impersonality of Japanese speech,— Christ aud Confucius,
—"Love" and " reverence. "—Exemplars of loyalty.— The Forty -seven

TABLE OF GONTEMTS Xvii
Bonins. — The second relation, — The family in Chinese Asia and in Chris
tendom — The law of filial piety and the daughter. — The third relation. —
Theory of courtship and marriage, — Chastity. — Jealousy, — Divorce, — In
stability of the marriage bond, — The fourth relation, — The elder and the
younger brother, — The house or family everything, the individual nothing.
— The fifth relation. — The ideas of Christ and those of Confucius. — The
Golden and the Gilded rule. — Lao Tsze and Kung. — Old Japan and the
alien. — Commodore Perry and Professor Hayashi.

CHAPTEE V
PAGE
Confucianism in its Philosophical Form . . 131
Harmony of the systems of Confucius and Buddha in Japan during a
thousand years, — Revival of learning in the seventeenth century. — Exodus
of the Chinese scholars on the fall of the Ming dynasty.— Their disper
sion and work in Japan, — Founding of schools of the new Chinese learning,
— For two and a half centuries the Japanese mind has been moulded by the
new Confucianism, — Survey of its rise and development. — Pour stages in
the intellectual history of China, — The populist movement in the eleventh
century. — The literary controversy, — The philosophy of the Cheng brothers
and of Chu Hi, called in Japan Tei-Shu system, — In Buddhism the Japan
ese were startling innovators, in philosophy they were docile pupils. — Pau
city of Confucian or speculative literature in Japan. — A Chinese wall
built around the Japanese intellect, — Yelo orthodoxy. — Features of the
Tei-Shu system. — Not agnostic but pantheistic. — Its influence upon histori
ography. — Ki (spirit) Ri (way) and Ten (heaven). — The writings of Ohashi
Junzo, — Confucianism obsolescent in New Japan. — A .study of Confucian
ism in the interest of comparative religion —Man's place in the universe,
— The Samurai's ideal, obedience, — His fearlessness in the face of death. —
Critique of the system. — The ruler and the ruled, — What has Confucianism
done for woman '! — Improvement and revision of the fourth and fifth re
lations. — The new view of the universe and the new mind in New Japan.
The ideal of Yamato-damashii revised and improved.

CHAPTER VI
The Buddhism of ISTorthern Asia  153
Buddha^sun myth or historic personage '—Buddhism one of the prot
estantisms of the world.— Characteristics of new religions.— Survey of the
history of Indian thought.— The age of the Vedas.— The epic age,— The

xviii TABLE OF CONTENTS
rationalistic age.-Our fellow-Aryans and the story of their conquests,-
Their intellectual energy and inventions.-Systems of philosophy, -Condi
tion of religion at the birth of Gautama,-Outlme of his life,-He attams
enlightenment or buddhahood,-In what respects Buddhism was an old,
and in what a new religion.— Did Gautama intend to found a new religion,
or return to simpler and older faith ?-Monasticism, Kharma and Nir
vana.— Enthusiasm of the disciples of the new faith.— The great schism,—
The Northern Buddhists.— The canon, — The two Yana or vehicles, — Sim
plicity of Southern and luxuriance of Northern Buddhism, — Summary of
the process of thought in Nepal. — The old gods of India come back again,
 Maitreya, Manjnsri and Avalokitesvara — The legend of Manjusri,—
Separation of attributes and creation of new Buddhas or gods, — The
Dhyani Buddhas, — Amida,— Adi-Buddhas. — Abstractions become gods.—
The Tantra system. — Outbursts of doctrine and art. — Prayer-mills.— The
noble eight-fold path of self-denial and benevolence forgotten. — Entrance
of Buddhism from Korea into Japan. ¦ — Condition of the country at that
time. — Dates aud first experiences, — Soga no Iname, — Shotoku, — Japanese
pilgrims to China. — Changes wrought by the new creed and cult, — Temples,
monasteries and images, — Influence upon the Mikado's name, rank and
person, and upon Shinto, — Relative influence of Buddhism in Asia and of
Christianity in Europe, — The three great characteristics of Buddhism, —
How the clouds returned after the rain, — Buddhism aud Christianity con
fronting the problem of life.

CHAPTER VII

PAGE

Riyobu, or' Mixed Buddhism  189
The experience of two centuries and a half of Buddhism in Japan.—
Necessity of using more powerful means for the conversion of the Japan
ese. — Popular customs nearly ineradicable, — Analogy from European his
tory,— Syncretism in Christian history,— In the Arabian Nights,— How far
is the process of Syncretism honest ? — Examples not to be recommended
for imitation. — The problem of reconciling the Kami and the Buddhas.—
Northern Buddhism ready for the task, — The Tantra or Yoga-chara sys
tem, — Art and its influence on the imagination, — The sketch replaced by
the illumination and monochrome by colors. — Japanese art. — Mixed
Buddhism rather than mixed Shinto. — Kobo the wonder-worker who made
all Japanese history a. transfiguration of Buddhism. — Legends about his
extraordinary abilities and industry. — His life, and studies in China. — The
kata-kana syllabary. — Kobo's revelation from the Shintij goddess Toyo-
Uke-Bime. — The gods of Japan were avatars of Buddha. — Kobo's plan of
propaganda. — Details of the scheme, — A clearing-house of gods and
Buddhas.— Relative rise and fall of the native and the foreign deities.—

TABLE OF CONTENTS XIX
Legend of Daruma. " Riyobu Shinto." — Impulse to art and art industry.
— The Kami no Michi falls into shadow. — Which religion suffered most ? —
Phenomenally the victory belonged to Buddhism, — The leavening power
was that of Shinto. — Buddhism's fresh chapter of decay, — Influence of
Riyobu upon the Chinese ethical system in Japan. — Influence on the Mi
kado. — Abdication all along the lines of Japanese life. — Ultimate paraly
sis of the national inteUect. — Comparison with Chinese Buddhism. — Mir-
acle-mongering. — No self-reforming power in Buddhism. — The Seven
Happy Gods of Fortune. — Pantheism's destruction of boundaries. — The
author's study of the popular processions in Japan. — Masaka Do. — Swamp
ing of history in legend. — The jewel in the lotus.

CHAPTER VIII PAGE
Northern Buddhism in its Doctrinal Evo
lutions  225
Pour stages of the doctrinal development of Buddhism in Japan, — Rea
sons for the formation of sects.— The SaddharmaPundarika. — Shastras and
Sutras. — The Ku-sha sect.— Book of the Treasury of Metaphysics. —The
Jo-jitsu sect, its founder and its doctrines. — The Ris-shu or Viyana sect,
 Japanese pilgrims to China. — The Hos-so sect and its doctrines. — The
three grades of disciples. — The San-ron or Three-shastra sect and its ten
ets.— The Middle Path.— The Ke'gon sect,— The Unconditioned, or realis
tic pantheism. —The Chinese or Tendai sect,— Its scriptures and dogmas,—
Buddhahood attainable in the present body,— Vagradrodhi,— The Yoga-
chara system.— The " old sects. "—Reaction against excessive idol-making,
 The Zen sect, — Labor-saving devices in Buddhism, —Making truth ap
parent by one's own thought— Transmission of the Zen doctrine,— History
of Zen Shu,
CHAPTER IX
The Buddhism of the Japanese  257
The Jo-du or Pure Lmd sect,— Substitution of faith in Amida for the
eight-fold Path.— Succession of the propagators of true doctrine.— Zendo
and HO-net.— The Japanese path-finder to the Pure Land.— Doctrine of
Jo-do.— Buddhistic influence on the JapaneFe language.— Incessant repeti
tion of prayers.- The Pure Land in the West.— The Buddhist doctrine of
justification by faith.— HO-nen's uni versalism. —Tendency of doctrinal de
velopment after Ho-nen.—" Reformed " Buddhism. —Synergism versus sal
vation by faith only.— Life of Shinran.— Posthumous honors.— Policy and
aim of the Shin sect, methods and scriptures.

XX TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER X
PAGE
Japanese Buddhism in its Missionary Devel- 987
OPMENT  *°'
The missionary history of Japanese Buddhism is the history of Japan.—
The first organized religion of the Japanese.— Professor Basil Hall Cham
berlain's testimony.— A picture of primeval life in the archipelago.- What
came in the train of the new religion from " the West."— Missionary civil-
izers, teashers, road-makers, improvers of diet. — La'nguage of flowers and
gardens. — The house and home. — Architecture. — The imperial capital —
Hiyeizan. — Love of natural scenery, — Pilgrimages and their fruits. — The
Japanese assthetic, — Art and decoration in the temples, — Exterior resem
blances between the Roman form of Christianity and of Buddhism, — Quo
tation from "The Mikado's Empire," — Internal vital differences — EnUght-
enment and grace, — Ingwa and love. — Luxuriance of the art of Northern
Buddhism. — Variety in individual treatment. — Place of the temple in the
life of Old Japan.— The protecting trees. — The bell aud its note. — The
graveyard and the priests' hold upon it. — Japanese Buddhism as a political
power. — Its influence upon military history. — Abbots on horseback and
monks in armor. — Battles between the Shin and Zen sects. — Nobunaga. —
Influence of Buddhism in literature and education. — The temple school. —
The *;««« writing. — Survey and critique of Buddhist history iu Japan, —
Absence of organized charities, — Regard for animal and disregard for
human Ufe. -The Eta,- The Aino. — Attitude to women — Nuns and nun
neries. — Polygamy and concubinage. — Buddhism compared with Shinto. —
Influence upon morals. — The First Cause. — Its leadership among the sects.
— Unreality of Amida Buddha. — Nichiren. — His life and opinions.— Idols
and avatars. — The favorite scripture of the sect, the Saddharma Pun-
darika. — Its central dogma, everything in the universe capable of Buddha-
ship. — The Salvation Army of Buddhism. — Kobo's leaven working. —
Buddhism ceases to be an intellectual force. — The New Buddhism. — Are
the Japanese eager for reform ?

CHAPTER XI
Roman Christianity' in the Seventeenth
Century  323
The many-sided story of Japanese Christianity, — One hundred years of
intercourse between Japan and Europe, — State of Japan at the introduction
of Portuguese Christianity, — Xavier and Anjiro, — Xavier at Kioto and in

TABLE OF CONTENTS xxi
Bungo. — Nobunaga and the Buddhists. — High-watermark of Christianity.
— Hideyoshi and the invasion of Korea. — Kato and Konishi. — Persecutions.
— Arrival of the Spanish friars. — Their violation of good faith. — Spirit of
the Jesuits and Franciscans. — Crucifixion on the bamboo cross.. — Hide-
yori. — Kato Kiyomasa. — The Dutch in the Eastern seas. — Will Adams. —
lyeyasu suspects designs against the sovereignty of Japan. — The Christian
religion outlawed. — Hide'tada follows up the policy of lyeyasu, excludes
aliens, and shuts up the country. — The uprising of the Christians at Shima-
bara in 1637. — Christianity buried from sight. — Character of the mission
aries and the form of the faith introduced by them. — Noble lives and
ideals. — The spirit of the Inquisition in Japan. — Political animus and
complexion.
CHAPTER XII
PAGE
Two Centuries of Silence  351
Policy of the Japanese government after the suppression of Christianity,
— Insulation of Japan, — The Hollanders at Deshima. — Withdrawal of the
English. — Relations with Korea. — Policy of inclusion, — " A society im
pervious to foreign ideas." — Life within stunted limits. — Canons of art and
literature, — Philosophy made an engine of government,- Esoteric law. —
Social waste of humanity. — Attempts to break down the wall — external
and internal.— Seekers after God.— The goal of the pilgrims — The De'-
shima Dutchman as pictured by enemies and rivals, versus reality and
truth.— Eager spirits groping after God.— Morning stars of the Japanese
reformation.— Yokio Heishiro.— The anti-Christian edicts.— The Buddhist
Inquisitors.— The Shin-gaku or New Learning movement.— The story of
nineteenth century Christianity, subterranean and interior before being
phenomenal.— Sabbath-day service on the U. S. S.S Mississippi.- The
first missionaries.- Dr. J. C. Hepburn.— Healing and the Bible.— Yedo
becomes Tokio.— Despatch of the Embassy round the world.— Eyes
opened,— The Acts of the Apostles in Japan,
Notes, Authorities and Illustrations . . .375
Index  ¦^•''1

PEIMITIVE FAITH: EELIGION BEFOEE
BOOKS

"The investigation of the beginnings of a religion is never the work of
infidels, but of the most reverent and conscientious minds,"
"We, the forty million souls of Japan, standing firmly and persistently
upon the basis of international justice, await still further manifestations
as to the morality of Christianity, " — Hiraii, of Japan.
"When the Creator [through intermediaries that were apparently ani
mals] had finished creating this world of men, the good and the bad Gods
were all mixed together promiscuously, and began disputing for the posses
sion of this world," — The Aino Story of the Creation,
"If the Japanese have few beast stories, the Ainos have apparently
no popular tales of heroes. . The Aino mythologies lack
all connection with morality. Both lack priests and prophets.
Both belong to a very primitive stage of mental development,
. , , Excepting stories . and a few almost metreless songs, the
Ainos have no other literature at all," — Aino Studies.
" I asked the earth, and it answered, ' I am not He ; ' and whatsoever
are therein made the same confession. I asked the sea and the deep and
the creeping things that lived, and they replied, 'We are not thy God;
seek higher than we,' . . And I answered unto all things which stand
about the door of my flesh, ' Ye have told me concerning my God, that ye
are not he ; tell me something about him.' And with a loud voice they ex
claimed, ' It is He who hath made us ! ' " — Augustine's Confessions.
" Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the
shadow of death into the morning, and maketli the day dark with night ;
that calleth for the waters of the sea, aud poureth them out upon the face
of the earth : The Lord is his name," — Amos,
" That which hath been made was life iu Him, "—John.

CHAPTEE I
PRIMITIVE FAITH : RELIGION BEFORE BOOKS
The Morse Lectureship and the Study of Comparative
Religion
As a graduate of the Union Theological Seminary in
the city of New York, in the Class of 1877, your ser
vant received and accepted with pleasure the invitation
of the President and Board of Trustees to deliver a
course of lectures upon the religions of Japan. In that
country and in several parts of it, I lived from 1870
to 1874. I was in the service first of the feudal daimio
of Echizen and then of the national government of
Japan, helping to introduce that system of public
schools which is now the glory of the country. Those
four years gave me opportunities for close and constant
observation of the outward side of the religions of
Japan, and facilities for the study of the ideas out of
which worship springs. Since 1867, however, when
first as a student in Eutgers College at New Brunswick,
N. J., I met and instructed those students from the far
East, who, at risk of imprisonment and death had come
to America for the culture of Christendom, I have been
deeply interested in the study of the JajDanese joeople
and their thoughts.
To attempt a just and impartial survey of the relig
ions of Japan may seem a task that might well ajjpaU

4 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
even a life-long Oriental scholar. Yet it may be that
an honest pui-pose, a deep sympathy and a gladly
avowed desire to help the East and the West, the Jap
anese and the English-speaking people, to understand
each other, are not whoUy useless in a study of religion,
but for our pui-pose of real value. These lectures are
upon the Morse ' foundation which has these specifica
tions written out by the founder :
The general subject of the lectures I desire to be : " The Ee
lation of the Bible to any of the Sciences, as Geography, Geol
ogy, History, and Ethnology, . , . and the relation of the
facts and truths contained in the Word of God, to the principles,
methods, and aims of any of the sciences.''
Now, among the sciences which we must caU to our
aid are those of geography and geology, by which are
conditioned history and ethnology of which we must
largely treat ; and, most of aU, the science of Compara
tive Eeligion.
This last is Christianity's own child. Other sciences,
such as geography and astronomy, may have been bom
among lands and nations outside of and even before
Christendom. Other sciences, such as geology, may
have had their rise in Christian time and in Chxistian
lands, their foundation lines laid and their main proc
esses illustrated by Christian men, which yet cannot
be claimed by Christianity as her children bearing her
own likeness and image ; but the science of Compara
tive Eeligion is the direct offspring of the religion of
Jesus. It is a distinctively Christian science. " It is
so because it is a product of Christian civilization, and
because it finds its impulse in that freedom of inquiry
which Christianity fosters." ^ Christian scholars began

PRIMITIVE FAITH: RELIGION BEFORE BOOKS 5
the investigations, formulated the principles, collected
the materials and reared the already splendid fabric of
the science of Comparative Eeligion, because the spirit
of Christ which was in them did signify this. Jesus
bade his disciples search, inquire, discern and compare.
Paul, the greatest of the apostolic Christian college,
taught : " Prove all things ; hold fast that which is
good." In our day one of Christ's loving followers ^
expressed the spirit of her Master in her favorite motto,
"Truth for authority, not authority for truth." Well
says Dr. James Legge, a prince among scholars, and
translator of the Chinese classics, who has added sev
eral portly volumes to Professor Max Miiller's series of
the " Sacred Books of the East," whose face to-day is
bronzed and whose hair is whitened by fifty years of
service in southern China where with his own hands
he baptized six hundred Chinamen : ^
The more that a man possesses the Christian spirit, and is
governed by Christian principle, the more anxious will he be to
do justice to every other system of religion, and to hold his
own without taint or fetter of bigotry.^
It was Christianity that, in a country where the re
ligion of Jesus has fullest liberty, called the Parliament
of Eeligions, and this for reasons clearly manifest.
Only Christians had and have the requisites of success,
viz. : suflicient interest in other men and religions ; the
necessary unity of faith and purpose ; and above all, the
brave and bold disregard of the consequences. Chris
tianity calls the Parliament of Eehgions, following out
the Divine audacity of Him who, so often, confronting
worldly wisdom and priestly cimning, said to his dis
ciples, " Think not, be not anxious, take no heed, be

6 TIIE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
careful for nothing— only for love and truth. I am not
come to destroy, but to fulfil."
Of all places therefore, the study of comparative re
ligion is most appropriate in a Christian theological
seminary. We must know how our fellow-men think
aud beUeve, in order to help them. It is our duty to
discover the pathways of approach to their minds
and hearts. We must show them, as our brethren and
children of the same Heavenly Father, the common
ground on whicli we aU stand. We must point them
to the greater truth in the Bible and in Christ Jesus,
and demonstrate wherein both the divinely inspired
library and the truth written in a diviae-human life
fulfil that which is lacking in their books and masters.
To know just how to do this is knowledge to be cov
eted as a most excellent gift. An understanding of
the religion of our fellow-men is good, both for him who
goes as a missionary and for him who at home prays,
" Thy kingdom come."
The theological seminary, which begins the system
atic and sympathetic study of Comparative Eeligion
and fills the chair with a professor who has a vital as
well as academic interest in the welfare of his fellow-
men who as yet know not Jesus as Christ and Lord, is
sure to lead in effective missionary work. The students
thus equipped will be furnished as none others are, to
begin at once the campaign of help and warfare of
love. It may be that insight into and sympathy with the
struggles of men who are groping after God, if haply
they may find him, will shorten the polemic sword of
the professional converter whose only purpose is de
structive hostility without tactics or strategy, or whose

PRIMITIVE FAITH : RELIGION BEFORE BOOKS 7
chief idea of missionary success is in statistics, in
blackening the character of " the heathen," in sensa
tional letters for home consumption and reports prop
erly cooked and served for the secretarial and sectarian
palates. Yet, if true in history, Greek, Eoman, Japanese,
it is also true in the missionary wars, that " the race
that shortens its weapons lengthens its boundaries." ^
Apart from the wit or the measure of truth in this
sentence quoted, it is a matter of truth in the general
izations of fact that the figure of the " sword of the
spirit, which is the word of God," used by Paul, and
also the figure of the " word of God, living and active,
sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even
to the dividing of the soul and spirit, of both joints and
marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents
of the heart," of the writer to the Hebrews, had for
their original in iron the victorious gladium of the Eo
man legionary — a weapon both short and sharp. We
may learn from this substance of fact behind the shad
ow of the figure a lesson for our instant application.
The disciplined Eomans scorned the long blades of the
barbarians, whose valor so often impetuous was also
impotent against discipline. The Eomans measured
their blades by inches, not by feet. For ages the Jap
anese sword has been famed for its temper more than
its weight.''^ The Christian entering upon his Master's
campaigns with as little impediments of sectarian dog
ma as possible, should select a weapon that is short,
sure and divinely tempered.
To know exactly the defects of the religion we seek
to abolish, modify, supplement, supplant or fulfil,
means wise economy of force. To get at the secrets of
its hold upon the people we hope to convert leads to a

8 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
right use of power. In a word, knowledge of the op
posing religion, and especially of alien language, litera
ture and ways of feeling and thinking, lengthens mis
sionary life. A man who does not know the moulds of
thought of his hearers is like a swordsman trying to
fight at long range but only beating the air. Armed
with knowledge and sympathy, the missionary smites
with effect at close quarters. He knows the vital
spots. Let me fortify my own convictions and conclude this
preliminary part of my lectures by quoting again, not
from academic authorities, but from active missionaries
who are or have been at the front and in the field. ^
The Eev. Samuel Beal, author of " Buddhism in
China," said (p. 19) that " it was plain to him that no
real work could be done among the people [of China
and Japan] by missionaries until the system of their
belief was understood."
Tbe Eev. James MacDonald, a veteran missionary in
Africa, in the concluding chapter of his very able work
on " Eeligion and Myth," says :
The Church that first adopts for her intending missionaries
the study of Comparative Eeligion as a substitute for subjects
now taught will lead the van in the path of true progress.
The People of Japan.
In this faith then, in the spirit of Him who said, " I
come not to destroy but to fulfil," let us cast our eyes
upon that part of the world where lies the empire of
Japan with its forty-one miUions of souls. Here we
have not a country like India — a vast conglomeration
of nations, languages and religions occupying a penin-

PRIMITIVE FAITH: RELIGION BEFORE BOOKS 9
aula itself like a continent, ^^¦hose history consists of a
stratification of many civilizations. Nor have we here
a seemingly inert mass of humanity in a political
structui-e blending democracy and imperiaUsm, as in
China, so great in age, area and numbers as to weary
the imagination that strives to grasp the details. On
the contrary, in Dai Nippon, or Great Land of the
Sun's Origin, we have a little country easy of study.
In geology it is one of the youngest of lands. Its
known liistory is comparatively modern. Its area
roughly reckoned as 150,000 square miles, is about that
of our Dakotas or of Great Britain and Ireland. The
census completed December 31, 1892, illustrates here,
as all over the world, nature's argument against polyg
amy. It teUs us that the relation between the sexes is,
numerically at least, normal. There were 20,752,366
males and 20,337,574 females, making a population of
41,089,940 souls. All these people are subjects of the
one emperor, and excepting fewer than twenty thousand
savages in the northern islands caUed Ainos, speak one
language and form substantially one race. Even the
Eiu Kiu islanders are Japanese in language, customs
and reUgion. In a word, except in minor differences
appreciable or at least important only to the special
student, the modern Japanese are a homogeneous peo
ple. In origin and formation, this people is a composite
of many tribes. Eoughly outUning the ethnology of
Japan, we should say that the aborigines were immi
grants from the continent with Malay reinforcement in
the south, Koreans in the centre, and Ainos in the
east and north, with occasional strains of blood at dif
ferent periods from various parts of the Asian main-

10 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
land. In brief, the Japanese are a very mixed race.
Authentic history before the Christian era is unknown.
At some point of time, probably later than A.D. 200, a
conquering tribe, one of many from the Asian main
land, began to be paramount on the main island.
About the fourth century something like historic
events and personages begin to be visible, but no Jap
anese writings are older than the early part of the
eighth century, though almanacs and means of measur
ing time are found in the sixth century. Whatever
Japan may be in legend and mythology, she is in fact
and in history younger than Christianity. Her Une of
rulers, as alleged in old official documents and ostenta
tiously reafiirmed in the first article of the constitution
of 1889, to be "unbroken for ages eternal," is no older
than that of the popes. Let us not think of Aryan or
Chinese antiquity when we talk of Japan. Her his
tory as a state began when the Eoman empire feU.
The Germanic nations emerged into history long be
fore the Japanese.
Eoughly outUning the poUtical and reUgious Ufe of
the ancient Japanese, we note that their first system
of government was a rude sort of feudalism imposed
by the conquerors and was synchronous with aborig
inal fetichism, nature worship, ancestral sacrifices, sun-
worship and possibly but not probably, a very rude
sort of monotheism akin to the primitive Chinese cult-
US.8 Almost contemporary with Buddhism, its intro
duction and missionary development, was the struggle
for centralized imperialism borrowed from the Chinese
and consolidated in the period from the seventh to the
twelfth century. During most of this time Shinto, or
the primitive religion, was overshadowed while the

PRIMITIVE FAITH: RELIGION BEFORE BOOKS 11
Confucian ethics were taught. From the twelfth to
this nineteenth centiuy feudalism in politics and
Buddhism iu reUgion prevailed, though Confucianism
furnished the social laws or rules of daily conduct.
Since the epochal year of 1868, with imperialism re
established and the feudal system abolished, Shinto
has had a visible revival, being kept alive by govern
ment patronage. BudcUiism, though politically dises
tablished, is still the popular religion with recent in
crease of life,'" while Confucianism is decidedly losing
force. Christianity has begun its promising career.
Tlie Amalgam of Religions.
Yet in the imperial and constitutional Japan of our
day it is stiU true of probably at least thirty-eight
millions of Japanese that their religion is not one,
Shinto, Confucianism or Buddhism, but an amalgam
of all three. There is not in every-day life that sharp
distinction between these religions which the native
or foreign scholar makes, and which both history and
philosophy demand shall be made for the student at
least. Using the technical language of Christian theo
logians, Shinto furnishes theology, Confucianism an-
thi'opology and Buddhism soteriology. The average
Japanese learns about the gods and draws inspiration
for his patriotism from Shinto, maxims for his ethical
and social life from Confucius, and his hope of what
he regards as salvation from Buddhism. Or, as a
native scholar, Nobuta Kishimoto," expresses it.
In Japan these three different systems of religion and mo
rality are not only living together on friendly terms with one
another, but, in fact, they are blended together in the minds

13 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
of the people, who draw necessary nourishment from all of these
sources. One and the same Japanese is both a Sbintoist, a
Oonfucianist, and a Buddhi.st. He plays a triple part, so to
speak. . . . Our religion may be likened to a triangle.
. Shintoism furnishes the object, Confucianism offers
the rules of life, while Buddhism supplies the way of salvation ;
so you see we Jajjanese are eclectic in everything, even in re
ligion. These three reUgious systems as at present consti
tuted, are "book reUgions." They rest, respective
ly, upon the Kojiki and other ancient Japanese litera
ture and the modern commentators ; upon the Chinese
classics edited and commented on by Confucius and
upon Chu Hi and other mediaeval scholastics who
commented upon Confucius; and upon the shastras
and sutras with which Gautama, the Buddha, had
something to do. Yet in primeval and prehistoric
Nippon neither these books nor the religions growing
out of the books were extant. Furthermore, strictly
speaking, it is not with any or aU of these three reUg
ions that the Christian missionary comes first, oftenest
or longest in contact. In ancient, in mediaeval, and in
modern times the student notices a great undergrowth
of superstition clinging parasitically to all religions,
though formally recognized by none. Whether we caU
it fetichism, shamanism, nature worship or heathen
ism in its myriad forms, it is there in awful reality.
It is as omnipresent, as persistent, as hard to kill as
the scrub bamboo which both efiiciently and suffi
ciently takes the place of thorns and thistles as the
curse of Japanese ground.
The book-religions can be more or less apprehend
ed by those alien to them, but to fully appreciate the

PRIMITIVE FAITH: RELIGION BEFORE BOOKS 13
depth, extent, influence and tenacity of these archaic,
unwritten and unformulated beliefs requires residence
upon the soil and life among the devotees. Disowned it
may be by the priests and sages, indignantly disclaimed
or secretly approved in part by the organized relig
ions, this great undergi-owth of superstition is as ap
parent as the silicious bamboo grass which everywhere
conditions and modifies Japanese agriculture. Such
prevalence of mental and spiritual disease is the sad
fact that confronts every lover of his fellow-men. This
paganism is more ancient and universal than any one
of the religions founded on writing or teachers of name
and fame. Even the applied science and the wonder
ful inventions imported from the West, so far from
eradicating it, only serve as the iron - clad man - of -
war in warm salt water serves the barnacles, furnish
ing them food and hold.
We propose to give in this our first lecture, a gen
eral or bird's-eye view of this dead level of paganism
above which the systems of Shinto, Confucianism and
Buddhism tower like mountains. It is by this omni
present superstition that the respectable religions have
been conditioned in their history and are modified at
present, even as Christianity has been influenced in its
progress by ethnic or local ideas and temperaments,
and wiU be yet in its course of victory in the Mikado's
empire. Just as the terms "heathen" (happily no longer, in
the Eevised Version of the English Bible) and "pa
gan " suggest the heath-man of Northern Em-ope and
the isolated hamlet of the Eoman empire, while the
cities were illuminated with Christian truth, so, in
the main, the matted superstitions of Chinese Asia are

14 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
more suggestive of distances from books and centres
of knowledge, though stiU sufficiently rooted in the
crowded cities.
One to whom the boundary line between the Creator
and his world is perfectly clear, one who knows the
eternal difference between mind and matter, one born
amid the triumphs of science can but faintly realize
the mental condition of the millions of Japan to whom
there is no unifying thought of the Creator-Father.
Faith in the unity of law is the foundation of all
science, but the average Asiatic has not this thought
or faith. Appalled at his own insignificance amid the
sublime mysteries and awful immensities of nature, the
shadows of his own mind become to him real exist
ences. As it is affirmed that the human skin, sensi
tive to the effects of light, takes the photograph of the
tree riven by lightning, so, on the pagan mind Ue in
ineffaceable and exaggerated grotesqueness the scars
of irapressions left by hereditary teaching, by natm-al
phenomena and by the memory of events and of land
marks. Out of the soil of diseased imagination has
sprung up a growth as terrible as the drunkard's phan
tasies. The earthquake, flood, tidal wave, famine,
withering or devastating wind and poisonous gases,
the geological monsters and ravening bird, beast and
fi^^h, have their representatives or supposed incarna
tions in mythical phantasms.
Frightful as these shadows of the mind appear, they
are both very real and, in a sense, very necessary to
the ignorant man. He must have some theory by
which to explain the phenomena of nature and soothe
his own terrors. Hence he peoples the earth and
water, not only with invisible spirits more or less ma-

PRIMITIVE FAITH: RELIGION BEFORE BOOKS 15
levolent, but also with bodily presences usually in
terrific bestial form. To those who believe in one
Spirit pervading, ordering, governing all things, there
is unity amid all phenomena, and the imiverse is all
order and beauty. To the mind whioh has not reached
this height of simplicity, instead of one cause there
are many. The diverse phenomena of nature are
brought about by spirits innumerable, warring and
discordant. Instead of a unity to the mind, as of sun
and solar system, there is nothing but planets, asteroids
and a constant rain of shooting-stars.
Shamanism.
Glancing at some phases of the actual unwritten
reUgions of Japan we name Shamanism, Mythical Zo
ology, Fetichism, PhalUcism, and Tree and Serpent
Worship. In actual Shamanism or Animism there may or there
may not be a belief in or conception of a single aU-
powerful Creator above and beyond all.'^ Usually
there is not such a belief, though, even if there be, the
actual government of the physical world and its sur
roundings is believed to lie in the hands of many spirits
or gods benevolent and malevolent. Earth, air, water,
aU things teem with beings that are malevolent and
constantly active. In time of disaster, famine, epidem
ic the universe seems as overcrowded with them as
stagnant water seems to be when the solar microscope
throw its contents into apparition upon the screen. It
is absolutely necessary to propitiate these spirits by
magic rites and incantations.
Among the tribes of the northern part of the Chinese

16 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
Empire and the Ainos of Japan this Shamanism ex
ists as something Uke an organized cultus. Indeed, it
would he hard to find any part of Chinese Asia from
Korea to Ann am or from Tibet to Formosa, not domi
nated by this bslief in the power and presence of minor
spirits. The Ainos of Yezo may be called Shamanists
or Animists ; that is, their minds are cramped and
confused by their belief in a multitude of inferior spirits
whom they worship and propitiate by rites and incan
tations through their medicine-man or sorcerer. How
they whittle sticks, keeping on the fringe of curled shav
ings, and set up these, caUed inao, in places whence evil
is suspected to lurk, and how the shaman conducts his
exorcisms and works his healings, are told in the works
of the traveller and the missionary.'^ In the wand of
sha^dngs thus reared we see the same motive as that
which induced the Mikado in the eighth century to
build the great monasteries on Hiyeizan, northeast of
Kioto, this being the quarter in which Buddhist super
stition locates the path of advancing evil, to ward off
malevolence by litanies and incense. Or, the inao is a
sort of lightning-rod conductor by which impending
mischief may be led harmlessly away.
Yet, besides the Ainos," there are miUions of Jap
anese who are Shamanists, even though they know
not the name or organized cult. And if we make use of
the term Shamanism instead of the more exact one of
Animism, it is for the very purpose of iUustrating our
contention that the underlying paganisms of the Japan
ese archipelago, unwritten and unformulated, are older
than the religions founded on books ; and that these
paganisms, still vital and persistent, constantly modify
and corrupt the recognized reUgions. The term Sha-

PRIMITIVE FAITH: RELIGION BEFORE BOOKS 17
man, a PaU word, was originaUy a pure Buddhist term
meaning one who has separated from his family and
his passions. One of the designations of the Buddha
was Shamana-Gautama. The same word, Shamon, in
Japanese still means a bonze, or Buddhist priest. Its
appropriation by the sorcerers, medicine-men, and lords
of the misrule of superstition in MongoUa and Man
churia shows decisively how indigenous paganism has
corrupted the Buddhism of northern Asia even as it has
caused its decay in Japan.
As out of Animism or Shamanism grows Fetichism
in which a visible object is found for the abode or me
dium of the spirit, so also, out of the same soil arises
what we may call Imaginary Zoology. In this mental
growth, the nightmare of the diseased imagination or
of the mind unable to draw the Une between the real
and the unreal, Chinese Asia differs notably from the
Aryan world. With the mythical monsters of India and
Iran we are acquainted, and with those of the Semitic
and ancient European cycle of ideas which furnished
us with om- ancients and classics we are familiar. The
lovely presences in human form, the semi-human and
bestial creations, sphinxes, naiads, satyrs, fauns, harpies,
griffins, with which the fancy of the Mediterranean na
tions populated glen, grotto, mountain and stream, are
probably outnumbered by the less beautiful and even
hideous mind-shadows of the Turanian world. Chief
among these are what in Chinese Uterature, so slavishly
borrowed by the Japanese, are called the four super
natural or spiritually endowed creatures — the Kirin or
Unicorn, the Phoenix, the Tortoise and the Dragon. '^
2

18 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN

BIythical Zoology.
Of the first species the hi is the male, the lin is the
female, hence the name Kilin. The Japanese having
no I, pronounce this Kirin. Its appearance on the
earth is regarded as a happy portent of the advent of
good government or the birth of men who are to prove
virtuous rulers. It has the body of a deer, the tail of
an ox, and a single, soft horn. As messenger of mercy
and benevolence, the Kirin never treads on a live in
sect or eats growing grass. Later philosophy made
this imaginary beast the incarnation of those five pri
mordial elements — earth, air, water, fire and ether — of
which all things, including man's body, are made and
which are symbolized in the shapes of the cube, globe,
pyramid, saucer and tuft of rays in the Japanese grave
stones. It is said to attain the age of a thousand
years, to be the noblest form of the animal creation
and the emblem of perfect good. In Chinese and
Japanese art this creature holds a prominent place, and
in literature even more so. It is not only part of the
repertoire of the artist's symbols in the Chinese world
of ideas, but is almost a necessity to the moulds of
thought in eastern Asia. Yet it is older than Confu
cius or the book-religions, and its conception shows
one of the nobler sides of Animism.
The Feng-hwang or Phoenix, Japanese Ho-wo, the
second of the incarnations of the spirits, is of won
drous form and mystic natm-e. The rare advent of this
bird upon the earth is, like that of the kirin or unicorn,
a presage of the advent of virtuous rulers and good
government. It has the head of a pheasant, the beak of

PRIMITIVE FAITH: RELIGION BEFORE BOOKS 19
a swallow, the neck of a tortoise, and the featm-es of the
dragon and fish. Its colors and streaming feathers are
gorgeous with iridian sheen, combining the splendors of
the pheasant and the peacock. Its five colors symbolize
the cardinal virtues of uprightness of mind, obedience,
justice, fideUty and benevolence. The male bird Ho,
and female luo, by their inseparable fellowship furnish
the artist, poet and literary writer with the originals
of the ten thousand references which are found in
Chinese and its derived Uteratures. Of this mystic
Phoenix a Chinese dictionary thus gives description :
The Phoenix is of the essence of water ; it was born in the
vermilion cave ; it perches not but on the most beautiful of
all trees ; it eats not but of the seed of the bamboo ; its body is
adorned with the five colors ; its song contains the flve notes ;
as it walks it looks around ; as it flies hosts of birds follow it.
Older than the elaborate descriptions of it and its rep
resentations in art, the Ho-wo is one of the creations
of primitive Chinese Animism.
The Kwei or Tortoise is not the actual horny reptile
known to naturaUsts and to common experience, but a
spirit, an animated creature that ages ago rose up out
of the Yellow Eiver, having on its carapace the mystic
writing out of which the legendary founder of Chinese
civilization deciphered the basis of moral teachings
and the secrets of the unseen. From this divine tor
toise which conceived by thought alone, all other tor
toises sprang. In the elaboration of the myths and
legends concerning the tortoise we find many varieties
of this scaly incarnation. It lives a thousand years,
hence it is emblem of longevity in art and literature.
It is the attendant of the god of the waters. It has

20 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
some of the qualities and energies of the dragon,
it has the power of transformation. In pictm-es and
sculptures we are familiar with its figure, often of
colossal size, as forming the curb of a weU, the base of
a monument or tablet. Yet, whatever its form in Uter
ature or art, it is the later elaborated representation of
ancient Animism which selected the tortoise as one of
the manifold incarnations or media of the myriad spir
its that populate the air.
Chief and leader of the four divinely constituted
beasts is the Lung, Japanese Eio, or Dragon, which
has the power of transformation and of making itself
visible or invisible. At wiU it reduces itself to the size
of a silk-worm, or is swollen until it fiUs the space of
heaven and earth. This is the creature especiaUy pre
eminent in art, literature and rhetoric. There are nine
kinds of dragons, all with various features and func
tions, and artists and authors revel in their representa
tion. The celestial dragon guards the mansions of the
gods and supports them lest they fall ; the spiritual
dragon causes the winds to blow and rain to descend
for the service of mankind ; the earth dragon marks out
the courses of rivers and streams; the dragon of the
hidden treasures watches over the wealth concealed
from mortals, etc. Outwardly, the dragon of supersti
tion resembles the geological monsters brought to res
urrection by our paleontologists. He seems to incar
nate all the attributes and forces of animal life — vigor,
rapidity of motion, endurance, power of offence in horn,
hoof, claw, tooth, nail, scale and fiery breath. Being
the embodiment of aU force the dragon is especially
symbolical of the emperor. Usually associated with
malevolence, one sees, besides the conventional art and

PRIMITIVE FAITH: RELIGION BEFORE BOOKS 21
literature of civilization, the primitive animistic idea of
men to whose mind this mysterious universe had no
unity, who believed in myriad discordant spirits but
knew not of " one Law-giver, who is able both to save
and to destroy." An enlargement, possibly, of prehis
toric man's reminiscence of now extinct monsters, the
dragon is, in its artistic development, a mythical em
bodiment of aU the powers of moisture to bless and to
harm. We shaU see how, when Buddhism entered China,
the cobra-de-capello, so often figured in the Buddhistic
representations of India, is replaced by the dragon.
Yet besides these four incarnations of the spUits
that misrule the world there is a host, a menagerie of
mythical monsters. In Korea, one of the Asian coun
tries richest in demonology, beast worship is very prev
alent. Mythical winged tigers and flying serpents
with attributes of fire, lightning and combinations of
forces not found in any one creature, are common to the
popular fancy. In Japan, the kappa, half monkey half
tortoise, which seizes children bathing in the rivers,
as real to milUons of the native common folk as is the
shark or porpoise ; the flying-weasel, that moves in
the whirlwind with sickle-like blades on his claws,
which cut the face of the unfortunate; the wind-god
or imp that lets loose the gale or storm ; the thunder-
imp or hairy, cat-Uke creature that on the cloud-edges
beats his drums in crash, roll, or rattle ; the earthquake-
fish or subterranean bull-head or cat-fish that wriggles
and writhes, causing the earth to shiver, shudder and
open ; the ja or dragon centipede ; the tengu or long-
nosed and winged mountain sprite, which acts as the
messenger of the gods, puUing out the tongues of fib
bing, lying children ; besides the colossal spiders and

22 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
mythical creatm-es of the old story-books; the foxes,
badgers, cats aud other creatures which transform them
selves and " possess " human beings, still influence the
popular mind. These, once the old kami of the primi
tive Japanese, or kamui of the aboriginal Aino, show
the mental soil and climate '* which were to condition
the growth of the seed imported from other lands,
whether of Buddhism or Christianity. It is very hard
to kill a god while the old mind that grew and nour
ished him still remains the same. Banish or brand a
phantom or mind-shadow once worshipped as divine,
and it will appear as a fairy, a demon, a mythical an
imal, or an oni; but to annihilate it requires many cen
turies of higher culture.
As with the superstitions and survival of Animism
and Fetichism from our pagan ancestors among our
selves, many of the lingering beliefs may be harmless,
but over the mass of men in Japan and in Chinese Asia
they stiU exert a baleful influence. They make life fuU
of distress; they curtail human joy; they are a hin
drance to spiritual progress and to civilization.
Fetichism.
The animistic tendency in that part of Asia domi
nated by the Chinese world of ideas shows itseU not
only in a belief in messengers or embodiments of di\ine
malevolence or benevolence, but also in the location of
the spiritual influence in or upon an inanimate object
or fetich. Among men in Chinese Asia, from the clod
hopper to the gentleman, the inheritance of Fetichism
from the primeval ages is constantly noticeable. Let
us glance at the term itself.

PRIMITIVE FAITH: RELIGION BEFORE BOOKS 23
As the Chinaman's "Joss" is only his own pronun
ciation of the Portuguese word Deos, or the Latin Deus,
so the word "fetich" is but the Portuguese modifica
tion of the Latin word facticius, that is feitigo. Port
ugal, beginning nearly five hundred years ago, had the
honor of sending the first ships and crews to explore
the coasts of Africa and Asia, and her sailors by this
word, now Englished as fetich, described the native
charms or talismans. The word "fetichism" came mto
the European languages through the work of Charles
de Brosses, who, in 1760, wrote on "Du Culte des
Dieux Fetiches." In Fetichism, the "object is treated
as having personal consciousness and power, is talked
with, worshipped, prayed to, sacrificed to, petted or
ill-treated with reference to its past or futm-e behavior
to its votaries."
Let me draw a picture from actual observation. I
look out of the windows of my house in Fukui. Here
is a peasant who comes back after the winter to pre
pare his field for cultivation. The man's horizon of
ideas, like his vocabulary, is very Umited. His view of
actual Ufe is bounded by a few rice-fields, a range of
hills, and the viUage near by. Possibly one visit to a
city or large town has enriched his experience. More
probably, however, the wind and clouds, the weather,
the soil, crops and taxes, his family and food and how
to provide for them, are the main thoughts that occupy
his mind. Before he will strike mattock or spade in
the soil, lay axe to a tree, collect or burn underbrush,
he WiU select a stone, a slab of rock or a stick of wood,
set it upon hiU side or mud field-boundary, and to this
he wiU bow, prostrate himself or pray. To him, this
stone or stick is consecrated. It has power to placate

24 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
the spirits and ward off their evil. It is the medium
of communication between him aud them. Now, hav
ing attended, as he thinks, to the proprieties in the
case, he proceeds to dig, plough, drain, put in order
and treat soil or water, tree or other growth as is most
convenient for his purpose. His fetich is erected to
"the honorable spirits." Were this not attended to,
some known or unknown bad luck, sinister fortune, or
calamity would befaU him. Here, then, is a fetich-wor
shipper. The stick or stone is the medium of commu
nication between the man and the spirits who can bless
or harm him, and which to his mind are as countlessly
numerous as the swarms of mosquitoes which he drives
out of and away from his summer cottage by smudge
fires in August.
One need not travel in Yezo or SaghaUn to see prac
tical Fetichism. Go where you wiU in Japan, there are
fetich worshippers. Among the country folk, the
" ina.ka " of Japanese parlance, Fetichism is seen in its
grossest forms. Yet among probably millions of Buddh
ists, especially of certain sects, the Nichiren for ex
ample, and even among the rationaUstic Confucians,
there are fetich-worshippers. Eare is the Japanese
farmer, laborer, mechanic, ward-man, or hei-m,in of any
trade who does not wear amulet, charm or other object
which he regards with more or less of reverence as hav
ing relation to the powers that help or harm." In
most of the Buddhist temples these amulets are sold
for the benefit of the priests or of the shrine or mon
astery. Not a few even of the gentry consider it best to
be on the safe side and wear in pouch or purse these
protectors against evil.
Of the 7,817,570 houses in the empire, enumerated

PRIMITIVE FAITH: RELIGION BEFORE BOOKS 25
in the census of 1892, it is probable that seven millions
of them are subjects of insurance by fetich.'^ They
are guaranteed against fire, thieves, Ughtning, plague
and pestilence. It is because of money paid to the
priests that the wooden policies are duly nailed on
the walls, and not on account of the wise application
of mathematical, financial or medical science. Ex
amine also the paper packages carefully tied and af
fixed above the transom, decipher the ¦na-iting in ink or
the brand left by the hot iron on the little slabs of
pine- wood — there may be one or a score of them — and
what wiU you read ? Names of the temples with date
of issue and seal of certificate from the priests, mottoes
or titles from sacred books, often only a Sanskrit letter
or monogram, of which the priest-pedler may long
since have forgotten the meaning. To build a house,
select a cemetery or proceed to any of the ordinary
events of life without making use of some sort of ma
terial fetich, is unusual, extraordinary and is voted
heterodox. Long after the brutish stage of thought is past the
fetichistic instinct remains in the sacredness attached
to the mere letter or paper or parchment of the sacred
book or writing, when used as amulet, plaster or medi
cine. The survivals, even in Buddhism, of ancient and
prehistoric Fetichism are many and often with undenied
approval of the reUgious authorities, especially in
those sects which are themselves reversions to primitive
and lower types of religion.
Among the Ainos of Yezo and SaghaUn the medi
cine-man or shaman is decorated with fetichistic bric-
^-brac of all sorts, and these bits of shells, metals, and
other clinking substances are believed to be media of

26 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
communication with mysterious influences and forces.
In Korea thousands of trees bedecked witli fluttering
rags, clinking scraps of tin, metal or stone signify the
same thing. In Japan these primitive tinkling scraps
and clinking bunches of glass have long since become
the suzu or wind-bells seen on the pagoda which tintin-
abulate with every passing breeze. The whittled sticks
of the Aino, non-conductors of evil and protectors of
those who make and rear them, stuck up in every
place of awe or supposed danger, have in the slow
evolution of centuries become the innumerable flag
poles, banners and streamers which one sees at their
matsurin or temple festivals. MilUons of towels and
handkerchiefs stiU flutter over wells and on sacred
trees. In old Japan the banners of an army almost
outnumbered the men who fought beneath them. To
day, at times they nearly conceal the temples from
view. The civilized Japanese, having passed far beyond
the Aino's stage of reUgion, still show their fetichistic
instincts in the veneration accorded to priestly inven
tions for raising revenue.^' This instinct lingers in the
faith accorded to medicine in the form of decoction,
piU, bolus or poultice made from the sacred writing
and piously swaUowed ; in the reverence paid to the
idol for its own sake, and in the charm or amulet worn
by the soldier in his cap or by the gentleman in his
pill-box, tobacco-pouch or pm-se.
As the will of the worshipper who selects the fetich
makes it what it is, so also, by the exercise of that will
he imagines he can in a certain measure be the equal
or superior of his god. Like the Italian peasant who
beats or scolds his bambino when his prayers are not

PRIMITIVE FAITH: RELIGION BEFORE BOOKS 27
answered or his wishes gratified, so the fetich is pim-
ished or not allowed to know what is going on, by be
ing covered up or hidden away. Instances of such
rough handling of their fetiches by the people are far
from unkno'mi in the Land of Great Peace. At such
childishness we may wonder and imagine that fetich -
worship is the very antipodes of religion; and yet it re
quires but Uttle study of the lower orders of mind and
conduct in Christendom to see how fetich-worship still
lingers among people called Christians, whether the
fetich be the image of a saint or the Virgin, or a verse
of the Bible found at random and used much as is
a penny-toss to decide minor actions. Or, to look
farther south, what means the rabbit's foot carried in
the pocket or the various articles of faith now hanging
in the limbo between religion and folk-lore in various
parts of our own country ?
Phallicism,.
Further iUustrations of far Eastern Animism and
Fetichism are seen in forms once vastly more prevalent
in Japan than now. Indeed, so far improved off the face
of the earth are they, that some are already matters of
memory or archaeology, and their very existence even
in former days is nearly or whoUy incredible to the
generation born since 1868 — when Old Japan began to
vanish in dissolving views and New Jajjan to emerge.
What the author has seen with his own eyes, would
amaze many Japanese born since 1868 and the readers
of the rhapsodies of tourists who study Japan from the
jin-riki-sha. Phases of tree and serpent worship are
stiU quite common, and will be probably for genera-

28 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
ations to come ; but the phaUic shrines and emblems
abolished by the government in 1872 have been so
far invisible to most living travellers and natives, that
. their once general existence and use are now scarcely
suspected. Even profound scholars of the Japanese
language and literature whose work dates from after
the year 1872 have scarcely suspected the universaUty
of phallic worship. Yet what we could say of this cult
and its emblems, especially in treating of Shinto, the '
special ethnic faith of Japan, would be from sight of
our own eyes besides the testimony of many wit
nesses.* The cultus has been known in the Japanese archi
pelago from Eiu Kiu to Yezo. Despite oflScial edicts of
abolition it is still secretly practised by the "heathen,"
the inaka of Japan. " Government law lasts three
days," is an ancient proverb in Nippon. Sharp eyes
have, within three months of the writing of this line,
unearthed a phallic shrine within a stone's-throw of
Shinto's most sacred temples at Ise. Formerly, how
ever, these implements of worship were seen numer
ously — in the cornucopia distributed in the temples, in
the matsuris or religious processions and in represen
tation by various plastic material — and all this until
1872, to an extent that is absolutely incredible to all
except the eye-witnesses, some of whose written testi
monies we possess. What seems to our mind shocking
and revolting was once a part of our own ancestors'
faith, and until very recently was the perfectly natural
and innocent creed of many miUions of Japanese and
is yet the same for tens of thousands of them.
We may easily see why and how that which to us is
a degrading cult was not only closely alUed to Shinto,

PRIMITIVE FAITH: RELIGION BEFORE BOOKS 29
but directly fostered by and properly a part of it, as
soon as we read the account of the creation of the
world, as contained in the national " Book of Ancient
Traditions," the " Kojiki." Several of the opening
paragraphs of this sacred book of Shinto are phalUc
myths explaining cosmogony. Yet the myths and the
cult are older than the writing and are phases of primi
tive Japanese faith. The mystery of fatherhood is to
the primitive man the mystery of creation also. To
him neither the thought nor the word was at hand to
put difference and transcendental separation between
him and what he worshipped as a god.
Into the details of the former display and carriage
of these now obscene symbols in the popular celebra
tions ; of the behavior of even respectable citizens
during the excitement and frenzy of the festivals ; of
their presence in the wayside shrines ; of the phUoso
phy, hideousness or pathos of the subject, we cannot
here enter. We simply call attention to their exist
ence, and to a form of thought, if not of religion,
properly so-called, which has survived all imported
systems of faith and which shows what the native or
indigenous idea of divinity really is^ — an idea that pro
foundly affects the organization of society. To the
enlightened Buddhist, Confucian, and even the modern
Shintoist the phallus-worshipper is a "heathen," a
" pagan," and yet he stiU practises his faith and rites.
It is for us to hint at the powerful influence such per
sistent ideas have upon Japanese morals and civiliza
tion. StiU further, we illustrate the basic fact which
all foreign religions and all missionaries, Confucian,
Buddhist, Mahometan or Christian must deal with,
viz. : That the Eastern Asiatic mind runs to panthe-

30 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
ism as surely as the body of flesh and blood seeks
food. Tree and Serpent Worship.
In prehistoric and mediaeval Japan, as among the
Ainos to-day, trees and serpents as well as rocks,
rivers and other inanimate objects were worshipped,
because such of them as were supposed for reasons
known and felt to be awe-inspiring or wonderful were
" kami," that is, above the common, wonderful.^' This
word kami is usually translated god or deity, but the
term does not conform to our ideas, by a great gulf
of difference. It is more than probable that the Japan
ese term kami is the same as the Aino word kamui,
and that the despised and conquered aboriginal savage
has furnished the mould of the ordinary Japanese idea
of god — which even to-day with them means anything
wonderful or extraordinary.'^ From the days before
history the people have worshipped trees, and do so
yet, considering them as the abodes of and as means of
communication with supernatural powers. On them
the people hang their votive offerings, twist on the
branches their prayers written on paper, avoid cutting
down, breaking or in any way injuring certain trees.
The sakahi tree is especially sacred, even to this day,
in funeral or Shinto services. To wound or defile a
tree sacred to a particular god was to caU forth the
vengeance of the insulted deity upon the insulter, or
as the hearer of prayer upon another to whom guilt
was imputed and punishment was due.
Thus, in the days older than this present genera
tion, but still within this century, as the writer has
witnessed, it was the custom of ^^'omen betrayed by

PRIMITIVE FAITH : RELIGION BEFORE BOOKS 31
their lovers to perform the religious act of vengeance
called Ushi toki mairi, or going to the temple at the
hour of the ox, that is at 2 a.m. First making an im
age or manikin of straw, she set out on her errand of
revenge, with nails held in her mouth and with ham
mer in one hand and straw figure in the other, some
times also having on her head a reversed tripod in
which were stuck three lighted candles. Arriving at
the shrine she selected a tree dedicated to a god, and
then nailed the straw simulacrum of her betrayer to
the trunk, invoking the kami to curse and annihilate
the destroyer of her peace. She adjures the god to
save his tree, impute the guilt of desecration to the
traitor and visit him with deadly vengeance. The
visit is repeated and nails are driven until the object
of the incantation sickens and dies, or is at least sup
posed to do so. I have more than once seen such
trees and straw images upon them and have observed
(jthers in which the large number of rusted nails and
fragments of straw showed how tenaciously the super
stition lingered.^
In instances more pleasant to witness, may be seen
trees festooned with the symbolical rice-straw in cords
and fringes. With these the people honor the trees
as the abode of the kami, or as evidence of their faith
in the renown accredited in the past.
In common with most human beings the Japanese
consider the serpent an object of mystery and awe,
but most of them go further and pay the ophidian a
reverence and awe which is worship. Their oldest
literature shows how large a part the serpent played in
the so-called divine age, how it acted as progenitress
of the Mikado's ancestry, and how it afforded means

32 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
of incarnation for the kami or gods. Ten species of
ophidia are known in the Japanese islands, but in the
larger number of more or less imaginary varieties
which figure in the ancient books we shall find plenty of
material for fetich-worship. In perusing the " Kojiki "
one scarcely knows, when he begins a story, whether
the character which to all appearance is a man or
woman is to end as a snake, or whether the mother
after delivering her child wiU or will not glide into the
marsh or slide away into the sea, leaving behind a traU
of slime. A dragon is three-fourths serpent, and both
the dragon and the serpent are prominent figures, per
haps the most prominent of the kami or gods in human
or animal form in the " Kojiki " and other early legends
of the gods, though the crocodile, crow, deer,, dog, and
other animals are kami.^ It is therefore no wonder
that serpents have been and are still worshipped by
the people, that some of their gods and goddesses are
liable at any time to slip away in scaly form, that
famous temples are built on sites noted as being the
abode or visible place of the actual water or land snake
of natural history, and that the spot where a serpent is
seen to-day is usually marked with a sacred emblem
or a shrine.^ We shall see how this snake-worship
became not only a part of Shinto but even a notable
feature in corrupt Buddhism.
Pantheism's Destruction of Boundaries.^
In its rudest forms, this pantheism branches out into
animism or shamanism, fetichism and phallicism. In
its higher forms, it becomes polytheism, idolatry and
defective philosophy. Having centuries ago corrupted

PRIMITIVE FAITH : RELIGION BEFORE BOOKS 33
Buddhism it is the malaria which, unseen and unf elt, is
ready to poison and corrupt Christianity. Indeed, it
has already given over to disease and spiritual death
more than one once hopeful Christian believer, teacher
and preacher in the Japan of our decade.
To assault and remove the incubus, to replace and
refill the mind, to lift up and enUghten the Japanese
peasant, science as already known and faith in one
God, Creator and Father of all things, must go hand
in hand. Education and civilization will do much for
the ignorant inaka or boors, but for the cultured whose
minds waver and whose feet flounder, as well as for
the unlearned and priest-ridden, there is no surer help
and healing than that faith in the Heavenly Father
which gives the unifjdng thought to him who looks
into creation.
Keep the boundary line clear between God and his
world and all is order and discrimination. Obliterate
that boundary and all is pathless morass, black chaos
and on the mind the phantasms which belong to the
victim of delirium tremens.
There is one Lawgiver. In the beginning, God. In
the end, God, all in all.

SHINTO : MYTHS AND EITUAL

" In the great days of old, And what they loved to tell,
When o'er the land the gods held We of this later age ourselves do
sov'reign sway, prove ;
Our fathers lov'd to say For every living man
That the bright gods with tender May feast his eyes ou tokens of their
care enfold -love."
The fortunes of Japan, — Poem of Yamagami-no Okura,
Blessing the land with many an A.D, 733.
holy spell :
Baal : " While I on towers and hanging terraces.
In shaft and obelisk, beheld my sign
Creative, shape of first imperious law,"
— Bayard Taylor's " Masque of the Gods,"
" Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver,
which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of raen,''and didst
commit whoredom with them, and tookest thy broidered garments, and
coveredst them ; and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them.
My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith
I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them fora sweet savor ; and thus
it was, saith the Lord God," — EzekieL
" If it be said (as has been the case), ' Shintoism has nothing in it,' we
should be inclined to answer, * So much the better, there is less error to
counteract,' But there is something in it, and that , of a kind
of which we may well avail ourselves when making known the second com
mandment, and the ' fountain of cleansing from all sin, ' " — E, W, Syle,
"If Shinto has a dogma, it is purity," — Kaburagi,
" I will wash my hands in innocency, O Lord : and so will I go to thine
altar," — Ps, xxvi, 6,

CHAPTEE II
SHINTO : MYTHS AND RITUAL
The Japanese a Young Nation
What impresses us in the study of the history of
Japan is that, compared with China and Korea, she is
young. Her history is as the story of yesterday.
The nation is modern. The Japanese are as younger
children in the great family of Asia's historic people.
Broadly speaking, Japan is no older than England,
and authentic Japanese history no more ancient than
British history. In Albion, as in the Honorable
Country, there are traditions and mythologies that
project their shadows aeons back of genuine records ;
but if we consider that English history begins in the
fifth, and English literature in the eighth century, then
there are other reasons besides those commonly given
for calling Japan " the England of the East."
No trustworthy traditions exist which carry the
known history of Japan farther back than the fifth
century. The means for measuring and recording
time were probably not in use until the sixth century.
The oldest documents in the Japanese language, ex
cepting a few fragments of the seventh century, do not
antedate the year 712, and even in these the Chinese
characters are in many instances used phonetically, be
cause the meaning of the words thus transliterated had

38 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
already been forgotten. Hence their interpretation in
detail is stUl largely a matter of conjecture.
Yet the Japanese Archipelago was inhabited long
before the dawn of history. The concurrent testi
mony of the earliest literary monuments, of the in
digenous mythology, of folk-lore, of shell-heaps and
of kitchen-middens shows that the occupation by hu
man beings of the main islands must be ascribed to
times long before the Christian era. Before written
records or ritual of worship, religion existed on its ac
tive or devotional side, and there were mature growths
of thought preserved and expressed orally. Poems,
songs, chants and norito or liturgies were kept alive
in the human memory, and there was a system of wor
ship, the name of which was given long after the intro
duction of Buddhism. This descriptive term, Kami
no Michi in Japanese, and Shin-to in the Chinese as
pronounced by Japanese, means the Way of the Gods,
the t5 or final syllable being the same as tao in Tao
ism. We may say that Shinto means, literally, theos-
logos, theology. The customs and practices existed
centuries before contact with Chinese letters, and long
previous to the Shinto literature which is now extant.
Whether Kami no Michi is wholly the product of
Japanese soil, or whether its rudimentary ideas were
imported from the neighboring Asian continent and
more or less allied to the primitive Chinese religion, is
still an open question. The preponderance of argu
ment tends, however, to show that it was an importa
tion as to its origin, for not a few events outUned in
the Japanese mythology cast shadows of reminiscence
upon Korea or the Asian mainland. In its develop
ment, however, the cultus is almost whoUy Japanese.

SHINTO: MYTHS AND RITUAL 39
The modern forms of Shinto, as moulded by the re
vivalists of the eighteenth centm-y, are at many points
notably different from the ancient faith. At the
World's ParUament of Eeligions at Chicago, Shinto
seemed to be the only one, and probably the last, of
the purely provincial religions.
In order to gain a picture of Ufe in Japan before the
introduction of Chinese civiUzation, we must consult
those photographs of the minds of the ancient island
ers which stUl exist in their earliest literature. The
fruits of the study of ethnology, anthropology and
archaeology gxeatly assist us in picturing the day
break of human Ufe in the Moi-ning Land. In pre
paring materials for the student of the religions of
Japan many laborers have wrought in various fields,
but the chief Uterary honors have been taken by the
EngUsh scholars, Messrs. Satow,' Aston,' and Cham
berlain.^ These untiring workers have opened the
treasures of ancient thought in the Altaic world. ¦*
Although even these archaic Japanese compositions,
readable to-day only by special scholars, are more or
less affected by Chinese influences, ideas and modes of
expression, yet they are in the main faithful reflections
of the ancient life before the primitive faith of the
Japanese people was either disturbed or reduced to
system in presence of an imported religion. These
monuments of history, poetry and Uturgies are the
"Kojiki," or Notices of Ancient Things; the "Man
yoshu " or Myriad Leaves or Poems, and the " Norito,"
or Liturgies.

40 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN

Tlie Ancient Documents.
The first book, the " Kojiki," gives us the theology,
cosmogony, mythology, and very probably, in its later
portions, some outlines of history of the ancient Japan
ese. The " Kojiki " is the real, the dogmatic exponent,
or, if we may so say, the Bible, of Shintoi The " Many
oshu," or Book of Myriad Poems, expresses the
thoughts and feeUngs ; reflects the manners and customs
of the primitive generations, and, in the same sense as
do the Sagas of the Scandinavians, furnishes us un-
chronological but interesting and more or less real nar
ratives of events which have been glorified by the poets
and artists. The ancient codes of law and of cere
monial procedure are of gi-eat value, while the "Norito"
are excellent mirrors in which to see reflected the reUg
ion caUed Shinto on the more active side of worship.
In a critical study, either of the general body of
national tradition or of the ancient documents, we must
continually be on our guard against the usual assump
tion that Chinese civilization came in earUer than it
really did. This assumption colors aU modern Japanese
popular ideas, art and literature. The vice of the pu
pil nations surrounding the Middle Kingdom is their
desire to have it beUeved that Chinese letters and cult
ure among them is as nearly coeval with those of
China as can be made truly or falsely to appear. The
Koreans, for example, would have us beUeve that their
civiUzation, based on letters and introduced by Kishi, is
" four thousand years old " and contemporaneous with
China's own, and that "the Koreans are among the
oldest people of the world."' The average modern

SHINTO: MYTHS AND RITUAL 41
Japanese wishes the date of authentic or official history
projected as far back as possible. Yet he is a modest
man compared with his mediaeval ancestor, who con
structed chronology out of ink-stones. Over a thou
sand years ago a deliberate forgery was officiaUy put
on paper. A whole line of emperors who never lived
was canonized, and clever penmen set down in ink long-
chapters which describe what never happened.^ Fur
thermore, even after, and only eight years after the
fairly honest "Kojiki" had been compiled, the book
caUed " Nihongi," or Chronicles of Japan, was written.
All the internal and not a little external evidence shows
that the object of this book is to give the impression
that Chinese ideas, culture and learning had long been
domesticated in Japan. The " Nihongi " gives dates of
events supposed to have happened fifteen hundred
years before, with an accuracy which may be called
villainous ; while the " Kojiki " states that Wani, a Ko
rean teacher, brought the " Thousand Character Clas
sic " to Japan in a.d. 285, though that famous Chinese
book was not composed until the sixth century, or a.d.
550.' Even to this day it is nearly impossible for an Amer
ican to get a Korean " frog in the well " ^ to under
stand why the genuine native life and history, language
and learning of his own peninsular country is of greater
value to the student than the pedantry borrowed from
China. Why these possess any interest to a " scholar"
is a mystery to the head in the horsehair net. Any
thing of value, he thinks, must be on the Chinese mod
el. What is not Chinese is foolish and fit for women
and children only. Furthermore, Korea "always had"
Chinese learning. This is the sum of the arguments

42 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
of the Korean Uterati, even as it used to be of the old-
time hatless Yedo scholar of shaven skull and topknot.
Despite Japanese independence and even arrogance
in certain other lines, the thought of the demoUtion of
cherished notions of vast antiquity is very painful
Critical study of ancient traditions is still dangerous,
even in parliamentary Nippon. Hence the unbiassed
student must depend on his own reading of and judg
ment upon the ancient records, assisted by the thor
ough work done by the English scholars Aston, Sa
tow, Chamberlain, Bramsen and others.
It was the coming of Buddhism in the sixth centu
ry, and the implanting on the soil of Japan of a sys
tem of religion in which were temples with all that
was attractive to the eye, gorgeous ritual, scriptures,
priesthood, codes of morals, rigid discipline, a system
of dogmatics in which all was made positive and clear,
that made the variant myths and legends somewhat
uniform. The faith of Shaka, by winning adherents
both at the court and among the leading men of intel
ligence, reacted upon the national traditions so as to
compel their collection and arrangement into definite
formulas. In due time the mythology, poetry and rit
ual was, as we have seen, committed to writing and the
whole system caUed Shinto, in distinction from Butsu-
do, the Way of the Gods from the Way of the Buddh
as. Thus we can see more clearly the outward and
visible manifestations of Shinto. In forming om- judg
ment, however, we must put aside those descriptions
which are found in the works of European writers,
from Marco Polo and Mendez Pinto down to the year
1870. Though these were good observers, they were
often necessarily mistaken in their deductions. For,

SHINTO: MYTHS AND RITUAL 43
as we shaU see in our lectm-e on Eiyobu or Mixed
Buddhism, Shinto was, from the ninth century until
late into the nineteenth century, absorbed in Buddh
ism so as to be next to invisible.

Origins of the Japanese Peoj^le.
Without detaUing processes, but giving only results,
our view of the origin of the Japanese people and of
their reUgion is in the main as follows :
The oldest seats of human habitation in the Japan
ese Archipelago lie between the thirtieth and thirty-
eighth parallels of north latitude. South of the thirty-
fourth paraUel, it seems, though without proof of
writing or from tradition, that the Malay type and
blood from the far south probably predominated, with,
however, much infusion from the northern Asian main
land. Between the thirty -fourth and thirty-sixth paraUels,
and west of the one hundred and thirty-eighth meridian
of longitude, may be found what is still the choicest,
richest and most populous part of The Country Be
tween Heaven and Earth. Here the prevailing ele
ment was Korean and Tartar.
To the north and east of this fair country lay the
Emishi savages, or Ainos.
In "the world" within the ken of the prehistoric
dweUers in what is now the three islands, Hondo, Kiu-
shiu and Shikoku, there was no island of Yezo and no
China ; while Korea was but sUghtly known, and the
lands farther westward were unheard of except as the
home of distant tribes.
Three distinct lines of tradition point to the near

44 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
peninsula or the west coast of Japan as the " Heaven "
whence descended the tribe which finally grew to be
dominant. The islands of Tsushima and Iki were the
stepping-stones of the migration out of which rose
what may be called the southern or Tsukushi cycle of
leo-end, Tsukushi being the ancient name of Kiushiu.
Idzumo is the holy land whence issued the second
stream of tradition.
The third course of myth and legend leads us into
Yamato, whence we behold the conquest of the Mika
do's home-land and the extension of his name and in
fluence into the regions east of the Hakone Mountains,
including the gi-eat plain of Yedo, where modem Tokio
now stands.
We shall take the term " Yamato " as the synonym
of the prehistoric but discernible beginnings of na
tional life. It represents the seat of the tribe whose
valor and genius ultimately produced the Mikado sys
tem. It was through this house or tribe that Japan
ese history took form. The reverence for the ruler
long afterward entitled " Son of Heaven " is the strong
est force in the national history. The spirit and prow
ess of these early conquerors have left an indeUble
impress upon the language and the mind of the nation
in the phrase Yamato Damashi — the spirit of (Di-vine
and unconquerable) Japan.
The story of the conquest of the land, in its many
phases, recalls that of the Aryans in India, of the He
brews in Canaan, of the Eomans in Europe and of the
Germanic races in North America. The Yamato men
graduaUy advanced to conquest under the impulse, as
they believed, of a divine command.' They were sent
from Takama - no hara, the High Plain of Heaven.

SHINTO: MYTHS AND RITUAL 45
Theirs was the war, of men with a nobler creed, having
agricultui-e and a feudal system of organization which
furnished resources for long campaigns, against hunt
ers and fishermen. They had improved artillery and
used iron against stone. Yet they conquered and pac
ified not only by superior strateg-y, tactics, weapons
and valor, but also by advanced fetiches and dogma.
They captured the religion of their enemies as well as
their bodiec, lands and resom-ces. They claimed that
their ancestors were from Heaven, that the Sun was
their kinswoman and that their chief, or Mikado, was
-vicegerent of the Heavenly gods, but that those whom
they conquered were earth-born or sprung from the
terrestrial divinities. Mikadoism the Heart of Shinto.
As success came to their arms and their chief's pow
er was made more sure, they developed further the
dogma of the Mikado's di-vinity and made worship cen
tre in him as the earthly representative of the Sun
and Heaven. His fellow-conquerors and ministers,
as fast as they were put in lordship over conquered
pro-vinces, or indigenous chieftains who submitted
obediently to his sway or yielded graciously to his
prowess, were named as founders of temples and in later
generations worshipped and became gods.'" One of
the motives for, and one of the guiding principles in
the selections of the floating myths, was that the ances
try of the chieftains loyal to the Mikado might be
shown to be from the heavenly gods. Both the narra
tives of the " Kojiki " and the liturgies show this clear-

46 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
The nature- worship, which was probably practised
throughout the whole archipelago^ecame part^ the
system as go-yeniment^nd^QfiJfitiy.Wf^r.iLlfflaif^^ uniform
r^^ "f"L^VQmat.n j^ipdel It sccms at least possible, if
"Buddhism had not come in so soon, that the ordinary
features of a religion, dogmatic and ethical codes, would
have been developed. In a word, the Kami no Michi,
or religion of the islanders in prehistoric times before
the rise of Mikadoism, must be carefully distinguished
from the politico - ecclesiasticism which the system
called Shinto reveals and demands. The early religion,
first in the hands of politicians and later under the
pens and voices of writers and teachers at the Imperial
Court, became something very different from its origi
nal form. As surely as Kobo later captured Shinto,
making material for Buddhism out of it and over
laying it in Eiyobu, so the Yamato men made po
litical capital out of their own religion and that of the
subject tribes. The divine sovereign of Japan and his
political church did exactly what the state churches of
Europe, both pagan and Christian, have done before
and since the Christian era.
Further, in studving the " Kojiki/' we must remember
tliai The.iajpred^writii^g,^.sprang dout-of the religiQa, and
' that the system wasnot_an_e2;Q]jfliioii from the. book.
'Customs, 'rikiair?aitli^ and prayer . existed long J^efore
iliey were vrritten about or recorded in ink. More-
6ver, Ihe philosophy came later than the practice, the
deeds before the myths, and the joy and terror of the
visible universe before the cosmogony or theogony,
while the book-preface was probably -written last of all.
Y_The sun was first, and then came the wonder, admi
ration and worship of men. The personification and

SHINTO: MYTHS AND RITUAL 47
pedigree of the sun were late figments. To connect
their ancestors with the sun-goddess and the heavenly
gods, was a still later enterprise of the " Mikado rev-
erencers " of this earlier time. Both the god- way in
its early forms and Shinto in its later development,
were to them political as well as ecclesiastical institutes
of dogma. Both the religion which they themselves
brought and cultivated and the aboriginal religion
which the Yamato men found, were used as engines
in the making of Mikadoism, which is the heart of
Shinto. Not until two centuries after the coming of Buddhism
and of Asiatic civiUzation did it occur to the Japanese
to reduce to writing the floating legends and various
cycles of tradition which had grown up luxuriantly in
different parts of " the empire," or to express in the
Chinese character the prayers and thanksgivings which
had been handed down orally through many gener
ations. These norito had already assumed elegant
literary form, rich in poetic merit, long before Chinese
¦writing was known. They, far more than the less
certain philosophy of the "Kojiki," are of undoubted
native origin. It is nearly certain that the prehistoric
Japanese did not borrow the literary forms of the god-
way from China, as any one familiar with the short,
evenly balanced and antithetical sentences of Chinese
style can see at once. The norito are expressions, in
the rhythmical and rhetorical form of worship, of the
articles of faith set forth in the historic summary
which we have given. We propose to illustrate the
dogmas by quoting from the rituals in Mr. Satow's
masterly translation. The following was addressed to
the sun-goddess (Amaterasu no Mikami, or the From-

48 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN ^
Heaven-Shining-Great-Deity) by the priest-envoy of
the priestly Nakatomi family sent annually to the
temples at Ise, the Mecca of Shinto. The sovran re
ferred to m the ritual is the Mikado. This word and
all the others printed in capitals are so rendered in
order to express in English the force of "an untrans
latable honorific syllable, supposed to be originally
identical with a root meaning 'true,' but no longer
possessing that signification." Instead of the word
"earth," that of "country" (Japan) is used as the cor
relative of Heaven.

Ritual in Praise of the Sun-goddess.
He (the priest-envoy) says : Hear all of you, ministers of the
gods and sanctiflers of offerings, the great ritual, the heavenly
ritual, declared in the great presence of the From-Heaven-Shin-
ing-Great-DEiTY, whose praises are fulfilled by setting up the
stout pillars of the great House, and exalting the cross-beams
to the plain of high heaven at the sources of the Isuzu Biver at
Uji in Watarai.
He says : It is the sovran's great Word. Hear all of you,
ministers of the gods and sanctifiers of offerings, the fulfilliDg
of iDraises on this seventeenth day of the sixth moon of this
year, as the morning sun goes up in glory, of the Oho-Naka-
tomi, who— having abundantly piled up like a range of hiUs
the Teibijte thread and sanctified Liqtjob and Food pre
sented as of usage by the people of the deity's houses attributed
to her in the three departments and in various countries and
places, so that she deign to bless his [the Mikado's] Life as a
long Life, and his Age as a luxuriant Age eternally and un
changingly as multitudinous piles of rock; may deign to bless
the Childeen who are born to him, and deigning to cause
to flourish the flve kinds of grain which the men of a hundred
functions and the peasants of the countries in the four quarters
of the region under heaven long and peacefully cultivate and

SHINTO: MYTHS AND RITUAL 49
eat, and guarding and benefiting them to deign to bless them
— is hidden by the great offering-wands.
In the Imperial City the ritual services were very
imposing. Those in expectation of the harvest were
held in the great haU of the Jin-Gi-Kuan, or Council of
the Gods of Heaven and Earth. The description of
the ceremonial is given by Mr. Satow." In the prayers
offered to the sun-goddess for harvest, and in thanks-
gi-ving to her for bestowing dominion over land and
sea upon her descendant the Mikado, occurs the fol
lowing passage :
I declare in the great presence of the From-Heaven-Shining-
Great-DEITY who sits in Ise. Because the sovran great Goddess
bestows on him the countries of the four quarters over which
her glance extends, as far as the limit where heaven stands uji
like a wall, as far as the bounds where the country stands up
distant, as far as the limit where the blue clouds spread flat, as
far as the bounds where the white clouds lie away fallen — the
blue sea plain as far as the limit whither come the prows of the
ships without drying poles or paddles, the ships which continu
ously crowd on the great sea plain, and the road which men
travel by land, as far as the limit whither come the horses' hoofs,
with the baggage-cords tied tightly, treading the uneven rocks
and tree-i-oots and standing up continuously in a long path with
out a break — making the narrow countries wide and the hilly
countries plain, and as it were drawing together the distant
countries by throwing many tens of ropes over them — he will
pile up the first-fruits like a range of hills in the great presence
of the sovran great Goddess, and will peacefully enjoy the re
mainder. Phallic Symbols.
To form one's impression of the Kami no Michi
wholly from the poetic Uturgies, the austere simplicity
of the miyas or shrines, or the worship at the palace or
4

60 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
capital, would be as misleading as to gather our ideas
of the status of popular education from knowing only
of the scholars at court. Among the common people
the real basis of t>'<' crod-wpy was ancestor-worship.
From the very first this trait and habit of the Japan
ese can be discerned. Their tenacity in holding to it
made the Confucian ethics more welcome when they
came. Furthermore, this reverence for the dead pro
foundly influenced and modified Buddhism, so that to
day the altars of both reUgions exist in the same house,
the dead ancestors becoming both kami and buddhas.
Modem taste has removed from sight what were
once the common people's symbols of the god-way,
that is of ancestor worship. The extent of the phallus
cult and its close and even vital connection with the
god- way, and the general and innocent use of the now
prohibited emblems, tax severely the credulity of the
Occidental reader. The processes of the ancient mind
can hardly be understood except by "vigorous power of
the imagination and by sympathy with the primeval
man. To the critical student, however, who has lived
among the people and the temples devoted to this wor
ship, who knows how innocent and how truly sincere
and even reverent and devout in the use of these sym
bols the worshippers are, the matter is measurably
clear. He can understand the soil, root and flower
even while the most strange specimen is abhorrent to
his taste, and while he is most active in destroying
that mental climate in which such worship, whether
native or exotic, can exist and flourish.
In none of the instances in which I have been eye
witness of the cult, of the person officiating or of the
emblem, have I had any reason to doubt the sincerity

SHINTO: MYTHS AND RITUAL 51
of the worshipper. I have never had reason to look
upon the implements or the system as anything else
than the endeavor of man to solve the mystery of Be
ing and Power. In making use of these emblems, the
Japanese worshipper simply professes his faith in such
solution as has seemed to him attainable.
That this cultus was quite general in pre-Buddhis-
tic Japan, as in many other ancient countries, is cer
tain from the proofs of language, literature, external
monuments and relics which are sufiiciently numerous.
Its organic connection with the god- way may be clearly
shown. To go farther back in point of time than the " Kojiki,"
we find that even before the development of art in very
ancient Japan, the male gods were represented by a
symbol which thus became an image of the deity him
self. This token was usually made of stone, though
often of wood, and in later times of terra-cotta, of cast
and wrought iron and even of gold.'^
Under the direct influence of such a cult, other ob
jects appealed to the imagination or served the tempo
rary purpose of the worshipper as ex-voto to hang up
in the shrines, such as the mushroom, awabi, various
other sheUs and possibly the flre- drill. It is only in
the decay of the cultus, in the change of view and
centre of thought compelled by another religion, that
representations of the old emblems ally themselves
¦with sensuaUsm or immorality. It is that natural
degradation of one man's god into another man's
devil, which conversion must almost of necessity bring,
that makes the once revered symbol "obscene," and
talk about it become, in a descending scale, dirty, foul,
filthy, nasty. That the Japanese suffer from the moral

52 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
effluvia of a decayed cult which was once as the very
vertebral column of the national body of religion, is
evident to every one who acquaints himself with their
popular speech and literature.
How closely and directly phallicism is connected
with the god-way, and why. there were so many Shinto
temples devoted to this latter cult and furnished with
symbols, is shown by study of the " Kojiki." The two
opening sections of this book treat of kami that were
in the minds even of the makers of the myths little
more than mud and water ^-^ — the mere bioplasm of
deity. The seven divine generations are "born," but
do nothing except that they give Izanagi and Izanami
a jewelled spear. With this pair come differentiation
of sex. It is immediately on the apparition of the con
sciousness of sex that motion, action and creation
begin, and the progress of things visible ensues. The
details cannot be put into English, but it is enough, be
sides noting the conversation and union of the pan-, to
say that the term meaning giving birth to, refers to
inanimate as well as animate things. It is used in
reference to the islands which compose the archipelago
as well as to the various kami wliich seem, in many
cases, to be nothing more than the names of things or
places. Fire-myths and Ritual.
Fire is, in a sense, the foundation and first necessity
of civilization, and it is interesting to study the myths
as to the origin of fire, and possibly even more interest
ing to compare the Greek and Japanese stories. As we
know, old-time popular etymology makes Prometheus
the fore-thinker and brother of Epimetheus the after-

SHINTO: MYTHS AND RITUAL 53
thinker. He is the stealer of the fire from heaven, in
order to make men share the secret of the gods. Com
parative philology tells us, however, that the Sanskrit
Pramantha is a stick that produces fire. The " Kojiki "
does indeed contain what is probably the later form of
the fire-myth about two brothers. Prince Fire-Shine
and Fire-Fade, which suggests both the later Greek
myth of the fore- and after-thinker and a tradition
of a flood. The first, and most probably older, myth
in giving the origin of fire does it in true Japanese
style, with details of parturition. After numerous other
deities had been born of Izanagi and Izanami, it is
said " that they gave birth to the Fire-Burning-Swift-
Male-Deity, another name for whom is the Deity-
Fire-Shining-Prince, and another name is the Deity-
Fire-Shining-Elder." In the other ancient literature
this fire-god is called Ho-musubi, the Fire-Producer.
Izanami yielded up her life upon the birth of her
son, the fire-god ; or, as the sacred text declares, she
" divinely retired " " into Hades. From her corpse
sprang up the pairs of gods of clay, of metal, and other
kami that possessed the potency of calming or subdu
ing fire, for clay resists and water extinguishes. Be
tween the mythical and the liturgical forms of the
original narrative there is considerable variation.
The Norito entitled the " Quieting of Fire " gives
the ritual form of the myth. It contains, like so many
Norito, less the form of prayer to the Fire-Producer
than a promise of offerings. Not so much by petitions
as by the inducements of gifts did the ancient worship
pers hope to save the palace of the Mikado from the
fire-god's -wrath. We omit from the text those details
which are offensive to modern and western taste.

54 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
I declare with the great ritual, the heavenly ritual, which was
bestowed on him at the time when, by the Woed of the Sovi-an's
dear progenitor and progenitrix, who di-vinely remain in the
plain of high heaven, they bestowed on him the region under
heaven, saying :
"Let the Sovran GEANDCHmo's augustness tranquilly i-ule
over the country of fresh spikes which flourishes in the midst
of the reed-moor as a peaceful region."
When . . . Izanami . . . had deigned to bear the many
hundred myriads of gods, she also deigned to bear her dear
youngest child of all, the Fire-producer god, . . . and said :
"... My dear elder brother's augustness shall rule the
upper country ; I will rule the lower country," she deigned to
hide in the rocks ; and ha-ving come to the flat hills of darkness,
she thought and said : "I have come hither, having borne and
left a bad-hearted child in the upper country, i"uled over by my
illustrious elder brother's augustness,'' and going back she bore
other children. Having borne the water-goddess, the goui-d,
the river-weed, and the clay-hill maiden, four sorts of things,
she taught them with words, and made them to know, saying :
" If the heart of this bad-hearted child becomes violent, let the
water-goddess take the gourd, and the clay-hill maiden take the
river-weed, and pacify him."
In consequence of this I fulfil his praises, and say that for
the things set up, so that he may deign not to be awfully quick
of heart in the great place of the Sovran Grandchild's august
ness, there are provided bright cloth, glittering cloth, soft
cloth, and coarse cloth, and the five kinds of things ; as to
things which dwell in the blue-sea plain, there are things wide
of fin and narrow of fin, down to the weeds of tbe shore ; as to
LiQDOE, raising high the beer-jars, filling and ranging in rows
the bellies of the beer-jars, piling the offerings up, even to rice
in grain and rice in ear, like a range of hills, I fulfil Ms praises
with the great ritual, the heavenly ritual.
Izanagi, after shedding tears over his consort, whose
death was caused by the birth of the fire-god, slays the
fire-god, and follows her into the Eoot-land, or Hades,

SHINTO: MYTHS AND RITUAL 55
whereupon begins another round of wonderful stories
of the birth of many gods. Among these, though
evidently out of another cycle of legends, is the story
of the birth of the three gods — Fire-Shine, Fire-Climax
and Fire-Fade, to which we have already referred.
The fire-drUl mentioned in the " Kojiki " suggests
easily the same line of thought with the myths of cos
mogony and theogony, and it is interesting to note that
this archaic implement is stiU used at the sacred tem
ples of Ise to produce fire. After the virgin priestesses
perform the sacred dances in honor of local deities
the water for their bath is heated by fires kindled by
heaps of old harai or amulets made from temple-wood
bought at the Mecca of Japan. It is even probable
that the retention of the fire-drill in the ser-vice of
Shinto is but a survival of phalUcism.
The liturgy for the pacification of the gods of fire is
worth noticing. The fuU form of the ritual, when
compared with a legend in the " Nihongi," shows that
a myth was " partly de-vised to explain the connection
of an hereditary family of priests with the god whose
shrine they served ; it is possible that the claim to be
directly descended from the god had been disputed."
The Norito first recites poetically the descent of Nini-
gi, the grandchild of the sun-goddess from heaven,
and the quieting of the turbulent kami.
I (the diviner), declare : When by the Woed of the progen
itor and progenitrix, who divinely remaining in the plain of
high heaven, deigned to make the beginning of things, they
divinely deigned to assemble the many hundred myriads of
gods in the high city of heaven, and deigned di-vinely to take
counsel in council, saying : " When we cause our Sovran Grand
child's augustness to leave heaven's eternal seat, to cleave a

56 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
path with might through heaven's manifold clouds, and to de
scend from heaven, with orders tranquilly to rule the country of
fresh spikes, which flourishes in the midst of the reed-moor as
a peaceful country, what god shall we send first to divinely
sweep away, sweep away and subdue the gods who are turbu
lent in the country of fresh spikes ; " all the gods pondered
and declared: "You shall send Amenohohi's augustness, and
subdue them," declared they. Wherefore they sent him down
from heaven, but he did not declare an answer ; and having
next sent TakSmikuma's augustness, he also, obeying his fa
ther's words, did not declare an answer. Am6-no-waka-hiko
also, whom they sent, did not declare an answer, but imme
diately perished by the calamity of a bird on high. Wherefore
they pondered afresh by the Woed of the heavenly gods, and
having deigned to send down from heaven the two pillars of
gods, Futsunushi and Takemika-dzuchi's augustness, who hav
ing deigned divinely to sweep away, and sweep away, .and
deigned divinely to soften, and soften the gods who were tur
bulent, and silenced the rooks, trees, and the least leaf of
herbs likewise that had spoken, they caused the Sovran Geand-
child's augustness to descend from heaven.
I fulfil your praises, saying : As to the Offerings set up, so
that the sovran gods who come into the heavenly House of the
Sovran Grandchild's augustness, which, after he had fixed
upon as a peaceful country — the country of great Yamato where
the sun is high, as the centre of the countries of the four quar
ters bestowed upon him when he was thus sent down from
heaven — stoutly planting the HousE-pillars on the bottom-most
rocks, and exalting the cross-beams to the plain of high heaven,
the builders had made for his Shade from the heavens and
Shade from the sun, and wherein he will tranquilly rule the
country as a peaceful country — may, without deigning to be
turbulent, deigning to be fierce, and deigning to hurt, knowing,
by virtue of their divinity, the things whioh were begun in the
plain of high heaven, deigning to correct with Divine-correct
ing and Great-correcting, remove hence out to the clean places
of the mountain-streams whioh look far away over the four
quarters, and rule them as their own place. Let the Sovran
gods tranquilly take with clear Hearts, as peaceful Offerings

SHINTO: MYTHS AND RITUAL 57
and sufficient Offerings the great Offerings which I setup,
piling them upon the tables like a range of hills, providing
bright cloth, glittering cloth, soft cloth, and coarse cloth ; as a
thing to see plain in — a mirror : as things to play with — beads :
as things to shoot off with — a bow and arrows : as a thing to
strike and cut with — a sword : as a thing which gallops out — a
horse ; as to Liquoe — raising high the beer- jars, filling and
ranging in rows the bellies of the beer-jars, with grains of rice
and ears ; as to the things which dwell in the hills — things soft
of hair, and things rough of hair ; as to the things which grow
in the great field plain — sw-eet herbs and bitter herbs ; as to
the things -n-hich dwell in the blue sea j)lain — things broad of
fin and things narrow of fin, down to weeds of the offing and
weeds of the shore, and without deigning to be turbulent,
deigning to be fierce, and deigning to hurt, remove out to the
wide and clean places of the mountain-streams, and by virtue
of their divinity be tranquil.
In this ritual we find the origin of evil attributed ie-
wicked kami, or gods. To get rid of them is to be
free from the troubles of life. The object of the ritual
worship was to compel the turbulent and malevolent
kami to go out from human habitations to the moun
tain solitudes and rest there. The dogmas of both
god-possession and of the power of exorcism were not,
however, held exclusively by the high functionaries of
the official religion, but were part of the faith of all the
people. To this day both the tenets and the practices
are popular under various forms.
Besides the twenty-seven Norito which are found in
the Yengishiki, published at the opening of the tenth
century, there are many others composed for single
occasions. Examples of these are found in the Govern
ment Gazettes. One celebrates the Mikado's removal
from Kioto to Tokio, another was written and recited
to add greater solemnity to the oath which he took to

58 TEE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
govern according to modern liberal principles and to
form a national parliament. To those Japanese whose
first idea of duty is loyalty to the emperor, Shinto
thus becomes a system of patriotism exalted to the
rank of a reUgion. Even Christian natives of Japan
can use much of the phraseology of the Norito while
addressing their petitions on behalf of their chief
magistrate to the King of kings.
The primitive worship of the sun, of light, of fire,
has left its impress upon the language and in vernacu
lar art and customs. Among scores of derivations of
Japanese words (often more pleasing than scientific),
in which the general term hi enters, is that which finds
in the word for man, hito, the meaning of " light-
bearer." On the face of the broad terminal tiles of
the house-roofs, we stiU see moulded the river-weed,
with which the Clay-Hill Maiden pacified the Fire-
God. On the frontlet of the warrior's helmet, in the
old days of arrow and armor, glittered in brass on
either side of his crest the same symbol of power and
-victory. Having glanced at the ritual of Shinto, let us now
examine the teachings of its oldest book.

'THE KOJIKI" AND ITS TEACHINGS

" Japan is not a land where men need pray,
For 'tis itself divine :
Yet do I lift my voice in prayer. . . ."
Hitomaro, t a.d. 737,
" Now when chaos had begun to condense, but force and form were not
yet manifest, and there was naught named, naught done, who could know
its shape ? Nevertheless Heaven and Karth first parted, and the three Dei
ties performed the commencement of creation ; the Passive and Active Es
sences then developed, and the Two Spirits became the ancestors of all
things." — Preface of Yasumaro (a,d. 713) to the "Kojiki,"
" These, the ' Kojiki ' and ' Nihongi ' are their [the Shintoists] canonical
books, , , and almost their every word is considered undeniable truth,"
" The Shinto faith teaches that God inspired the foundation of the Mi-
kadoate, and that it is therefore sacred," — Kaburagi.
" We now reverently make our prayer to Them [Our Imperial Ancestors]
and to our Illustrious Father [Komei, 1 1867], and implore the help of Their
Sacred Spirits, and make to Them solemn oath never at this time nor in
the future to fail to be an example to Our subjects in the observance of the
Law [Constitution] hereby established." — Imperial oath of the Emperor
Mutsuhito in the sanctuary in the Imperial Palace, Tokio, February 11,
1889, ' ' Shinto is not our national religion. A faith existed before it, which
was its source. It grew ont of superstitious teaching and mistaken tradi
tion. The history of the rise of Shinto proves this," — T, Matsugami,
"Makoto wo mote' Kami no michi wo oshiyurebanari," (Thou teachest
the way of God in truth.)— Mark xii, 14,
" Ware wa Michi nari, Makoto nari, Inochi nari,"— John xiv, 6,— The
New Testament in Japanese,

CHAPTEE III
"THE KOJIKI" AND ITS TEACHINGS
"The Kojiki" and its Myths of Cosmogony
As to the origin of the "Kojiki," we have in the clos
ing sentences of the author's preface the sole documen
tary authority explaining its scope and certifying to
its authenticity. Briefly the statement is this : The
"Heavenly Sovereign" or Mikado, Temmu (a.d. 673-
686), lamenting that the records possessed by the chief
families were " mostly amplified by empty falsehoods,"
and fearing that " the grand foundation of the mon
archy" would be destroyed, resolved to preserve the
truth. He therefore had the records carefully exam
ined, compared, and their errors eliminated. There
happened to be in his household a man of marvellous
memory, named Hiyeda Are, who could repeat, with
out mistake, the contents of any document he had ever
seen, and never forgot anything which he had heard.
This person was duly instructed in the genuine tra
ditions and old language of former ages, and made to
repeat them until he had the whole by heart. " Before
the undertaking was completed," which probably means
before it could be committed to writing, "the emperor
died, and for twenty-five years Are's memory was the
sole depository of what afterwards received the title of
' Kojiki.' ... At the end of this interval the Em-

62 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
press Gemmio ordered Yasumaro to write it down from
the mouth of Are, which accounts for the completion
of the manuscript in so short a time as four months
amialialf,"UnA.D. 712.
-It is from the "Kojiki" that we obtain most of our
ideas of ancient life and thought. The "Nihongi," or
Chronicles of Japan, expressed very largely in Chinese
phrases and with Chinese technical and philosophical
terms, further assists us to get a measurably correct
idea of what is caUed The Divine Age. Of the two
books, however, the " Kojiki " is much more valuable as a
true record, because, though rude in style and exceed
ingly naive in expression, and by no means free from
Chinese thoughts and phrases, it is marked by a genu
inely Japanese cast of thought and method of compo
sition. Instead of the terse, carefully measured, bal
anced, and antithetical sentences of correct Chinese,
those of the " Kojiki " are long and involved, and -without
much logical connection. The " Kojiki " contains the real
notions, feelings, and beliefs of Japanese who Uved be
fore the eighth century.
Eemembering that prefaces are, like porticos, usuaUy
added last of all, we find that in the beginning all
things were in chaos. Heaven and earth were not sep
arated. The world substance floated in the cosmic
mass, Uke oil on water or a fish in the sea. Motion in
some way began. The ethereal portions subUmed and
formed the heavens ; the heavier residuum became the
present earth. In the plain of high heaven, when the
heaven and earth began, were born three kami who
" hid their bodies," that is, passed away or died. Out
of the warm mould of the earth a germ sprouted, and
from this were born two kami, who also were born

"THE KOJIKI" AND ITS TEACHINGS 63
alone, and died. After these heavenly kami came forth
what are caUed the seven di-vine generations, or line
of seven kami.'^
To express the opening lines of the " Kojiki " in terms
of our own speech and in the moulds of Western
thought, we may say that matter existed before mind
and the gods came forth, as it were, by spontaneous
evolution. The first thing that appeared out of the
warm earth-muck was Uke a rush-sprout, and this be
came a kami, or god. From this being came forth
others, which also produced beings, until there were
perfect bodies, sex and difi'erentiation of powers. The
"Nihongi," however, not only gives a different -view of
this evolution basing it upon the duaUsm of Chinese
phUosophy — that is, of the active and passive prin
ciples — and uses Chinese technical terminology, but
gives Usts of kami that differ notably from those in
the " Kojiki." This latter fact seems to have escaped
the attention of those who write freely about what
they imagine to be the early religion of the Japanese.^
After this introduction, in which "Dualities, Trini
ties, and Supreme Deities " have been discovered by
¦writers unfamiUar with the genius of the Japanese lan
guage, there foUows an account of the creation of the
habitable earth by Izanami and Izanagi, whose names
mean the Male - Who - Invites and the Female-Wlio-
Invites. The heavenly kami commanded these two
gods to consoUdate and give birth to the drifting
land. Standing on the floating bridge of heaven,
the male plunged his jewel-spear into the unstable
waters beneath, stirring them until they gurgled and
congealed. When he drew forth the spear, the drops
trickling from its point formed an island, ever after-

64 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
ward called Onokoro-jima, or the Island of the Con
gealed Drop. Upon this island they descended. The
creative pair, or divine man and woman, now sepa
rated to make a journey round the island, the male to
the left, the female to the right. At their meeting
the female spoke first : " How joyful to meet a love
ly man ! " The male, offended that the woman had
spoken first, required the circuit to be repeated. On
their second meeting, the man cried out : " How joyful
to meet a lovely woman ! " This island on which they
had descended was the first of several which they
brought into being. In poetry it is the Island of the
Congealed Drop. In common geography it is identi
fied as Awaji, at the entrance of the Inland Sea.
Thence followed the creation of the other -visible ob
jects in nature. Izanagi's Visit to Hades and Results.
After the birth of the god of fire, which nearly de
stroyed the mother's life, Izanami fled to the land of
roots or of darkness, that is into Hades. Izanagi, Uke
a true Orpheus, foUowed his Eurydice and beseeched
her to come back to earth to complete -with him the
work of creation. She parleyed so long with the gods
of the underworld that her consort, breaking off a
tooth of his comb, lighted it as a torch and rushed in.
He found her putrefied body, out of which had been
bom the eight gods of thunder. Horrified at the aw
ful foulness which he found in the underworld, he
rushed up and out, pm-sued by the Ugly-Female-of-
Hades. By artifices that bear a wonderful resem
blance to those in Teutonic fairy tales, he blocked up
the way. His head-dress, thrown at his pursuer,

" THE KOJIKI" AND ITS TEACHINGS 65
turned into grapes whicli she stopped to eat. The
teeth of his comb sprouted into a bamboo forest, which
detained her. The three peaches were used as pro
jectiles ; his staff which stuck up in the ground became
a gate, and a mighty rock was used to block up the
narrow pass through the mountains. Each of these
objects has its relation to place-names in Idzumo or
to superstitions that are stUl extant. The peaches and
the rocks became gods, and on this incident, by which
the beings in Hades were prevented from advance and
successful mischief on earth, is founded one of the no
rito which Mr. Satow gives in condensed form. The
names of the three gods,'* Youth and Maiden of the
Many Eoad-forkings, and Come-no-further Gate, are
expressed and invoked in the praises bestowed on them
in connection with the offerings.
He (the priest) says : I declare in the presence of the sovran
gods, who like innumerable piles of rocks sit closing up the
way in the multitudinous road-forkings . , I fulfil your
praises by declaring your Names, Youth and Maiden of the
Many Eoad-forkings and Oome-no-further Gate, and say : for
the Offeeings set up that you may prevent [the servants of the
monarch] from being poisoned by and agreeing with the thi^gs
which shall come roughly-acting and hating from the Eoot-
counti-y, the Bottom-country, that you may guard the bottom
(of the gate) when they come from the bottom, guard the
top when they come from the top, guarding with nightly
guard and with daily guard, and may praise them — peace
fully take the great Offerings which are set up by -pW-
lug them up like a range of hills, that is to say, provid
ing bright cloth, etc., , . . and sitting closing-up the
way like innumerable piles of rock in the multitudinous road-
forkings, deign to praise the so-vran Grandchild's augustness
eternally and unchangingly, and to bless his age as a lux
uriant Age, ,5

66 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
Eetreating to another part of the world — that is, into
southwestern Japan — Izanami purified himself by bath
ing in a stream. While washing himself,^ many ka
mi were born from the rinsings of his person, one of
them, from the left eye (the left in Japanese is always
the honorable side), being the far-shining or heaven-
illuminating kami, whose name, Amaterasu, or Heaven-
shiner, is usuaUy translated " The Sun-goddess." This
personage is the centre of the system of Shinto. The
creation of gods by a process of cleansing has had a
powerful effect on the Japanese, who usually associate
cleanliness of the body (less moral, than physical) with
godliness. It is not necessary to detail further the various
stories which make up the Japanese mythology. Some
of these are lovely and beautiful, but others are hor
rible and disgusting, whUe the dominant note through
out is abundant filthiness.
Professor Basil HaU Chamberlain, who has done the
world such good service in translating into EngUsh the
whole of the Kojiki, and furnishing it with learned
commentary and notes, has well said :
" The shocking obscenity of word and act to which the
' Records ' bear witness is another ugly feature which must not
quite be passed over in silence. It is ti-ue that decency, as we
understand it, is a very modern product, and it is not to be
looked for in any society in the barbarous stage. At the same
time, the whole range of literature might perhaps be ransacked
for a parallel to the na'ive filthiness of the passage forming Sec,
IV, of the following translation, or to the extraordinary topic
whioh the hero Yamato-Tak6 and his mistress Miyadzii are
made to select as the theme of poetical repartee. One passage
likewise would lead us to suppose that the most beastly crimes
were commonly committed." °

"THE KOJIKI" AND ITS TEACHINGS 67
Indeed, it happens in several instances that the
thread by which the marvellous patchwork of unrelated
and varying local myths is joined together, is an in
decent love story.
A thousand years after the traditions of the Kojiki
had been committed to writing, and orthodox Shinto
commentators had learned science from the Dutch at
Nagasaki, the stu-ring of the world mud by Izanagi's
spear ' was gravely asserted to be the cause of the diur
nal revolution of the earth upon its axis, the point of
the axis being stiU the jewel spear.' Onogoro-jima, or
the Island of the Congealed Drop, was formerly at the
north pole,' but subsequently removed to its present
position. How this happened is not told.
Life in Japan During the Divine Age.
Now that the Kojiki is in English and all may read
it, we can clearly see who and what were the Japanese
in the ages before letters and Chinese civilization ; for
these stories of the kami are but legendary and myth
ical accounts of men. and women. One could scarcely
recognize in the islanders of eleven or twelve hundred
years ago, the poUshed, brilliant, and interesting peo
ple of to-day. Yet truth compels us to say that social
morals in Dai Nippon, even with telegraphs and rail
ways, are still more like those of ancient days than
readers of rhapsodies by summer tourists might sup
pose. These early Japanese, indeed, were possibly in
a stage of civilization somewhat above that of the most
advanced of the American Indians when first met by
Europeans, for they had a rude system of agriculture
and knew the art of fashioning iron into tools and

68 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
weapons. Still, they were very barbarous, certainly
as much so as our Germanic "forbears." They lived
in huts. They were without writing or commerce, and
were able to count only to ten.'° Their cruelty was as
revolting as that of the savage tribes of America. The
family was in its most rudimentary stage, with little
or no restraint upon the passions of men. Children of
the same father, but not of the same mother, could
intermarry. The instances of men marrying their sis
ters or aunts were very common. There was no art,
unless the making of clay images, to take the place
of the living human -victims buried up to their necks
in earth and left to starve on the death of their mas
ters," may be designated as such.
The Magatama, or curved jewels, being made of
ground and polished stone may be called jewelry ;
but since some of these prehistoric ornaments dug up
from the ground are found to be of jade, a mineral
which does not occur in Japan, it is evident that some
of these tokens of culture came from the continent.
Many other things produced by more or less skilled
mechanics, the origin of which is poetically recounted
in the story of the dancing of Uzume before the cave
in whioh the Sun-goddess had hid herself, ^^ were of
continental origin. Evidently these men of the god-
way had passed the " stone age," and, probably with
out going through the intermediate bronze age, were
artificers of iron and skilled iu its use. Most of the
names of metals and of many other substances, and
the terms used in the arts and sciences, betray by
their tell-tale etymology their Chinese origin. In
deed, it is evident that some of the leadins; kami were
born in Korea or Tartarv,

¦'THE KOJIKI" AND ITS TEACHINGS 69
Then as now the people in Japan loved nature, and
were quickly sensitive to her beauty and profoundly
in sympathy with her varied phenomena. In the med
iaeval ages, Japanese Wordsworths are not unknown.'^
Sincerely they loved nature, and in some respects they
seemed to understand the character of their country
far better than the alien does or can. Though a land
of wonderful beauty, the Country of Peaceful Shores is
enfolded in powers of awful destructiveness. With
the earthquake and volcano, the typhoon and the tidal
wave, beauty and horror alternate with a swiftness
that is amazing.
Probably in no portion of the earth are the people
and the land more like each other or apparently better
acquainted with each other. Nowhere are thought
and speech more refiective of the features of the land
scape. Even after ten centuries, the Japanese are, in
temperament, what the Kojiki reveals them to have
been in their early simplicity. Indeed, just as the
modern Frenchman, down beneath his outward envi
ronments and his habiliments cut and fitted yesterday,
is intrinsically the same Gaul whom Julius Csesar de
scribed eighteen hundred years ago, so the gentleman
of Tokio or Kioto is, in his mental make-up, wonder-
fuUy like his ancestors described by the first Japanese
Stanley, who shed the light of letters upon the night
of unlettered Japan and darkest Dai Nippon.
The Kojiki reveals to us, Uke wise, the childlike re
ligious ideas of the islanders. Heaven lay, not about
but above them in their infancy, yet not far away. Al
though in the "Notices," it is "the high plain of
heaven," yet it is just over their heads, and once a
single pillar joined it and the earth. Later, the idea

70 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
was, that it was held up by the pillar-gods of the wind,
and to them norito were recited. " The great plain of
the blue sea " and " the land of luxuriant reeds " form
"the world" — which means Japan. The gods are
only men of prowess or renown, A kami is anything
wonderful — god or man, rock or stream, bird or snake,
whatever is surprising, sensational, or phenomenal, as
in the little child's world of to-day. There is no sharp
line dividing gods from men, the natural from the su
pernatural, even as with the normal uneducated Japan
ese of to-day. As for the kami or gods, they have all
sorts of characters ; some of them being rude and iU-
mannered, many of them beastly and filthy, while
others are noble and benevolent. The attributes of
moral purity, -wisdom and holiness, cannot be, and in
the original writings are not, ascribed to them ; but they
were strong and had power. In so far as they had
power they were called kami or gods, whether celestial
or terrestrial. Among the kami — the one term under
which they are all included — there were heavenly bod
ies, mountains, rivers, trees, rocks and animals, be
cause these also were supposed to possess force, or at
least some kind of influence for good or evil. Even
peaches, as we have seen, when transformed into rocks,
became gods.'*
That there was worship with awe, reverence, and
fear, and that the festivals and sacrifices had two pur
poses, one of propitiating the offended Kami and the
other of purifying the worshipper, may be seen in the
norito or liturgies, some of which are exceedingly
beautiful.*' In them the feelings of the gods are of
ten referred to. Sometimes their characters are de
scribed. Yet one looks in vain in either the "No-

"THE KO.TIKI' AND ITS TEACHINGS 71
tices," poems, or liturgies for anything definite in
regard to these deities, or concerning morals or doc
trines to be held as dogmas. The first gods come into
existence after evolution of the matter of which they
are composed has taken place. The later gods are
sometimes able to tell who are their progenitors, some
times not. They live and fight, eat and drink, and
give vent to their appetites and passions, and then
they die ; but exactly what becomes of them after they
die, the record does not state. Some are in heaven,
some on the earth, some in Hades. The underworld
of the first cycle of tradition is by no means that of
the second.'^ Some of the kami are in the water, or
on the water, or in the air. As for man, there is no
clear statement as to whether he is to have any future
life or what is to become of him, though the custom
or jun-shi, or .dying with the master, points to a sort
of immortality such as the early Greeks and the Iro
quois believed in.
It would task the keenest and ablest Shintoist to
deduce or construct a system of theology, or of ethics,
or of anthropology from the mass of tradition so full
of gaps and discord as that found in the Kojiki, and
none has done it. Nor do the inaccurate, distorted,
and often almost wholly factitious translations, so-
called, of French and other writers, who make ver
sions which hit the taste of their occidental readers
iar better than they express the truth, yield the de-
(sired information. Like the end strands of a new
spider's web, the Unes of information on most vital
points are stiU " in the air."

72 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN

The Ethics of the God-way.
There are no codes of morals inculcated in the god-
way, for even its modern revivalists and exponents
consider that morals are the invention of wicked people
like the Chinese ; while the ancient Japanese were
pure in thought and act. They revered the gods and
obeyed the Mikado, and that was the chief end of man,
in those ancient times when Japan was the world and
Heaven was just above the earth. Not exactly on
Paul's principle of " where there is no law there is no
transgression," but utterly scouting the idea that for
mulated ethics were necessary for these pure-mind
ed people, the modern revivaUsts of Shinto teach
that all that is " of faith" now is to revere the gods,
keep the heart pure, and follow its dictates." The
naivete of the representatives of Shinto at Chicago
in A.D. 1893, was almost as great as that of the
revivalists who wrote when Japan was a hermit na
tion. The very fact that there was no moral command
ments, not even of loyalty or obedience such as Con
fucianism afterward promulgated and formulated, is
proof to the modern Shintoist that the primeval Jap
anese were pure and holy ; they did right, naturaUy,
and hence he does not hesitate to caU Japan, the Land
of the Gods, the Country of the Holy Spirits, the Ee-
gion Between Heaven and Earth, the Island of the
Congealed Drop, the Sun's Nest, the Princess Country,
the Land of Great Peace, the Land of Great Gentle
ness, the Mikado's Empire, the Country ruled by a
Theocratic Dynasty. He considers that only with the

"THE KOJIKI" AND ITS TEACHINGS 73
-vice brought over from the Continent of Asia were
ethics both imported and made necessary. '^
All this has been solemnly taught by famous Shinto
scholars of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,
and is still practically promulgated in the polemic
Shinto literature of to-day, even after the Kojiki has
been studied and translated into European languages.
The Kojiki shows that whatever the men may have been
or done, the gods were abominably obscene, and both
in word and deed were foul and revolting, utterly op
posed in act to those reserves of modesty or standards
of shame that exist even among the cultivated Jap
anese to-day.'' Even among the Ainos, whom the Jap
anese look upon as savages, there is still much of the
obscenity of speech which belongs to all society ^ in a
state of barbarism ; but it has been proved that gen
uine modesty is a characteristic of the Aino women.*'
A Uteral EngUsh translation of the Kojiki, however,
requires an abundant use of Latin in order to protect
it from the gTasp of the law in English-speaking
Christendom. In Chamberlain's version, the numer
ous cesspools are thus filled up with a dead language,
and the road is constructed for the reader, who likes
the language of Edmund Spencer, of WiUiam Tyndale
and of John Euskin kept unsoiled.
The cruelty which marks this early stage shows that
though moral codes did not exist, the Buddhist and
Confucian missionary were for Japan necessities of the
first order. Comparing the result to-day with the state
of things in the early times, one must award high
praise to Buddhism that it has made the Japanese
gentle, aud to Confucianism that it has taught the
proprieties of life, so that the polished Japanese gen-

74 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
tleman, as to courtesy, is in many respects the peer
and at some external points the superior, of his Euro
pean confrere.
Another fact, made repulsively clear, about Ufe in
ancient Japan, is that the high ideals of truth and
honor, characteristic at least of the Samurai of modern
times, were utterly unknown in the days of the kami.
Treachery was common. Instances multiply on the
pages of the Kojiki where friend betrayed friend. The
most sacred relations of Ufe were violated. Altogether
these were the darkest ages of Japan, though, as
among the red men of America, there were not wanting
many noble examples of stoical endm-ance, of courage,
and of power nobly exerted for the benefit of others.
Tlie Rise of Mikadoism.
Nevertheless we must not forget that the men of the
early age of the Kami no Michi conquered the aborig
ines by superior dogmas and fetiches, as well as by
superior weapons. The entrance of these heroes, in
vaders from the highlands of the Asian continent, by
way of Korea, was relatively a very influential factor
of progress, though not so important as was the Aryan
descent upon India, or the Norman invasion of Eng
land, for the aboriginal tribes were vastly lower in the
scale of humanity than their subduers. Where they
found savagery they introduced barbarism, which,
though unlettered and based on the sword, was a vast
improvement over what may be called the geological
state of man, in which he is but slightly raised above
the brutes.
For the proofs from the shell heaps, combined with

"THE KOJIKI" AND ITS TEACHINGS 75
the reflected evidences of folk-lore, show, that cannibal
ism '^* was common in the early ages, and that among
the aboriginal hiU tribes it lingered after the inhabi
tants of the plain and shore had been subdued. The
conquerors, who made themselves paramount over the
other tribes and who developed the Kami religion,
aboUshed this relic of savagery, and gave order where
there had been chronic war. Another thing that im
presses us because of its abundant illustrations, is the
prevalence of human sacrifices. The very ancient
folk-lore shows that beautiful maidens were demanded
by the "sea-gods" in propitiation, or were devoured
by the " dragons." These human victims were either
chosen or voluntarily offered, and in some instances
were rescued from their fate by chivalrous heroes *^
from among the invaders.
These gods of the sea, who anciently were propiti
ated by the sacrifice of human beings, are the same to
whom Japanese sailors still pray, despite their Buddh
ism. The title of the efficient victims was liitoga-
shira, or human piUars. Instances of this ceremony,
where men were lowered into the water and drowned
in order to make the sure foundation for bridges, piers
or sea-waUs, or where they were buried alive in the
earth in order to lay the right bases for walls or castles,
are quite numerous, and most of the local histories con
tain specific traditions.*' These traditions, now trans
figured, still sur-vive in customs that are as beautiful as
they are harmless. To reformers of pre-Buddhistic
days, belongs the credit of the abolition of jun-shi, or
dying -with the master by burial alive, as well as of the
sacrifice to dragons and sea-gods.
Strange as it may seem, before Buddhism captured

76 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
and made use of Shinto for its own purposes (just as
it stands ready to-day to absorb Christianity by mak
ing Jesus one of the Palestinian avatars of the Buddha),
the house or tribe of Yamato, with its claim to descent
from the heavenly gods, and with its Mikado or god-
ruler, had given to the Buddhists a precedent and
potent example. Shinto, as a state religion or union
of politics and piety, with its system of shrines and
festivals, and in short the whole Kami no Michi, or
Shinto as we know it, from the sixth to the eighth cen
tury, was in itself (in part at least), a case of the ab
sorption of one religion by another.
In short, the Mikado tribe or Yamato clan did, in
reality, capture the aboriginal religion, and tm-n it into
a great political machine. They attempted syncre
tism and succeeded in their scheme. They added to
their own stock of dogma and fetich that of the na
tives. Only, whUe recognizing the (earth) gods of the
aborigines they proclaimed the superiority of the Mika
do as representative and vicegerent of Heaven, and
demanded that even the gods of the earth, mountain,
river, wind, and thunder and Ughtning should obey
him. Not content, however, -with absorbing and cor
rupting for political purposes the primitive faith of the
aborigines, the invaders corrupted their o-wn religion
by carrying the dogma of the divinity and infallibiUty
of the Mikado too far. Stopping short of no absurdity,
they declared their chief greater even than the heaven
ly gods, and made their religion centre in him rather
than in his alleged heavenly ancestors, or " heaven."
In the interest of politics and conquest, and for the
sake of maintaining the prestige of their tribe and
clan, these " Mikado-reverencers " of early ages ad-

"THE KOJIKI" AND ITS TEACHINGS 77
vanced from dogma to dogma, until their leader was
virtually chief god in a great pantheon.
A critical native Japanese, student of the Kojiki
and of the early writings, Professor Kumi, formerly of
the Imperial University in Tokio, has brought to Ught
abundant evidence to show that the aboriginal religion
found by the Yamato conquerors was markedly differ
ent at many vital points, from that which was long af
terward called Shinto.
If the view of recent students of anthropology be
correct, that the elements dominating the population in
ancient Japan were in the south, Malay ; iu the north,
Aino ; and in the central region, or that occupied by
the Yamato men, Korean ; then, these continental in
vaders may have been -worshippers of Heaven and have
possessed a religion closely akin to that of ancient
China -with its monotheism. It is very probable also
that they came into contact with tribes or colonies of
their fellow-continentals from Asia. These tribes,
hunters, fishermen, or rude agriculturists — who had
previously reached Japan — pi-actised many rites and
ceremonies which were much like those of the new in
vaders. It is certain also, as we have seen, that the
Yamato men made ultimate conquest and unification of
all the islanders, not merely by the superiority of their
valor and of their weapons of iron, but also by their
dogmas. After success in battle, and the first begin
nings of rude government, they taught their conquered
subjects or over-awed vassals, that they were the de
scendants of the heavenly gods ; that their ancestors
had come donw from heaven ; and that their chief or
Mikado was a god. According to the same dogmatics,
the aborigines were descendants of the earth-born

T8 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
gods, and as such must obey the descendants of the
heavenly gods, and their vicegerent upon the earth,
the Mikado. Purification of Offences.
These heaven-descended Yamato people were in the
main agriculturists, though of a rude order, while the
outlying- tribes were mostly hunters and fishermen ;
and many of the rituals show the class of crimes
which nomads, or men of unsettled life, Avould natu
rally commit against their neighbors living in com
paratively settled order. It is to be noted that in
the god-way the origin of evil is to be ascribed to evU
gods. These kami pollute, and pollution is iniquity.
From this iniquity the people are to be purged by the
gods of purification, to whom offerings are duly made.
He who would understand the passion for cleanliness
which characterizes the Japanese must look for its source
in their ancient religion. The root idea of the word
tsumi, which Mr. Satow translated as " offence," is that of
pollution. On this basis, of things pure and things defil
ing, the ancient teachers of Shinto made their classifica
tion of what was good and what was bad. From the im
pression of what was repulsive arose the idea of guilt.
In rituals translated by Mr. Satow, the list of of
fences is given and the defilements are to be removed
to the nether world, or, in common fact, the polluted
objects aud the expiatory sacrifices are to be thrown in
to the rivers and thence carried to the sea, where they
fall to the bottom of the earth. The following norito
clearly shows this. Furthermore, as Mr. Satow, the
translator, points out, this ritual contains the germ of
criminal law, a whole code of which might have been

"THE KOJIKI" AND ITS TEACHINGS 79
evolved and formulated under Shinto, had not Buddh
ism arrested its growth.

Amongst the various sorts of offences which may be com
mitted in ignorance or out of negligence by heaven's increasing
people, who shall come into being in the country, which the
Sovran Grandchild's augustness, hiding in the fresh Besi-
DENOE, built by stoutly planting the HousB-pillars on the bot
tom-most rocks, and exalting the cross-beams to the plain of
high heaven, as his Shade from the heavens and Shade from
the sun, shall tranquilly rule as a peaceful country, namely, the
country of great Yamato, where the sun is seen on high, which
he fixed upon as a peaceful country, as the centre of the coun
tries of the four quarters thus bestowed ujion him — breaking
the ridges, filling up water-courses, opening sluices, double-
sowing, planting stakes, fiaying alive, flaying backwards, and
dunging; many of such offences are distinguished as heavenly
offences, and as earthly offences ; cutting living flesh, cutting
dead flesh, leprosy, i:)roud-flesh, , . . calamities of crawl
ing worms, calamities of a god on high, calamities of birds on
high, the offences of killing beasts and using incantations ;
many of such offences may be disclosed.
When he has thus repeated it, the heavenly gods will push
open heaven's eternal gates, and cleaving a path with might
through the manifold clouds of heaven, will hear ; and the
country gods, ascending to the tops of the high mountains, and
to the tops of the low hills, and tearing asunder the mists of the
high mountains and the mists of the low hills, will hear.
And when they have thus heard, the Maiden-of-Descent-into-
the-CuiTent, who dwells in the current of the swift stream
which boils down the ravines from the tops of the high moun
tains, and the tops of the low hills, shall carry out to the great
sea plain the offences which are cleared away and purified, so
that there be no remaining offence ; like as Shinato's wind
blows apart the manifold clouds of heaven, as the morning wind
and the evening wind blow away the morning mist aud the
evening mist, as the great %\n-ps whicli lie on the shore of a
great port loosen their prows, and loosen their sterns to push

so THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
out into the great sea-plain ; as the trunks of the forest trees,
far and near, are cleared away by the sharjD sickle, the sickle
forged with tire : so that there ceased to be any offence called
an offence in the court of the Sovran Grandchild's augustness
to begin with, and in the countries of the four quarters of the
region under heaven.
And when she thus carries them out and away, the deitv
called the Maiden-of-the-Swift-cleansing, who dwells in the
multitudinous meetings of the sea waters, the multitudinous
currents of rough sea-waters shall gulp them down.
And when she has thus gulped them down, the lord of the
Breath-blowing-place, who dwells in the Breath-blowing-place,
shall utterly blow them away with his breath to the Boot-coun
try, the Bottom-country.
And when he has thus blown them away, the deity called the
Maiden-of-Swift-Banishment, who dwells in the Boot-country,
the Bottom-country, shall completely banish them, and get rid
of them.
And when they have thus been got rid of, there shall from
this day onwards be no offence which is called offence, with re
gard to the men of the offices who serve in the court of the Sov
ran, nor in the four quarters of the region under heaven.
Then the high priest says :
Hear all of you how he leads forth the horse, as a thing that
erects its ears towards the plain of high heaven, and deigns to
sweep away and purify with tbe general purification, as the
evening sun goes down on the last day of the watery moon of
this year.
O diviners of the four countries, take (the sacrifices) away
out to the river highway, and sweep them away.
Mikadoism Usurps the Primitive God-way.
A further proof of the transformation of the primitive
god-way in the interest of practical poUtics, is shown by
Professor Kumi in the fact that some of the festivals now

"THE KOJIKI" AND ITS TEACHINGS 81
directly connected with the Mikado's house, and even in
his honor, were originally festivals with which he had
nothing to do, except as leader of the worship, for the
honor was paid to Heaven, and not to his ancestors.
Professor Kumi maintains that the thanksgivings of
the court were originally to Heaven itself, and not
in honor of Amaterasii, the sun-goddess, as is now
popularly believed. It is related in the Kojiki that
Amaterasu herself celebrated the feast of Niiname.
So also, the temple of Ise, the Mecca of Shinto, and
the Holy shrine in the imperial palade were original
ly temples for the worship of Heaven. The inferi
or gods of earthly origin form no part of primitive
Shinto. Not one of the first Mikados was deified after death,
the deification of emperors dating from the corrup
tion which Shinto underwent after the introduction
of Buddhism. Only by degrees was the ruler of the
country given a place in the worship, and this connec
tion was made by attributing to him descent from
Heaven. In a word, the contention of Professor Ku
mi is, that the ancient religion of at least a portion of
the Japanese and especiaUy of those in central Japan,
was a rude sort of monotheism, coupled, as in ancient
China, with the worship of subordinate spirits.
It. is needless to say that such appUcations of the
higher criticism to the ancient sacred documents
proved to be no safer for the applier than if he had
lived in the United States of America. The orthodox
Shintoists were roused to wrath and charged the
learned critic with " degrading Shinto to a mere branch
of Christianity." The government, which, despite its
Constitution and Diet, is in the eyes of the people
6

82 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN

rejiiily based on the myths of the Kojiki, quickly put
the professor on the retired list.^
It is probably correct to say that the arguments ad
duced by Professor Kumi, confirm our theory of the
substitution in the simple god-way, of Mikadoism, the
centre of the primitive worship being the sun and na
ture rather than Heaven.
Between the ancient Chinese religion with its ab
stract idea of Heaven and its personal term for God,
and the more poetic and childlike system of the god-
way, there seems to be as much difference as there is
racially between the people of the Middle Kingdom
and those of the Land Where the Day Begins. Indeed,
the entrance of Chinese philosophical and abstract
ideas seemed to paralyze the Japanese imagination.
Not only did myth-making, on its purely aesthetic and
non-utilitarian side cease almost at once, but such
myths as were formed were for direct business pur
poses and with a transparent tendency. Henceforth,
in the domain of imagination the Japanese intellect
busied itself with assimilating or re-working the abun
dant material imported by Buddhism.
Ancient Customs and Usages.
In the ancient god-way the temple or shrine was
called a miya. After the advent of Buddhism the
keepers of the shrine were called kannushi, that is,
shrine keepers or wardens of the god. These men
were usuaUy descemjants of the god in whose honor the
temples were built. \The gods being nothing more than
human founders of families, reverence was paid to them
as ancestors, and so the basis of Shinto is ancestor

"THE KOJIKI" AND ITS TEACHINGS 83
worship. The model of the miya, in modern as in an
cient times, is the primitive hut as it was before Buddh
ism introduced Indian and Chinese architecture. The
posts, stuck in the ground, and not laid upon stones as
in after times, supported the walls and roof, the latter
being of thatch. The rafters, crossed at the top, were
tied along the ridge-pole with the fibres of creepers or
-wistaria vines. No paint, lacquer, gilding, or orna
ments of any sort existed in the ancient shrine, and
even to-day the modern Shinto temple must be of pure
hinoki or sun-wood, and thatched, while the use of
metal is as far as possible avoided. To the gods, as
the norito show, offerings of various kinds were made,
consisting of the fruits of the soil, the products of the
sea, and the fabrics of the loom.
Inside modern temples one often sees a mirror, in
which foreigners with Uvely imaginations read a great
deal that is only the shadow of their own mind, but
which probably was never known in Shinto temples
until after Buddhist times. They also see in front of
the unpainted wooden closets or casements, wands or
sticks of wood from which depend masses or strips of
white paper, cut and notched in a particular way.
Foreigners, whose fancy is nimble, have read in these
the symbols of Ughtning, the abode of the spirits and
various forthshadowings unkno^wn either to the Japa
nese or the ancient writings. In reaUty these gohei, or
honorable offerings, are nothing more than the paper
representatives of the ancient offerings of cloth which
were woven, as the arts progressed, of bark, of hemp
and of silk.
The chief Shinto ministers of religion and shrine-
keepers belonged to particular families, which were often

84 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
honored with titles and offices by the emperor. In or
dinary Ufe they dressed like others of their own rank
or station, but when engaged in their sacred office were
robed in white or in a special official costume, wearing
upon their heads the eboshi or peculiar cap which we
associate with Japanese archaeology. They knew noth
ing of celibacy ; but married, reared famiUes and kept
their scalps free from the razor, though some of the
lower order of shrine-keepers dressed their hair in
ordinary style, that is, with shaven poll and topknot.
At some of the more important shrines, like those at
Ise, there were -virgin priestesses who acted as custo
dians both of the shrines and of the relics.*^
In front of the miyas stood what we should suppose
on first seeing was a gateway. This was the torii or
bird-perch, and anciently was made only of unpainted
wood. Two upright tree-trunks held crosswise on a
smooth tree-trunk the ends of which projected some
what over the supports, while under this was a smaUer
beam inserted between the two uprights. On the torii,
the birds, generally barn-yard fowls which were sacred
to the gods, roosted. These creatures were not offered
up as sacrifices, but were chanticleers to give notice of
day-break and the rising of the sun. j The cock holds
a prominent place in Japanese m-yth, legend, art and
symbolism. How this feature of pure Japanese archi
tecture, the torii, afterward lost its meaning, we shall
show in our lecture on Eiyobu or mixed Buddhism.
Shinto's Emphasis on Cleanliness.
One of the most remarkable features of Shinto was
the emphasis laid on cleanliness. Pollution was calam-

" THE KOJIKI • AND ITS TEACHINGS 85
ity, defilement was sin, and physical purity at least,
was holiness. Everything thai could in any way soil
the body or the clothing- was looked upon with abl-.or-
rence and detestation. Disease, wounds and death
were defiling, and the feeling of disgust prevailed over
that of either sympathy or pity. Birth and death were
especiaUy poUuting. Anciently there were huts built
both for the mother about to give birth to a child, or
for the man who was dying or sure' to die of disease or
wounds. After the birth of the infant or the death of
the patient these houses were burned. Cruel as this
system was to the woman at a time when she needed
most care and comfort, and brutal as it seems in regard
to the sick and dying, yet this ancient custom was con
tinued in a few remote places in Japan as late as the
year 1878.^ In modern days with equal knowledge of
danger and defilement, tenderness and compassion
temper the feeUng of disgust, and prevail over it.
Horror of uncleanUness was so great that the priests
bathed and put on clean garments before making the
sacred offerings or chanting the Uturgies, and were ac
customed to bind a slip of paper over their mouths lest
their breath should pollute the offering. Numerous
were the special festivals, observed simply for purifica
tion. Salt also was commonly used to sprinkle over
the ground, and those who attended a funeral must
free themselves from contamination by the use of salt.**
Purification by water was habitual and in varied forms.
The ancient emperors and priests actually performed
the ablution of the people or made public lustration
in their behalf.
Afterwards, and probably because population in
creased and towns sprang up, we find it was custom-

86 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
ary at the festivals of ptu-ification to perform pubUc
ablution, vicariously, as it were, by means of paper
mannikins instead of making applications of water to
the human cuticle. Twice a year paper figures rep
resenting the people were thrown into the river, the
typical meaning of which was that the nation was
thereby. cleansed from the sins, that is, the defilements,
of the previous half - yeax. Still later, the Mikado
made the chief minister of religion at Kioto his
deputy to perform the symbolical act for the people of
the whole country. Prayers to Myriads of Gods.
In prayer, the worshipper, approaching the temple
but not entering it, pulls a rope usually made of white
material and attached to a peculiar-shaped bell hung
over the shrine, calling the attention of the deity to
his devotions. Having washed his hands and rinsed
out his mouth, he places his hands reverently to
gether and offers his petition.
Concerning the method and words of prayer, Hirata,
a famous exponent of Shinto, thus writes :
As the number of the gods who possess different functions is
so great, it will be convenient to worship by name onJy the
most important and to include the rest in a general petition.
Those whose daily affairs are so multitudinous that they have
not time to go through the whole of the following morning
prayers, may content themselves with adoring the residence of
the emperor, the domestic kami-dana, the spirits of their an
cestors, their local patron god and the deity of their isarticular
calling in life.
In praying to the gods the blessings which each has it in his
power to bestow are to be mentioned in a few words, and they

"THE KOJIKI" AND ITS TEACHINGS 87
are not to be annoyed with greedy petitions, for the Mikado in
his palace offers up petitions daily on behalf of his people,
which are far more effectual than those of his subjects.
Eising early in the morning, wash your face and hands, rinse
out the mouth and cleanse the body. Then turn toward the
province of Yamato, strike the palms of the hands together
twice, and worship, bowing the head to the ground. The
proper posture is that of kneeling on the heels, which is ordi
narily assumed in saluting a superior.
PEAYEB.
From a distance I reverently worship with awe before AmS
no Mi-hashira (Heaven-pillar) and Kuni no Mi-hashira (Coun
try-pillar), also called Shinatsu-hiko no kami and 8hinatsu-him6
no kami, to whom is consecrated the Palace built with stout
pillars at Tatsuta no Tachinu in the department of H6guri in
the province of Yamato,
I say with awe, deign to bless me by correcting the unwit
ting faults which, seen and heard by you, I have committed,
by blowing off aud clearing away the calamities which evil
gods might inflict, by causing me to live long like the hard and
lasting rock, and by repeating to the gods of heavenly origin
and to the gods of earthly origin the petitions which I present
every day, along with your breath, that they may hear with the
sharp-earedness of the forth-galloping colt.
To the common people the sun is actually a god, as
none can doubt who sees them worshipping it morn
ing and evening. The writer can never forget one of
many similar scenes in Tokio, when late one afternoon
after O Tento Sama (the sun-Lord of Heaven), which
had. been hidden behind clouds for a fortnight, shone
out on the muddy streets. In a moment, as with the
promptness of a military drill, scores of people rushed
out of their houses and with faces westward, kneeling,
squatting, began prayer and worship before the great
luminary. Besides all the gods, supreme, subordi-

88 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
nate and local, there is iu nearly every house the
Kami-dana or god-shelf. This is usually over the
door inside. It contains images with little paper-cov
ered wooden tablets having the god's name on them.
Offerings are made by day and a little lamp is lighted
at night. The following- is one of several prayers
which are addressed to this kami-dana.
Eeverently adoring the great god of the two palaces of Is6, in
the first place, the eight hundred myriads of celestial gods, the
eight hundred myriads of terrestrial gods, all the fifteen hun
dred myriads of gods to whom are consecrated the great and
small temples in all provinces, all islands and all places of the
Great Land of Eight Islands, the fifteen hundreds of myriads
of gods whom they cause to serve them, and the gods of branch
palaces and branch temples, and Sohodo no kami, whom I have
invited to the shrine set uja on this divine shelf, and to whom I
offer ijraises day by day, I pray with awe that they will deign
to correct the unwitting faults, which, heard and seen by them,
I have committed, and blessing and favoring me according to
the powers which they severally wield, cause me to follow the
divine example, and to perform good works in the "Way.
Shinto Left in a State of Arrested Development.
Thus from the emperor to the humblest beUever, the
god-way is founded on ancestor worship, and has had
grafted upon its ritual system nature worship, even to
phallicism .'' In one sense it is a self-made religion of
the Japanese. Its leading characteristics are seen in
the traits of the normal Japanese character of to-day.
Its power for good and evil may be traced in the edu
cation of the Japanese through many centuries. Know
ing Shinto, we to a large degree know the Japanese,
4heir virtues and their failings.
What Shinto might have become in its full evolution

"THE KOJIKI" AND ITS TEACHING^ 89
had it been left alone, we cannot tell. Whether in the
growth of the nation and without the pressure of Buddh
ism, Confucianism or other powerful influences from
outside, the scattered and~ fragmentary mythology
might have become organized into a harmonious sys
tem, or codes of ethics have been formulated, or the
doctrines of a future life and the idea of a^^Smreme
JSging -with personal attributes have been conceived
and perfected, are questions the discussion of which
may seem to be vain. History, however, gives no
uncertain answer as to what actuaUy did take place.
We do but state what is unchallenged fact, when we
say, that after f commitment to writing of the myths,
poems and liturgies which may be called the basis of
Shinto, there came a great flood of Chinese and Buddh
istic literature and a tremendous expansion of Buddh
ist missionary activity, which checked further literary
growth of the kami system. These prepared the way
for the absorption of the indigenous into the foreign
cultus imder the form called by an enthusiastic em
peror, Eiyobu Shinto, or the "two-fold di-vine doc
trine." Of this, we shall speak in another lecture.
Suffice it here to say that by the scheme of syncre
tism propounded by Kobo in the ninth century, Shinto
was practicaUy overlaid by the new faith from India,
and largely forgotten as a distinct religion by the
Japanese people. As late as a.d. 927, there were three
thousand one hundred and thirty-two enumerated met
ropolitan and provincial temples, besides many more
unenumerated village and hamlet shrines of Shinto.
These are referred to in the revised codes of ceremonial
law set forth by imperial authority early in the tenth
century. Probably by the twelfth century the pure rites

90 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
of the god-way were celebrated, and the unmixed tradi
tions maintained, in famUies and temples, so few as
to be counted on the fingers. The ancient language in
which the archaic forms had been preserved was so
nearly lost and bmied, that out of the ooze of centu
ries of oblivion,, it had to be rescued by the skiUed
divers of the seventeenth century. Mabuchi, Motoori
and the other re-vivalists of pure Shinto, like the plung
ers after orient pearls, persevered until they had first
recovered much that had been supposed irretrievably
lost. These scholars deciphered and interpreted the
ancient scriptures, poetry, prose, history, law and rit
ual, and once more set forth the ancient faith, as they
believed, in its purity.
Whether, however, men can exactly reproduce and
think for themselves the thoughts of others who have
been dead for a millennium, is an open question. The
new system is apt to be transparent. Just as it is
nearly impossible for us to restore the religious life,
thoughts and orthodoxy of the men who lived before
the flood, so in the writings of the revivalists of pure
Shinto we detect the thoughts of Dutchmen, of Chi
nese, and of very modem Japanese. Unconsciously,
those who would breathe into the dry bones of dead
Shinto the breath of the nineteenth centm-y, find
themselves comiDelled to use an oxygen and nitrogen
generator made in Holland and mounted with Chinese
apparatus ; withal, lacquered and decorated -with the art
of to-day. To change from metaphor to matter of fact,
modern " pure Shinto " is mainly a mass of speculation
and philosophy, with a tendency of which the ancient
god-way knew nothing.

"THE KOJIKI" AND ITS TEACHINGS 91

The Modern Revivalists of Kami no Michi.
Passing by further mention of the fifteen or more
corrupt sects of Shintoists,^ we name with honor
the native scholars of the seventeenth century,
who foUowed the Ulustrious example of lyeyasii, the
political unifier of Japan. They ransacked the coun
try and purchased from temples, mansions and farm
houses, old manuscripts and books, and forming
libraries began anew the study of ancient language
and history. Keichu (1640-1701), a Buddhist priest,
explored and illumined the poems of the Manyoshu.
Kada Adzumaro, born in 1669 near Kioto, the son of
a shrine-keeper at Inari, attempted the mastery of the
whole archaic native language and literature. He
made a grand beginning. He is unquestionably the
founder of the school of Pure Shinto. He died in
1736. His successor and pupil was Mabuchi (1697-
1769), who claimed direct descent from that god which
in the form of a colossal crow had guided the first chief
of the Yamato tribe as he led his invaders through the
country to found the Une of Mikados. After Mabuchi
came Motoori (1730-1801) a remarkable scholar and
critic, who, with erudition and acuteness, analyzed the
ancient literature and showed what were Chinese or
imported elements and what was of native origin.
He summarized the principles of the ancient religion,
reasserted and illuminated with amazing learning and
voluminous commentary the archaic documents, ex
pounded and defended the ancient cosmogony, and in
the usual style of Japanese polemics preached anew
the doctrines of Shinto. With wonderful naivete and

93 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
enthusiasm, Motoori taught that Japan was the first
part of the earth created, and that it is therefore The
Land of the Gods, the Country of the Holy Spirits.
The stars were created from the muck which feU from
the spear of Izanagi as he thrust it into the warm
earth, while the other countries were formed by the
spontaneous consolidation of the foam of the sea.
Morals were invented by the Chinese because they
were an immoral people, but in Japan there is no ne
cessity for any system of morals, as every Japanese
acts aright if he only consults his own heart. The
duty of a good Japanese consists in obeying the Mi
kado, without questioning whether his commands are
right or wrong. The Mikado is god and vicar of aU
the gods, hence government and religion are the same,
the Mikado being the centre of Church and State,
which are one. Did the foreign nations know their
duty they would at once hasten to pay tribute to the
Son of Heaven in Kioto.
It is needless here to dwell upon the tremendous
power of Shinto as a political system, especially when
wedded with the forces, generated in the minds of the
educated Japanese by modern Confucianism. The
Chinese ethical system, expanded into a philosophy as
fascinating as the EngUsh materialistic school of to
day, entered Japan contemporaneously -^vith the revival
of the Way of the Gods and of native learning. In
full rampancy of their vigor, in the seventeenth cen
tury these two systems began that generation of
national energy, which in. the eighteenth century was
consolidated and which in the nineteenth century,
though unknown and unsuspected by Europeans or
Americans, was all ready for phenomenal manifestation

"THE KOJIKI" AND ITS TEACHINGS 93
and tremendous eruption, even while Perry's fleet was
bearing the olive branch to Japan. As we all know,
this consolidation of forces from the inside, on meet
ing, not -with collision but with union, the exterior
forces of western civiUzation, formed a resultant in the
energies which have made New Japan.
Tlie Great Purification of 1870.
In 1870, -with the Shogun of Yedo deposed, the dual
system abolished, feudaUsm in its last gasp and
Shinto in fuU political power, with the ancient council
of the gods (Jin Gi Kuan) once more established, and
purified Shinto again the religion of state, thousands
of Eiyobu Shinto temples were at once purged of
aU their Buddhist ornaments, furniture, ritual, and
everything that might remind the Japanese of foreign
elements. Then began, logically and actually, the
persecution of those Christians, who through all the
centuries of repression and prohibition had continued
their existence, and kept their faith however mixed
and clouded. Theoretically, ancient belief was re-es
tablished, yet it was both physically and morally im
possible to return wholly to the baldness and austere
simplicity of those early ages, in which art and litera
ture were unkno-wn. For a while it seemed as though
the miracle would be performed, of turning back the
dial of the ages and of plunging Japan into the foun
tain of her o-wn youth. Propaganda was instituted,
and the attempts made to convert aU the Japanese to
Shinto tenets and practice were for a while more lively
than edifying ; but the scheme was on the whole a
splendid failure, and bitter disappointment succeeded

94 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
the first exultation of victory. Confronted by modem
problems of society and government, the Mikado's
ministers found themselves unable, if indeed willing,
to entomb politics in religion, as in the ancient ages.
For a little while, in 1868, the Jin Gi Kuan, or Council
of the Gods of Heaven aud Earth, held equal authority
with the Dai Jo Kuan, or Great Council of the Govern
ment. Pretty soon the first step downward was taken,
and from a supreme council it was made one of the ten
departments of the government. In less than a year
foUowed another retrograde movement and the depart
ment was caUed a board. Finally, in 1877, the board
became a bureau. Now, it is hard to teU what rank
the Shinto cultus occupies in the government, except
as a system of guardianship over the imperial tombs, a
mode of official etiquette, and as one of the acknowl
edged reUgions of the country.
Nevertheless, as an element in that amalgam of reUg
ions which forms the creed of most Japanese, Shinto
is a li-ving force, and shares -with Buddhism the arena
against advancing Christianity, still supplying much
of the spring and motive to patriotism.
The Shinto lecturers with unblushing plagiarism
rifled the storehouses of Chinese ethics. They en
forced their lessons from the Confucian classics. In
deed, most of their homiletical and illustrative material
is still derived directly therefrom. Their three main
official theses and commandments were :
1. Thou shalt honor the Gods and love thy country.
2. Thou shalt clearly understand the principles of Heaven,
and the duty of man.
3. Thou shalt revere the Emperor as thy sovereign and obey
the will of his Court.

"THE KOJIKI" AND ITS TEACHINGS 95
For nearly twenty years this deliverance of the Jap
anese Government, which still finds its strongest sup
port in the national traditions and the reverence of the
people for the throne, sufficed for the necessities of
the case. Then the copious infusion of foreign ideas,
the disintegration of the old framework of society, and
the weakening of the old ties of obedience and loyalty,
-with the flood of shaUow knowledge and education
which gave especially children and young people just
enough of foreign ideas to make them dangerous,
brought about a condition of affairs which alarmed the
conservative and patriotic. Like fungus upon a dead
tree strange growths had appeared, among others that
of a class of -violently patriotic and half-educated young
men and boys, called So.shi. These hot-headed youths
took it upon themselves to dictate national policy to
cabinet ministers, and to reconstruct society, religion
and politics. Something Uke a mania broke out all
over the country which, in certain respects, reminds us
of the Children's Crusade, that once afflicted Europe
and the children themselves. Even Christianity did
not escape the craze for reconstruction. Some of the
young believers and pupils of the missionaries seemed
determined to make Christianity aU over so as to suit
themselves. This phase of brain- swelling is not yet
whoUy over. One could not tell but that something
like the Tai Ping rebellion, which disturbed and de
vastated China, might break out.
These portentous signs on the social horizon called
forth, in 1892, from the government an Imperial Ee-
script, which required that the emperor's photograph
be exhibited in every school, and saluted by all teach
ers and scholars whatever their religious tenets and

96 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
scruples might be. Most Christians as weU as Buddh
ists, saw nothing in this at which to scrapie. A few,
however, finding in it an offence to conscience, resigned
their positions. They considered the mandate an un
warrantable interference with their rights as conferred
by the constitution of 1889, which in theory is the gift
of the emperor to his people.
The radical Shintoist, to this day, believes that aU
political rights which Japanese enjoy or can enjoy are
by -virtue of the Mikado's grace aud benevolence. It is
certain that aU Japanese, whatever may be their reUg
ious convictions, consider that the cor sti tution depends
for its safeguards and its validity largely upon the oath
which the Mikado swore at the shrine of his heavenly
ancestors, that he would himself be obedient to it and
preserve its provisions inviolate. For this solemn cere
mony a special norito or liturgy was composed and re
cited.
^ Summary of Shinto.
^ Of Shinto as a system we have long ago given our
opinion. In its higher forms, " Shinto is simply a
cultured and intellectual atheism; in its lower forms it
I is blind obedience to governmental and priestly dic-
\tates." "Shinto," says Mr. Ernest Satow, "as ex
pounded by Motoori is nothing- more than an engine
for reducing the people to a condition of mental slav
ery." Japan being a country of very striking natural
phenomena, the very soil and air lend themselves to
support in the native mind this system of worship of
heroes and of the forces of nature. \ In spite, however, ,
of the conservative power of the ancestral influences,-/
the patriotic incentives and the easy morals of Shinto

"THE KOJIKI" AND ITS TEACHINGS 97
under which lying and Ucentiousness shelter themselves,
it is doubtful whether with the pressure of Buddhism,
and the spread of popular education and Christianity,
Shinto can retain its hold upon the Japanese people.
Yet although this is our opinion, it is but fair, and it
is our duty, to judge every reUgion by its ideals and
not by its faiUngs.y-The ideal of Shinto is to make
people pure and clean-in all their personal and house-
Jiold arrang;ements ; it is to help them to Uve simply,
honestly' and with 'muliuarj;oc>d willj^itjs iol^£e^m
^Ja^anese" love "TE^^country, lionor theu^ imperial
house^and_ obey theiremiDerOT. Narrow and local as
this religion is, it has had grand exemplars in noble
lives and winning character.s,'''
So far as Shinto is a religion, Christianity meets it
not as destroyer but fulfiUer, for it too believes that
cleanliness is not only next to godliness but a part of
it. Jesus as perfect man and patriot. Captain of our
salvation and Prince of peace, would not destroy the
Yamato damashii — the spirit of unconquerable Japan
— but rather enlarge, broaden, and deepen it, making it
love for all humanity. Eeverence for ancestral -virtue
and example, so far from being weakened, is strength
ened, and as for devotion to king and rider, law and
society, Christianity lends nobler motives and grander
sanctions,^' while showing clearly, not indeed the way of
the eight million or more gods, but the way to God —
the one living, only and true, even through Him who
said "I am the Way."
7

THE CHINESE ETHICAL SYSTEM IN JAPAN

" Things being investigated, knowledge became complete ; knowledge be
ing complete, thoughts were sincere ; thoughts being sincere, hearts were
rectified ; hearts being rectified, persons were cultivated ; persons being
cultivated, families were regulated; families being regulated, states were
rightly governed ; states being rightly governed, the whole nation was
made tranquil and happy. "
" When you know a thing to hold that you know it ; and when you do
not know a thing to allow that you do not know it ; this is knowledge."
"Old age sometimes becomes second childhood; why should not filial
piety become parental love ? "
" The superior man accords with the course of the mean. Though he
may be all unknown, unregarded by the world, he feels no regret. He is
only the sage who is able for this," — Sayings of Confucius.
"There is, in a word, no bringing down of God to men in Confucianism
in order to lift them up to Him. Their moral shortcomings, when brought
home to them, may produce a feeling of shame, but hardly a conviction of
guilt." — James Legge.
"Do not to others what yon would not have them do to you." — The
Silver Rule,
" All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even
so to them, " — The Golden Rule,
" In respect to revenging injury done to master or father, it is granted by
the wise and virtuous (Confucius) that you and the injurer cannot live to
gether under the canopy of heaven," — ^Legacy of lyeyasii, Cap, Iii., Low-
der's translation.
"But I say unto you forgive your enemies," — Jesus.
" Thou, O Ijprd, art our father, our redeemer, thy name is from ever
lasting. " — ^Isaiah.

CHAPTEE IV
THE CHINESE ETHICAL SYSTEM IN JAPAN
Confucius a Historical Character
If the greatness of a teacher is to be determined by
the number of his disciples, or to be measured by the
extent and diversity of his influence, then the foremost
place among all the teachers of mankind must be
awarded to The Master Kung (or Confucius, as the
Jesuit scholars of the seventeenth century Latinized
the name). Certainly, he of all truly historic person
ages is to-day, and for twenty-three centuries has been,
honored by the largest number of followers.
Of the many systems of religion in the world, but
few are based upon the teachings of one person. The
reputed founders of some of them are not known in
history with any certainty, and of others — as in the
case of Buddhism — have become almost as shadows
among a great throng of imaginary Buddhas or other
beings which have sprung from the fancies of the brain
and become incorporated into the systems, although
the original teachers may indeed have been historical.
Confucius is a clear and distinct historic person.
His parentage, place of birth, public life, offices, work
and teaching, are well known and properly authenti
cated. He used the pen freely, and not only compiled,
edited and transmitted the writings of his predecessors,

102 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
but composed an historical and interpretative book.
He originated nothing, however, but on the contrary
disowned any purpose of introducing- new ideas, or of
expressing- thoughts of his own not based upon or in
perfect harmony with the teaching of the ancients. He
was not an original thinker. He was a compiler, an
editor, a defender and reproclaimer of the ancient re
ligion, and an exemplar of the wisdom and writings of
the Chinese fathers. He felt that his duty was exact
ly that which some Christian theologians of to-day
conscientiously feel to be theirs — to receive intact a
certain "deposit" or "system" and, adding nothing to
it, simply to teach, illuminate, defend, enforce and
strongly maintain it as "the truth." He gloried in
absolute freedom from all novelty, anticipating in this
respect a certain illustrious American who made it a
matter for boasting, that his school had never origi
nated a new idea.^ Whether or not the Master Kxmg
did nevertheless, either consciously or unconsciously,
modify the ancient system by abbre-viating or enlarg
ing it, we cannot now inquire.
. Confucius was born into the world in the year 551
B.C., during that wonderful century of religious revival
which saw the birth of Ezra, Gautama, and Lao Tsze,
and in boyhood he displayed an unusually sedate tem
perament which made him seem to be what we would
now call an " old-fashioned child." The period during
whioh he lived was that of feudal China. From the
age of twenty-two, whUe holding an office in the state
of Lu within the modern province of Shan-Tung, he
gathered around him young men as pupUs with whom,
like Socrates, he conversed in question and answer.
He made the teachings of the ancients the subjects of

THE CHINESE ETHICAL SYSTEM IN JAPAN 103
his research, and he was at all times a diligent student
of the primeval records. These sacred books are called
King, or Kio in Japanese, and are : Shu King, a collec
tion of historic documents ; Shih King, or Book of
Odes ; Hsiao King, or Classic of Filial Piety, and Yi
King, or Book of Changes.^ This di-?ision of the old
sacred canon, resembles the Christian or non-Jewish
arrangement of the Old Testament scriptures in the
four parts of Law, History, Poetry and Prophesy,
though in the Chinese we have History, Poetry, Ethics
and Divination.^
His own table-talk, conversations, discussions and
notes were compiled by his pupils, and are preserved
in the work entitled in English, " The Confucian Ana
lects," which is one of the four books constituting the
most sacred portion of Chinese philosophy aud in
struction. He also wrote a work named " Spring and
Autumn, or Chronicles of his Native State of Lu from
722 B.C., to 481* B.C." He "changed his world," as
the Buddhists say, in the year 478 B.C., having lived
seventy-three years. Primitive Chinese Faith.
The pre-Confuciah or primitive faith was mono
theistic, the forefathers of the Chinese nation having
been believers in one Supreme Spiritual Being. There
is an almost universal agreement among scholars in
translating the term " Shang Ti " as God, and in read
ing from these classics that the forefathers " in the
ceremonies at the altars of Heaven and earth . . .
served God." Concurrently with the worship of one
Supreme God there was also a belief in subordinate
spirits and in the idea of revelation or the communi-

104 THM RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
cation of God with men. This restricted worship of
God was accompanied by reverence for ancestors and
the honoring of spirits by prayers and sacrifices, which
resulted, however, neither in deification nor polythe
ism. But, as the European mediaeval schoolmen have
done with the Bible, so, after the death of Confucius
the Chinese scholastics by metaphysical reasoning
and commentary, created systems of interpretation
which greatly altered the apparent form and contents
of his own and of the ancient texts. Thus, the origi
nal monotheism of the pre-Confucian documents has
been completely obscm-ed by the later webs of sophis
try which have been woven about the original scriptures.
The ancient simplicity of doctrine has been lost in the
mountains of commentary which were piled upon the
primitive texts. Throughout the centuries, the Con
fucian system has been conditioned and greatly modi
fied by Taoism, Buddhism and the speculations of the
Chinese wise men.
Confucius, however, did not change or seriously
modify the ancient religion except that, as is more
than probable, he may have laid unnecessary emphasis
upon social and political duties, and may not have
been sufficiently interested in the honor to be paid to
Shang Ti or God. He practically ignored the God-
ward side of man's duties. His teachings relate
chiefly to duties between man and man, to propriety '
and etiquette, and to ceremony and usage. He said
that " To give one's self to the duties due to men and
while respecting spiritual beings to keep aloof from
them, may be called wisdom. "^
We think that Confucius cut the tap-root of all true
progress, and therefore is largely responsible for the

THE CHINESE ETHICAL SYSTEM IN JAPAN 105
arrested development of China. He avoided the per
sonal term, God (Ti), and instead, made use of the ab
stract term. Heaven (Tien). His teaching, which is so
often quoted by Japanese gentlemen, was, " Honor the
Gods and keep them far from you." His image stands
in thousands of temples and in every school, in China,
but he is only revered and never deified.
China has for ages suffered from agnosticism ; for no
normal Confucian ist can love God, though he may i
learn to reverence him. The Emperor periodically
worships for his people, at the great marble altar to
Heaven in Peking, with vast holocausts, and the pray
ers which are offered may possibly amount to this :
" Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy
name." But there, as it seems to a Christian, Chinese
imperial worship stops. The people at large, cut off
by this restricted worship from direct access to God,
have wandered away into every sort of polytheism and
idolatry, while the religion of the educated Chinese is
a mediaeval philosophy based upon Confucianism, of
which we shall speak hereafter.
The Confucian system as a religion, like a giant
-with a child's head, is exaggerated on its moral and
ceremonial side as compared with its spiritual devel
opment. Some deny that it is a religion at all, and
call it only a code. However, let us examine the Con
fucian ethics which formed the basis and norm of all
government in the family and nation, and are summed
up in the doctrine of the "Five Eelations." These
are : Sovereign and Minister ; Father and Son ; Hus
band and Wife ; Elder Brother and Younger Brother;
and Friends. The relation being stated, the correla
tive duty arises at once. It may perhaps be truly said

106 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
by Christians that Confucius might have made a re
Ugion of his system of ethics, by adding a sixth and
supreme relation — ^that between God and man. This
he declined to do, and so left his people without any
aspiration toward the Infinite. By setting before
them only a finite goal he sapped the principles of
progress.^ Vicissitudes of Confucianism.
After the death of Confucius (478 B.C.) the teachings
of the great master were neglected, but stUl later
they were re-enforced and expounded in the time
(372-289 B.C.) of Meng Ko, or Mencius (as the name
has been Latinized) who was likewise a native of the
State of Lu. At one time a Chinese Emperor at
tempted in vain to destroy not only the writings of
Confucius but also the ancient classics. Taoism in
creased as a power in the religion of China, especiaUy
after the fall of its feudal system. The doctrine of an
cestral worship as commended by the sage had in it
much of good, both for kings and nobles. The com
mon people, however, found that Taoism was more sat
isfying. About the beginning of the Christian era
Buddhism entered the Middle Kingdom, and, rapidly
becoming popular, supplied needs for which simple
Confucianism was not adequate. It may be said that
in the sixth century — which concerns us especially —
although Confucianism continued to be highly es-^
teemed, Buddhism had become supreme in China —
that venerable State which is the mother of civiUza
tion in all Asia east of the Ganges, and the Middle
Kingdom among pupil nations.
Confucianism overfiowed from China into Korea,

THE CHINESE ETHICAL SYSTEM IN JAPAN 107
where to this day it is predominant even over Buddh
ism. Thence, it was carried beyond sea to the Jap
anese Archipelago, where for possibly fifteen hundred
years it has shaped and moulded the character of a
brave and chivalrous people. Let us now turn from
China and trace its influence and modifications in the
Land of the Eisiug Sun.
It must be remembered that in the sixth century of
the Christian Era, Confucianism was by no means the
fully developed philosophy that it is now and has been
for five hundred years. In former times, the system of
Confucius had been received in China not only as a
praiseworthy compendium of ceremonial observances,
but also as an inheritance from the ancients, illumined
by the discourses of the great sage and illustrated by
his life and example. It was, however, very far from
being what it is at present — the religion of the edu
cated men of the nation, and, by excellence, the relig
ion of Chinese Asia. But in those early centuries it
did not fuUy satisfy the Chinese mind, Avhich turned
to the philosophy of Taoism and to the teachings of the
Buddhist for intellectual food, for comfort and for in
spiration. The time when Chinese learning entered Japan, by
the way of Korea, has not been precisely ascertained,'
It is possible that letters ^ and writings were kno-wn
in some parts of the country as early as the fourth cen-
..tury, but it is nearly certain, that, outside the Court of
the Emperor, there was scarcely even a sporadic knowl
edge of the literature of China until the Korean mis
sionaries of Buddhism had obtained a lodgement in the
Mikado's capital. Buddhism was the real purveyor of
the foreign learning and became the vehicle by means

lOS THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
of which Confucianism, or the Chinese ethical princi
ples, reached the common people of Japan. The first
missionaries in Japan were heartily in sympathy with
the Confucian ethics, from which no effort was made
to alienate them. They were close allies, and for a
thousand years -wrought as one force in the national
life. They were not estranged until the introduction,
in the seventeenth century, of the metaphysical and
scholastic forms given to the ancient system by the Chi
nese schoolmen of the Sung dynasty (a.d. 960-1383).
Japanese Confucianism and Feudalism Contemporary.
The intellectual history of the Japanese prior to
their recent contact with Christendom, may be divided
into three eras :
1. The period of early insular or purely native
thought, from before the Christian era until the eighth
century ; by which time, Shinto, or the indigenous sys
tem of worship — its ritual, poetry and legend having
been committed to writing and its life absorbed in
Buddhism — had been, as a system, relegated from the
nation and the people to a smaU circle of scholars and
archaeologists. 2. The period from 800 a.d. to the beginning of the
seventeenth century ; during which time Buddhism
furnished to the nation its religion, philosophy and
culture. 3. From about 1630 a.d. until the present time ; dur
ing which period the developed Confucian philoso
phy, as set forth by Chu Hi in the twelfth century,
has been the creed of a majority of the educated men
of Japan.

THE CHINESE ETHICAL SYSTEM IN JAPAN 109
The political history of the Japanese may also be
divided into three eras :
1. The first extends from the dawn of history until
the seventh century. During this period the system
of government was that of rude feudalism. The con
quering tribe of Yamato, having gradually obtained a
rather imperfect supremacy over the other tribes in the
middle and southern portions of the country now called
the Empire of Japan, ruled them in the name of the
Mikado. 2. The second period begins in the seventh cen
tury, when the Japanese, copying the Chinese model,
adopted a system of centralization. The country was
di-dded into pro-vdnces and was ruled through boards
or ministries at the capital, with governors sent out
from Kioto for stated periods, directly from the em
peror. During this time literature was chiefly the
work of the Buddhist priests and of the women of the
imperial court.
While armies in the field brought into subjection
the outlying tribes and certain noble famiUes rose to
prominence at the com-t, there was being formed that
remarkable class of men called the Samurai, or servants
of the Mikado, which for more than ten centuries has
exercised a profound influence upon the development
of Japan.
In China, the pen and the sword have been kept
apart ; the civilian and the soldier, the man of letters
and the man of arms, have been distinct and separate.
This was also true in old Loo Clioo (now Eiu Kiu),
that part of Japan most Uke China. In Japan, how
ever, the pen and the sword, letters and arms, the
civilian and the soldier, have intermingled. The

110 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
unique product of this imion is seen iu the Samurai, or
servant of the Mikado. Military-Uterati, are unknown
in China, but in Japan they carried the sword and the
pen in the same girdle.
3. This class of men had become fully formed by the
end of the twelfth centm-y, and then began the new
feudal system, which lasted until the epochal year 1868
a.d. — a year of several revolutions, rather than of res
toration pure and simple. After nearly seven him-
dred years of feudalism, supreme magistracy, with
power vastly increased beyond that possessed in an
cient times, was restored to the emperor. Then also
was abolished the duarchy of Throne and Camp, of
Mikado and Shogun, and of the two capitals Kioto and
Yedo, with the fountain of honor and authority in one
and the fountain of power and execution in the other.
Thereupon, Japan once more presented to the world,
unity. Practically, therefore, the period of the prevalence of
the Confucian ethics and their universal acceptance by
the people of Japan nearly coincides with the period
of Japanese feudalism or the dominance of the miUtary
classes. Although the same ideograph, or rather logogram,
was used to designate the Chinese scholar and the
Japanese warrior as weU, yet the former was man of
the pen only, while the latter was man of the pen and
of two swords. This historical fact, more than any
other, accounts for the striking differences between
Chinese and Japanese Confucianism. Under this
state of things the ethical system of the sage of China
suffered a change, as does almost everything that is im
ported into Japan and borrowed by the islanders, but

THE CHINESE ETHICAL SYSTEM IN JAPAN 111
whether for the better or for the worse we shall not
inquire too carefuUy. The point upon which we now
lay emphasis is this : that, although the Chinese
teacher had made filial piety the basis of his system,
the Japanese graduaUy but surely made loyalty (Kun-
Shin), that is, the allied relations of sovereign and
minister, of lord and retainer, and of master and ser
vant, not only first in order but the chief of aU.
They also infused into this term ideas and associations
which are foreign to the Chinese mind. In the place
of fiUal piety was Kun-shin, that new growth in the
garden of Japanese ethics, out of which arose the white
flower of loyalty that blooms perennial in history.

In Japan, Loyalty Displaces Filial Piety.
This slow but sure adaptation of the exotic to its
new en-vironment, took place during the centuries pre
vious to the seventeenth of the Christian era. The
completed product presented a growth so strikingly
different from the original as to compel the wonder of
those Chinese refugee scholars, who, at Mito' and
Yedo, taught the later dogmas which are orthodox but
not historicaUy Confucian.
Herein Ues the difference between Chinese and
Japanese ethical philosophy. In old Japan, loyalty was
above fiUal obedience, and the man who deserted
parents, wife and children for the feudal lord, received
unstinted praise. The corner-stone of the Japanese
edifice of personal righteousness and pubUc weal, is
loyalty. On the other hand, fiUal piety is the basis of
Chinese order and the secret of the amazing national

112 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
longe-vity, which is one of the moral wonders of the
world, and sure proof of the fulfilment of that promise
which was made on Sinai and wrapped up in the fourth
commandment. This master passion of the typical Samurai of old
Japan made him regard life as infinitely less than noth
ing, whenever duty demanded a display of the -virtue of
loyalty. " The doctrines of Koshi and Moshi " (Con
fucius and Mencius) formed, and possibly even yet
form, the gospel and the quintessence of all wordly
wisdom to the Japanese gentleman ; they became the
basis of his education and the ideal which inspired his
conceptions of duty and honor ; but, cro-wning aU his
doctrines and aspirations was his desire to be loyal.
There might abide loyal, marital, filial, fraternal and
various other relations, but the greatest of aU these was
loyalty. Hence the Japanese calendar of saints is not
filled with reformers, alms -givers and founders of hos
pitals or orphanages, but is over-crowded -with canon
ized suicides and committers of hara-kiri. Even to
day, no man more quickly wins the popular regard
during his life or more surely draws homage to his
tomb, securing even apotheosis, than the suicide,
though he may have committed a crime. In this era of
Meiji or enlightened peace, most appalUng is the list of
assassinations beginning with the murder in Kioto of
Yokoi Heishiro, who was slain for recommending the
toleration of Christianity, do-wn to the last cabinet min
ister who has been knifed or dynamited. Yet in every
case the murderers considered themselves consecrated
men and ministers of Heaven's righteous vengeance.'"
For centuries, and until constitutional times, the gov
ernment of Japan was " despotism tempered by as-

THE CHINESE ETHICAL SYSTEM IN JAPAN 113
sassination." The old-fashioned way of moving a vote
of censure upon the king's ministers was to take off
their heads. Now, however, election by ballot has
been substituted for this, and two miUion swords have
become bric-a-brac.
A thousand years of training in the ethics of Con
fucius — which always admirably lends itseU to the
possessors of absolute power, whether emperors, feu
dal lords, masters, fathers, or older brothers — have so
tinged and colored every conception of the Japanese
mind, so dominated their avenues of understanding
and shaped then- modes of thought, that to-day, not
withstanding the recent marveUous development of
their language, which within the last two decades has
made it almost a new tongue," it is impossible with
perfect accuracy to translate into English the ordinary
Japanese terms which are congregated under the gen
eral idea of Kun-shin.
Herein may be seen the great benefit of carefully
studying the minds of those whom we seek to convert.
The Christian preacher in Japan who uses our terms
"heaven," "home," "mother," "father," "family,"
"wife," "people," "love," "reverence," "virtue," "chas
tity," etc., will find that his hearers may indeed re
ceive them, but not at aU with the same mental images
and associations, nor with the same proportion and
depth, that these words command in western thought
and hearing. One must be exceedingly careful, not
only in translating terms which have been used by
Confucius in the Chinese texts, but also in selecting
and rendering the current expressions of the Japanese
teachers and philosophers. In order to understand
each other, Orientals and Occidentals need a great deal

114 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
of mutual intellectual drilling, without which there wiU
be waste of money, of time, of brains and of life.
The Five Relations.
Let us now glance at the fundamentals of the Confu
cian ethics — the Five Eelations — as they were taught
in the comparatively simple system which prevailed
before the new orthodoxy was proclaimed by Sung
schoolmen. First. Although, each of the Chinese and Japa
nese emperors is supposed to be, and is called, " father
of the people," yet it would be entirely wrong to im
agine that the phrase implies any such relation, as that
of William the Silent to the Dutch, or of Washington to
the American nation. In order to see how far the em
peror was removed from the people during a thousand
years, one needs but to look upon a brilliant painting of
the Yamato-Tosa school, in which the Mikado is repre
sented as sitting behind a cloud of gold or a thick cur
tain of fine bamboo, with no one before the matting-
throne but his prime ministers or the empress and his
concubines. For centuries, it was supposed that the
Mikado did not touch the ground with his feet. He
went abroad in a curtained car ; and he was not only
as mysterious and invisible to the public eye 'as a
dragon, but he was called such. The attributes of that
monster with many powers and functions, were applied
to him, with an amazing wealth of rhetoric and vocab
ulary. As well might the common folks to-day pre
sume to pray unto one of the transcendent Buddhas,
between whom and the needy suppliant there may be
hosts upon hosts of interlopers or mediators, as for an

THE CHINESE ETHICAL SYSTEM IN JAPAN 115
ordinary subject to petition the emperor or even to
gaze upon his dragon countenance. The change in the
constitutional Japan of our day is seen in the fact that
the term "Mikado" is now obsolete. This description
of the relation of sovereign and minister (inaccurately
characterized by some writers on Confucianism as that
of "King and subject," a phrase which might almost,
fit the constitutional monarchy of to-day) shows the
relation, as it did exist for nearly a thousand years of
Japanese history. We find the same imitation of pro
cedure, even when imperialism became only a shadow
in the government and the great Shogun who called
himself "Tycoon," the ruler in Yedo, aping the majesty
of Kioto, became so powerful as to be also a dragon.
Between the Yedo Shogun and the people rose a great
staircase of numberless subordinates, and should a sub
ject attempt to offer a petition in person he must pay
for it by crucifixion.'^
As, under the emperor there were court ministers,
heads of departments, governors and functionaries of
all kinds before the people were reached, so, under the
Shogun in the feudal days, there were the Daimios or
great lords and the Shomios or small lords with their
retainers in graduated subordination, and below these
were the servants and general humanity. Even after
the status of man was reached, there were gradations
and degradations through fractions down to ciphers
and indeed to minus quantities, for there existed in the
Country of Brave Warriors some tens of thousands of
human beings bearing the names of eta (pariah) and
hi-nin (non-human), who were far below the pale of
humanity.

116 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN

The Paramount Idea of Loyalty.
The one idea which dominated all of these classes, '^
— in Old Japan there were no masses but only many
classes — was that of loyalty. As the Japanese lan
guage shows, every faculty of man was subordinated
to this idea. Confucianism even conditioned the de
velopment of Japanese grammar, as it also did that of
the Koreans, by multiplying honorary prefixes and
suffixes and building up all sociable and poUte speech
on perpendicular lines. Personality was next to noth
ing and individuality was in a certain sense unknown.
In European languages, the pronoun shows how clearly .
the ideas of personality and of individuality have been
developed ; but in the Japanese language there really
are no pronouns, in the sense of the word as used by
the Germanic nations, at least, although there are
hundreds of impersonal and topographical substitutes
for them." The mirror, of the language itself, refiects
more truth upon this point of inquiry than do patri
otic assertions, or the protests of those who in the days
of this Meiji era so handsomely employ the Japanese
language as the medium of thought. Strictly speaking,
the ego disappears in ordinary conversation and ac
tion, and instead, it is the servant speaking reverently
to his master ; or it is the master condescending to
the object which is " before his hand " or " to the
side " or " below " where his inferior kneels ; or it is
the " honorable right " addressing the " esteemed left."
All the terms which a foreigner might use in speak
ing of the duties of sovereign and minister, of lord
and retainer and of master and servant, are compre-

THE CHINESE ETHICAL SYSTEM IN JAPAN 117
hended in the Japanese word, Kun-shin, in which is
crystalUzed but one thought, though it may relate to
three grades of society. The testimony of history and
of the language shows, that the feelings which we call
loyalty and reverence are always directed upward,
while those which we term benevolence and love in
variably look downward.
Note herein the difference between the teachings of
Christ and those of the Chinese sage. According to
the latter, if there be love in the relation of the master
and servant, it is the master who loves, and not the
servant who may only reverence. It would be in
harmonious for the Japanese servant to love his mas
ter; he never even talks of it. And in family life,
while the parent may love the child, the child is not
expected to love the parent but rather to reverence
him. So also the Japanese wife, as in our old script
ural versions, is to " see that she reverence her hus
band." Love (not a^ape, but eros) is indeed a theme
of the poets and of that part of life and of Uterature
which is, strictly speaking, outside of the marriage
relation, but the thought that dominates in marital
life, is reverence from the wife and benevolence from
the husband. The Christian conception, which re
quires that a woman should love her husband, does
not strictly accord with the Confucian idea.
Christianity has taught us that when a man loves a
woman purely and makes her his wife, he should also
have reverence for her, and that this element should be
an integral part of his love. Christianity also teaches
a reverence for children; and Wordsworth has but
followed the spirit of his great master, Christ, when
expressing this beautiful sentiment in his melodious

lis THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
numbers. Such ideas as these, however, are discords
in Japanese social life of the old order. So also the
Christian preaching of love to God, sounds outlandish
to the men of Chinese mind in the middle or the
pupil kingdom, who seem to think that it can only
come from the lips of those who have not been prop
erly trained. To " love God " appears to them as
being an unwarrantable patronage of, and familiarity
with " Heaven," or the King of Kings. The same dif
ficulty, which to-day troubles Christian preachers and
translators, existed among the Eoman Catholic mis
sionaries three centuries ago.'° The moulds of thought
were not then, nor are they even now, entirely ready
for the full truth of Christian revelation.
Suicide Made Honorable.
In the long story of the Honorable Country, there
are to be found many shining examples of loyalty,
which is the one theme oftenest illustrated in popular
fiction and romance. Its well-attested instances on the
crimson thread of Japanese history are more numerous
than the beads on many rosaries. The most famous
of all, perhaps, is the episode of the Forty-Seven Eo-
nins, which is a constant favorite in the theatres, and
has been so graphically narrated or pictured by scores
of native poets, authors, artists, sculptors and drama
tists, and told in English by Mitford, Dickens and
Greey.'^ These forty-seven men hated wife, child, society,
name, fame, food and comfort for the sake of avenging
the death of their master. In a certain sense, they
ceased to be persons in order to become the imper-

THE CHINESE ETHICAL SYSTEM IN JAPAN 119
sonal instruments of Heaven's retribution. They gave
up everything — houses, lands, kinsmen — that they
might have in this life the hundred-fold reward of
vengeance, and in the world-life of humanity through
out the centuries, fame and honor. Feeding the hun
ger of their hearts upon the hope of glutting that
hunger with the life-blood of their victim, they waited
long years. When once their swords had drunk the
consecrated blood, they laid the severed head upon
their master's tomb and then gladly, even rapturously,
delivered themselves up, and ripping open their bowels
they died by that judicially ordered seppuku which
cleansed their memory from every stain, and gave
to them the martyr's fame and crown forever. The
tombs of these men, on the hillside overlooking the
Bay of Yedo, are to this day ever fragrant with fresh
flowers, and to the cemetery where their ashes lie and
their memorials stand, thousands of pUgiims annually
wend their way. No dramas are more permanently
popular on the stage than those which display the vir
tues of these heroes, who are commonly spoken of as
" The righteous Samm-ai." Their tombs have stood
for two centuries, as mighty magnets drawing others to
self-impalement on the sword — as multipliers of sui
cides. Yet this alphabetic number, this i-ro-ha of self-
murder, is but one of a thousand instances in the
Land of Noble Suicides. From the pre-historic days
when the custom of Jun-shi, or dying with the master,
required the interment of the living retainers with
the dead lord, down through all the ages to the Eev-
olution of 1868, when at Sendai and Aidzu scores of
men and boys opened their bowels, and mothers slew

120 TIIE RELIGIONS OF .TAP AN
their infant sons and cut their own throats, there has
been flowing through Japanese history a river of sui
cides' blood " having its springs in the devotion of re
tainers to masters, and of soldiers to a lost cause as
represented by the feudal superior. Shigemori, the
son of the prime minister Kiyomori, who protected the
emperor even against his own father, is a model of
that Japanese kun-shin which placed fldeUty to the
sovereign above filial obedience ; though even yet
Shigemori's name is the synonym of both -virtues.
Kusunoki Masashige," the white flower of Japanese
chivalry, is but one, typical not only of a thousand but
of thousands of thousands of soldiers, who hated par
ents, wife, child, friend in order to be disciple to the
supreme loyalty. He sealed his creed by emptying
his own veins. Kiyomori," like King David of Israel,
on his dying bed ordered the assassination of his per
sonal enemy.
The common Japanese novels read like records of
slaughter-houses. No Moloch or Shiva has won more
victims to his shrine than has this idea of Japan
ese loyalty which is so beautiful in theory and so
hideous in practice. Despite the military clamps and
frightful despotism of Yedo, which for two hundred and
fifty years gave to the world a delusive idea of pro
found quiet in the Country of Peaceful Shores, there
was in fact a chronic unrest which amounted at many
times and in many places to anarchy. The calm of
despotism was, indeed, rudely broken by the aliens in
the " black ships " with the " flowery flag " ; but, with
out regarding influences from the West, the indications
of history as now read, pointed in 1850 toward the
bloodiest of Japan's many civil wars. Could the sta-

THE CHINESE ETHICAL SYSTEM IN JAPAN 121
tistics of the suicides during this long period be col
lected, their publication would excite in Christendom
the utmost incredulity.
Nevertheless, this qualifying statement should be
made. A study of the origin and development of the
national method of self-destruction shows that suicide
by seppuku, or opening- of the abdomen, was flrst a
custom, and then a privilege. It took, among men of
honor, the place of the public executions, the massacres
in battle and siege, decimation of rebels and similar
means of killing at the hands of others, which so often
mar the historical records of western nations. Un
doubtedly, therefore, in the minds of most Japanese,
there are many instances of hara-kiri which should
not be classed as suicide, but technically as execution
of judicial sentence. And yet no sentence or process
of death known in western lands had such influence in
glorifying the victim, as had seppuku in Japan.
The Family Idea.
The Second Eelation is that of father and son, thus
preceding what we should suppose to be the first of
human relations — husband and wife — but the arrange
ment entirely accords with the Oriental conception that
the family, the house, is more important than the in
dividual. In Old Japan the paramount idea in mar
riage, was not that of love or companionship, or of mu
tual assistance with children, but was almost wholly
that of offspring, and of maintaining the family line.*
The individual might perish but the house must live
on. Very different from the family of Christendom, is the

122 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
family in Old Japan, in which we find elements that
would not be recognized where monogamy prevails
aud children are born in the home and not in the herd.
Instead of father, mother and children, there are father,
wife, concubines, and various sorts of children who
are born of the wife or of the concubine, or have been
adopted into the family. With us, adoption is the ex
ception, but in Japan it is the invariable rule whenever
either convenience or necessity requires it of the
house. Indeed it is rare to find a set of brothers bear
ing the same family name. Adoption and concubinage
keep the house unbroken,^' It is the house, the name,
which must continue, although not necessarily by a
blood line. The name, a social trade-mark, lives on
for ages. The line of Japanese emperors, which, in the
Constitution of 1889, by adding mythology to history
is said to rule " unbroken from ages eternal," is not
one of fathers and sons, but has been made continuous
by concubinage and adoption. In this view, it is pos
sibly as old as the line of the popes.
It is very evident that our terms and usages do not
have in such a home the place or meaning which one
not familiar with the real life of Old Japan would sup
pose. The father is an absolute ruler. There is in Old
Japan hardly any such thing as " parents," for practi
cally there is only one parent, as the woman counts for
little. The wife is honored if she becomes a mother,
but if childless she is very probably neglected. Our
idea of fatherhood implies that the child has rights
and that he should love as well as be loved. Our cus
toms excite not only the merriment but even the con
tempt of the old-school Japanese. The kiss and the
embrace, the linking of the child's arm around its

THE CHINESE ETHICAL SYSTEM IN JAPAN 123
father's neck, the address on letters " My dear Wife "
or " My beloved Mother " seem to them Uke carica
tures of propriety. On the other hand, it is undoubt
edly true that in reverence toward parents — or at least
toward one of the parents — a Japanese child is apt to
excel the one born even in a Christian home.
This so-called fiUal " piety " becomes in practice, how
ever, a horrible outrage upon humanity and especially
upon womanhood. During centuries the despotic
power of the father enabled him to put an end to the
life of his child, whether boy or girl.
Under this abominable despotism there is no protec
tion for the daughter, who is bound to sell her body,
while youth or beauty last or perhaps for life, to help
pay her father's debts, to support an aged parent or
even to gratify his mere caprice. In hundreds of Jap
anese romances the daughter, who for the sake of her
parents has sold herself to shame, is made the theme
of the story and an object of praise. In the minds of
the people there may be indeed a feeling of pity that
the girl has been obliged to give up her home life for
the brothel, but no one ever thinks of questioning the
right of the parent to make the sale of the girl's body,
any more than he would allow the daughter to rebel
against it. This idea still lingers and the institution
remains,^^ although the system has received stunning
blows from the teaching of Christian ethics, the preach
ing of a better gospel and the improvements in the law
of the land. The Marital Relation.
The Third Eelation is that of husband and wife.
The meaning of these words, however, is not the same

124 THE RELIGIONS OF .lAPAN
with the Japanese as with us. In Confucius there is
not only male and female, but also superior and in
ferior, master and servant.^' Without any love-making
or courtship by those most interested, a marriage be
tween two young people is arranged by their parents
through the medium of what is. called a " go-between."
The bride leaves her father's house forever — that is,
when she is not to be subsequently divorced — and en
tering into that of her husband must be subordinate
not only to him but also to his parents, and must obey
them as her own father and mother. Having all her
life under her father's roof reverenced her superiors,
she is expected to bring reverence to her new domicile,
but not love. She must always obey but never be jeal
ous. She must not be angry, no matter whom her hus
band may introduce into his household. She must
wait upon him at his meals and must walk behind him,
but not with him. When she dies her chUdren go to
her funeral, but not her husband.
A foreigner, hearing the Japanese translate our word
chastity by the term teiso or misao, may imagine that
¦the latter represents mutual obUgation and personal
purity for man and wife alike, but on looking into the
dictionary he will find that teiso means "Womanly
duties." A circumlocution is needed to express the
idea of a chaste man.
Jealousy is a horrible sin, but is always supposed to
be a womanish fault, and so an exhibition of folly and
weakness. Therefore, to apply such a term to God —
— to say "a jealous God" — outrages the good sense of
a Oonfucianist,** almost as much as the statement that
God " cannot lie '' did that of the Pundit, who wondered
how God could be Omnipotent if He could not Ue,

THE CHINESE ETHICAL SYSTEM IN JAPAN 125
How great the need in Japanese social life of some
purifying principle higher than Confucianism can af
ford, is sho-wn in the little book entitled " The Japanese
Bride," -^ written by a native, and scarcely less in the
storm of native criticism it caUed forth. Under the
system which has ruled Japan for a millennium and a
half, divorce has been almost entirely in the hands of
the husband, and the document of separation, entitled
in common parlance the "three lines and a half," was
invariably written by the man. A woman might in
deed nominally obtain a divorce from her husband,
but not actually; for the severance of the marital tie
woidd be the work of the house or relatives, rather
than the act of the wife, who was not "a person" in the
case. Indeed, in the olden time a woman was not a
person in the eye of the law, but rather a chattel. The
case is somewhat different under the new codes,*' but
the looseness of the marriage tie is stiU a scandal to
thinking Japanese. Since the breaking up of the
feudal system and the disarrangement of the old social
and moral standards, the statistics made annuaUj from
the official census show that the ratio of divorce to
marriage is very nearly as one to three.^'
Tlie Elder and the Younger Brother.
The Fourth Eelation is that of Elder Brother and
Younger Brother. As we have said, foreigners in
translating some of the Chinese and Japanese terms
used in the system of Confucius are often led into er
rors by supposing that the Christian conception of
family life prevails also in Chinese Asia. By many
writers this relation is translated "brother to brother;"

126 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
but really in the Japanese language there is no term
meaning simply " brother " or " sister," ^ and a circumlo
cution is necessary to express the ideas which Ave con
vey by these words. It is always "older brother" or
"younger brother," and "older sister" or "younger
sister" — the male or female "kiyodai," as the case may
be. With us— excepting in lands where the law of
primogeniture still prevails — all the brothers are prac
tically equal, and it would be considered a violation of
Christian righteousness for a parent to show more
favor to one child than to another. In this respect
the "wisdom that cometh from above" is "-without
partiality." The Chinese ethical system, however, dis
regards the principle of mutual rights and duties, and
builds up the family on the theory of the subordina
tion of the younger brother to the elder brother, the
predominant idea being not mutual love, but, far more
than in the Christian household, that of rank and order.
The attitude of the heir of the family toward the other
children is one of condescension, and they, as well as
the Avidowed mother, regard the oldest son with rever
ence. It is as though the commandment given on
Sinai should read, " Honor thy father and thy elder
brother." The mother is an instrument rather than a person in
the life of the house, and the older brother is the
one on Avhom rests the responsibility of continuing
the family line. The younger brothers serve as sub
jects for adoption into other families, especially those
Avhere there are daughters to be married and family
names to be continued. In a word, the name belongs
to the house and not to the iudiAidual. The habit of
naming children after relatives or friends of the parents,

THE CHINESE ETHICAL SYSTEM IN JAPAN 127
or illustrious men and Avomen, is unknoAvn in Old
Japan, though an approach to this common custom
among us is made by conferring or making use of part
of a name, usually by the transferrence of one ideograph
forming the name-word. Such a practice lays stress
upon personality, and so has no place in the country
without pronouns, Avliere the idea of continuing the
personal house or semi-personal family, is predomi
nant. The customs prevalent in life are strong even in
death, and the elder brother or sister, in some provinces,
did not go to the funeral of the younger. This state
of aft'airs is reflected in Japanese literature, and pro
duces in romance as Avell as in history many situations
and episodes which seem almost incredible to the
Western mind.
In the lands ruled by Confucius the grown-up chil
dren usually live under the parental roof, and there
are few independent homes as we understand them.
The so-called family is composed both of the living
and of the dead, and constitutes the unit of society.
Friendship and Humanity.
The Fifth Eelation — Friends. Here, again, a mis
take is often made by those avIio import ideas of
Christendom into the terms used in Chinese Asia, and
Avho strive to make exact equivalent in exchanging the
coins of speech. Occidental Aviiters are prone to trans
late the term for the fifth relation into the English
phrase "man to man," Avhich leads the Western reader
to suppose that Confucius taught that universal love
for man, as mau, Avhicli Avas instilled and exemplified
by Jesus Christ. In translating Confucius they often

128 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
make the same mistake that some have done who read
in Terence's " Self -Tor mentor " the line, "I am a man,
and nothing human is foreign to me," "^ and imagine
that this is the sentiment of an enlightened Christian,
although the context shows that it is only the boast of
a busybody and parasite. What Confucius taught un
der the fifth relation is not universality, and, as com
pared tp the teachings of Jesus, is moonlight, not sun
light. The doctrine of the sage is clearly expressed in
the Analects, and amounts only to courtesy and pro
priety. He taught, indeed, that the stranger is to be
treated as a friend ; and although in both Chinese and
Japanese history there are illustrious proofs that Con
fucius had interpreters nobler than himself, yet it is
probable that the doctrine of the stranger's receiving
treatment as a friend, does not extend to the foreigner.
Confucius framed something Uke the Golden Eule —
though it were better called a Silver Eule, or possibly
a Gilded Eule, since it is in the negative instead of
being definitely placed in the positive and indicative
form. One may search his Avritings in vain for any
thing approaching- the parable of the Good Samaritan,
or the Avords of Him who commended Elijah for re
plenishing the cruse and barrel of the widoAv of Sarep-
ta, and Elisha for healing Naaman the Syrian leper,
and Jonah for preaching the good news of God to the
Assyrians avIio had been aliens and oppressors. Lao
Tsze, however, Avent so far as to teach "return good
for evil." When one of the pupils of Confucius inter
rogated his Master concerning this, the sage answered :
" What then Avill you return for good? Eecompense
injury with justice, and return good for good."
But if Ave do good only to those who do good to us,

THE CHINESE ETHICAL SYSTEM IN JAPAN 129
what thanks have we ? Do not the publicans the same ?
Behold how the Heavenly Father does good alike unto
all, sending rain upon the just and unjust !
How Old Japan treated the foreigner is seen in the
repeated repulse, Avith powder and ball, of the relief
ships Avhich, under the friendly stars and stripes, at
tempted to bring back to her shores the shipwrecked
natives of Nippon.'" Granted that this action may
have been pm-ely political and the Government alone
responsible for it — just as our un-Christian anti-Chi
nese legislation is similarly explained — yet it is certain
that the sentiment of the only men in Japan who made
public opinion, — the Samurai of that day, — was in
favor of this method of meeting the alien.
In 1852 the American expedition was despatched to
Japan for the purpose of opening a lucrative trade and
of extending American influence and glory, but also
unquestionably with the idea of restoring shipAvrecked
Japanese as well as securing kind treatment for ship
wrecked American sailors, thereby promoting the cause
of humanity and international courtesy ; in short, with
motives that were manifestly mixed.^' In the treaty
pavUion there ensued an interesting discussion be
tween Commodore Perry and Professor Hayashi upon
this very subject.
Perry truthfully complained that the dictates of
humanity had not been followed by the Japanese,
that unnecessary cruelty had been used against ship
Avrecked men, and that Japan's attitude toward her
neighbors and the whole world was that of au enemy
and not of a friend.
Hayashi, who was then probably the leading Oon
fucianist in Japan, Avarmly defended his countrymen
9

130 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
and superiors against the charge of intentional cruelty,
and denounced the lawless character of many of the
foreign sailors. Like most Japanese of his school and
age, he wound up with panegyrics on the pre-emi
nence in virtue and humanity, above all nations, of the
Country Euled by a Theocratic Dynasty, and on the
glory and goodness of the great Tokugawa family,
which had given peace to the land during two centu
ries or more.^^
It is manifest, however, that so far as this hostility
to foreigners, and this blind bigotry of " patriotism "
were based on Chinese codes of morals, as officially
taught in Yedo, they belonged as much to the old
Confucianism as to the new. Wherever the narrow
philosophy of the sage has dominated, it has made
Asia Chinese and nations hermits. As a rule, the
only way in Avhich foreigners could come peacefully
into China or the countries which she intellectually
dominated was as vassals, tribute-bearers, or " barba
rians." The mental attitude of China, Korea, Annam
and Japan has for ages been that of the Jews in Hero-
dian times, who set up, between the Court of Israel
and the Court of the Gentiles, their graven stones of
warning which read : ^
" No foreigner to proceed
Avithin the partition Avail
and enclosure around the
sanctuary ; Avhoever is
caught in the same
will on that account be liable
to incur death.''

CONFUCIANISM IN ITS PHILOSOPHICAL
FOEM

" After a thousand years the pine decays ; the iiower has its glory in
bloomiug for a day," — Hakkyoi, Chinese Poet of the Tang Dynasty,
" The morning-glory of an hour differs not in heart from the pine-tree of
a thousand years, " — Matsunaga of Japan.
" The pine's heart is not of a thousand years, nor the morning-glory's of
an hour, but only that they may fulfil their destiny."
" Since lyeyasu, his hair brushed by the wind, his body anointed with
rain, with lifelong labor caused confusion to cease and order to prevail,
for more than a hundred years there has been no war. The waves of the
four seas have been unruiHed and no one has failed of the blessing of peace.
The common folk must speak with reverence, yet it is the duty of scholars
to celebrate the virtue of the Government," — Kyuso, of Yedo,
"A ruler must have faithfal ministers. He who sees the error of his
lord and remonstrates, not fearing his wrath, is braver than he who bears
the foremost spear in battle." — lyeyasu,
" The choice of the Chinese philosophy and the rejection of Buddhism
was not because of any inherent qaality in the Japanese mind. It was
not the rejection of supernaturalism or the miraculous. The Chinese phil
osophy is as supernaturalistic as some forms of Buddhism, The distinc
tion is not between the natural and the supernatural in either system, but
between the seen and the unseen."
"The Chinese philosophy is as religious as the original teaching of
Gautama, Neither Shushi nor Gautama believed in a Creator, but both
believed in gods and demons. , , It has little place for prayer,
but has a vivid sense of the Infinite and the Unseen, and fervently believes
that right conduct is in accord with the ' eternal verities.' " — George WiU
iam Knox,
" In him is the yea, " — Paul,

CHAPTEE V
CONFUCIANISM IN ITS PHILOSOPHICAIi FOEM
Japan's Millennium of Simple Confucianism
Having seen the practical Avorking of the ethics of
Confucianism, especiaUy in the old and simple system,
let us now glance at the developed and philosophical
forms, which, by gi-ving the educated man of Japan a
creed, made him break away from Buddhism and de
spise it, whUe becoming often fanatically Confucian.
For a thousand years (from 600 to 1600 a.d.) the
Buddhist religious teachers assisted in promulgating
the ethics of Confucius ; for during all this time there
was harmony between the various Buddhisms imported
from India, Tibet, China and Korea, and the simple
undeveloped system of Chinese Confucianism. Slight
modifications were made by individual teachers, and
emphasis Avas laid upon this or that feature, while out
of the soU of Japanese feudaUsm were growths of cer
tain virtues as phases of loyalty, phenomenal beyond
those in China. Nevertheless, during all this time, the
Japanese teachers of the Chinese ethic were as stu
dents who did but recite what they learned. They
simply transmitted, without attempting to expand or
improve. Though the apparatus of distribution was early
known, block printing having been borrowed from the

134 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
Chinese after the ninth century, and movable types
learned from the Koreans and made use of in the six
teenth century,^ the Chinese classics Avere not printed
as a body until after the great peace of Genua (1615).
Nor during this period were translations made of the
classics or commentaries, into the Japanese vernacu
lar. Indeed, between the tenth and sixteenth cen
turies there Avas little direct intercourse, commercial,
diplomatic or intellectual, betAveen Japan and China,
as compared with the previous eras, or the decades
since 1870.
Suddenly in the seventeenth century the inteUect
of Japan, all ready for new surprises in the profound
peace inaugurated by lyeyasu, received, as it were,
an electric thrill. The great warrior, becoming first
a unifier by arms and statecraft, determined also to
become the architect of the national culture. Gather
ing- up, from all parts of the country, books, manu
scripts, and the appliances of intellectual discipline,
he encouraged scholars and stimulated education.
Under his supervision the Chinese classics were
printed, and were soon widely circulated. A college
was established in Yedo, and immediately there began
a critical study of the texts and principal commenta
ries. The fall of the Ming dynasty in China, and the
accession of the Manchiu Tartars, became the signal
for a great exodus of learned Chinese, Avho fled to
Japan. These received a warm welcome, both at the
capital and in Yedo, as well as in some of the castle
towns of the Daimios, among whom stand illustrious
those of the province of Mito.^
These men from the Avest brought not only ethics
but philosophy ; and the fertilizing- influences of these

CONFUCIANISM IN PHILOSOPHICAL FORM 135
scholars of the Dispersion, may be likened to those of
the exodus of the Greek learned men after the capture
of Constantinople by the Turks. Confucian schools
were established in most of the chief provincial cities.
For over tAvo hundred years this discipline in the Chi
nese ethics, Uterature and history constituted the edu
cation of the boys and men of Japan. Almost cA'ery
member of the Samm-ai classes was thoroughly drilled
in this curriculum. All Japanese social, official, intel
lectual and literary life was permeated with the new
spirit. Their " world " was that of the Chinese, and all
outside of it belonged to " barbarians." The matrices
of thought became so fixed and the Japanese language
has been so moulded, that even now, despite the in
tense and prolonged efforts of thirty years of acute and
laborious scholarship, it is impossible, as we have said,
to find English equivalents for terms which were used
for a century or two past in every - day Japanese
speech. Those who know most about these facts, are
most modest in attempting with English words to do
justice to Japanese thought ; while those who know
the least seem to be most glib, fiuent and voluminous
in shoAving to their own satisfaction, that there is lit
tle difference between the ethics of Chinese Asia and
those of Christendom.
Survey of the Intellectual History of China.
The Confucianism of the last quarter-mUlennium in
Japan is not that of her early centmies. While the
Japanese for a thousand years only repeated and re
cited — merely talking aloud in their intellectual sleep
but not reflecting — China was awake and thinking hard.

136 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
Japan's continued civil wars, Avhich caused the almost
total destruction of books and manuscripts, secured also
the triumph of Buddhism which meant the atrophy of
the national intellect. When, after the long feuds and
battles of the middle ages, Confucianism stepped the
second time into the Land of Brave Scholars, it was
no longer Avith the simple rules of conduct and cere
monial of the ancient days, nor was it as the ally of
Buddhism. It came Uke an armed man in fuU panoply
of harness and weapons. It entered to drive Buddhism
out, and to defend the inteUect of the educated against
the wiles of priestcraft. It was a fuU-bloAvn system of
pantheistic rationalism, with a scheme of philosophy
that to the far-Oriental mind seemed perfect as a rule
both of faith and practice. It came in a form that
was received as reUgion, for it was not only moraUty
"touched" but infused Avith motion. Nor were the
emotions kindled, those of the partisan only, but
rather also those of the devotee and the martyr.
Henceforth Buddhism, Avith its inventions, its fables,
and its endless dogmatism, was for the common peo
ple, for women and children, but not for the Samurai.
The new Confucianism came to Japan as the system
of Chu Hi. For tliree centuries this system had al
ready held sway over the inteUect of China. For two
centuries and a half it has dominated the minds of the
Samurai so that the majority of them to-day, even
with the new name Shizoku, are Confucianists so far
as they are anything.
To understand the origin of Buddhism we must
know something of the history and the previous reUg
ious and philosophical systems of India, and so, if we
are to appreciate modern " orthodox " Confucianism,

CONFUCIANISM IN PHILOSOPHICAL FORM 137
we must review the history of China, and see, in out
line, at least, its Uterature, politics and philosophy
during the middle ages.
" Four gTeat stages of literary and national develop
ment may be pointed to as intervening (in the fifteen
hundred years) between the great sage and the age
called that of the Sung-Ju,"^ from the tenth to the
fourteenth century, in which the Confucian system re
ceived its modern form. Each of them embraced the
course of three or four centuries.
I. From tbe sixth to the third century before Christ
the struggle was for Confucian and orthodox doctrine,
led by Mencius against various speculators in morals
and poUtics, Avith Taoist doctrine continuaUy increas
ing in acceptance.
II. The Han age (from B.C. 206 to a.d. 190) was
rich in critical expositors and commentators of the
classics, but "the tone of speculation was predomi
nantly Taoist."
III. The period of the Six Dynasties (from a.d.
221 to A.D. 618) was the golden age of Buddhism,
when the science and philosophy of India enriched
the Chinese mind, and the wealth of the country was
lavished on Buddhist temples and monasteries. The
faith of Shaka became nearly universal and the Buddh
ists led in philosophy and literature, founding a na
tive school of Indian philosophy.
IV. The Tang period (from a.d. 618 to 905)
marked by luxury and poetry, was an age of mental
inaction and enervating prosperity.
v. The fifth epoch, beginning with the Sung Dynasty
(from A.D. 960 to 1333) and lasting to our own time,
was ushered in by a period of intense mental energy.

138 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
Strange to say (and most interesting is the fact to
Americans of this generation), the immediate occasion
of the recension and expansion of the old Confucian
ism was a Populist movement.* During the Tang era
of national prosperity, Chinese socialists questioned
the foundations of society and of government, aud
there grew up a new school of interpreters as well as of
politicians. In the tenth century the contest between
the old Confucianism and the ucav notions, broke out
Avith a violence that threatened anarchy to the whole
empire. One set of politicians, led by Wang (1021-1086),
urged an extension of administrative functions, includ
ing agricultural loans, while the brothers Cheng
(1032-1085, 1033-1107) reaffirmed, Avith fresh inteUect
ual power, the old orthodoxy.
The school of Avriters and party agitators, led by
Szma Kwang (1009-1086)^ the historian, contended
that the ancient principles of the sages should be put
in force. Others, the Populists of that age and land,
demanded the entire overthrow of existing institu
tions. In the bitter contest Avhich ensued, the Eadicals and
Eeformers temporarily won the day and held power.
For a decade the experiment of innovation was tried.
Men turned things social and political upside down
to see hoAv they looked in that position. So these
stood or oscillated for thirteen years, when the people
demanded the old order again. The Conservatives
rose to power. There was no civil war, but the Eadi
cals were banished beyond the frontier, and the coun
try returned to normal government.
This controversy raised a landmark in the intellec-

CONFUCIANISM IN PHILOSOPHICAL FORM 139
tual history of China.'' The thoughts of men were
turned toAvard deep and acute inquiry into the nature
and use of things in general. This thinking resulted
in a Uterature which to-day is the basis of the opinions
of the educated men in all Chinese Asia. Instead of a
sapling Ave now have a mighty tree. The chief of the
Chinese Avriters, the Calvin of Asiatic orthodoxy, Avho
may be said to have wrought Confucianism mto a de
veloped philosophy, and who may be called the great
est teacher of the mind, of modern China, Korea and
Japan, is Chu Hi, Avho reverently adopted the criti
cisms on the Chinese classics of the brothers Cheng.'
It is evident that in Chu Hi's system, we have a body
of thought which may be called the result of Chinese
reflection during a miUennium and a half. It is the
ethics of Confucius transfused with the mystical ele
ments of Taoism and the speculations of Buddhism.
As the common people of China made an amalgam of
the three reUgions and consider them one, so the phi
losophers haA'e out of these three systems made one,
calling- that one Confucianism. The dominant philoso
phy in Japan to-day is based upon the writings of Chu
Hi (in Japanese, Shu Shi) and called the system of Tei-
Shu, which is the Japanese pronunciation of the names
of the Cheng brothers and of Chu (Hi). It is a medley
which the ancient sage could no more recognize than
would Jesus know much of the Christianity that casts
out devils in his name.
Contrast between the Chinese and Japanese Intellect.
Here we must draw a contrast between the Chinese
and Japanese intellect to the credit of the former ;

140 THE RELIGIONS OP JAPAN
China made, Japan borrowed. While history shows
that the Chinese mind, once at least, possessed mental
initiative, and the power of thinking out a system of
philosophy which to-day satisfies largely, if not wholly,
the needs of the educated Chinaman, there has been in
the Japanese mind, as shown by its history, appar
ently no such vigor or fruitfulness. From the literary
and philosophical points of view, Confucianism, as it
entered Japan, in the sixth century, remained practi
cally stationary for a thousand years. Modifications,
indeed, were made upon the Chinese system, and these
were striking and profound, but they were less devel
opments of the intellect than necessities of the case.
The modifications were made, as molten metal poured
into a mould shaped by other hands than the artist's
own, rather than as clay made plastic under the hand
of a designer. Buddhism, being the dominant force in
the thoughts of the Japanese for at least eight hundred
years, furnished the food for the requirements of man
on his intellectual and religious side.
Broadly speaking, it may be said that the Japanese,
receiving passively the Chinese classics, were content
simply to copy and to recite what they had learned. As
compared with their audacity in not only going beyond
the teachings of Buddha, but in inventing systems of
Buddhism which neither Gautama nor his first disciples
could recognize, the docile and almost slavish adhe
rence to ancient Confucianism is one of the astonishing
things in the history of religions in Japan. In the
field of Buddhism we have a luxuriant groAvth of new
and strange species of colossal weeds that overtower
and seem to have choked out whatever furze of original
Buddhism there was in Japan, whUe in the domain of

CONFUCIANISM IN PHILOSOPHICAL FORM 141
Confucianism there is a barren heath. Whereas, in
China, the voluminous literature created by commen
tators on Confucius and the commentaries on the com
mentators suggests the hyperbole used by the author of
John's Gospel,^ yet there is probably nothing on Con
fucianism from the Japanese pen in the thousand years
under our review which is worth the reading or the
translation.' In this respect the Japanese genius
shoAved its vast capabilities of imitation, adoption and
assimilation. As of old, Confucianism again furnished a Chinese
wall, Avithin which the Japanese could move, and
wherein they might find food for the mind in aU the
relations of Ufe and along all the Unes of achievement
permitted them. The philosophy imported from China,
as shown again and again in that land of oft-changing
dynasties, harmonizing with arbitrary government, ac
corded perfectly with the despotism of the Tokugawas,
the " Tycoons " who in Yedo ruled from 1603 to 1868.
Nothing new was permitted, and any attempt at modi
fication, enlargement, or improvement was not only
frowned and hissed down as impious innovation, but
usually brought upon the daring innovator the ban of
the censor, imprisonment, banishment, or death by en
forced suicide.'" In Yedo, the centre of Chinese learn
ing, and in other parts of the country, there were, in
deed, thinkers Avhose philosophy did not always tally
with what was taught by the orthodox,'' but as a rule
even when these men escaped the ban of the censor,
or the sword of the executioner, they were but as
voices crying in the wilderness. The great mass of
the gentry was orthodox, accordiug to the standards
of the Seido CoUege, Avhile the common people re-

142 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
mained faithftd to Buddhism. In the conduct of daily
life they followed the precepts Avhich had for centuries
been taught them by their fathers.
Philosophical Confucianism the Religion of the Samurai.
What Avere the features of this modern Confucian
philosophy, which the Japanese Samurai exalted to a
religion ? '^ We say philosophy and religion, because
while the teachings of the great sage lay at the bottom
of the system, yet it is not true since the early seven
teenth century, that the thinking men of Japan have
been satisfied Avith only the original simple ethical
rules of the ancient master. Though they have craved
a richer mental pabulum, yet they have enjoyed less
the study of the original text, than acquaintance with
the commentaries and communion Avith the great phUo
sophical exponents, of the master. What, then, we ask,
are the features of the developed philosophy, which,
imported from China, served the Japanese Samurai not
only as morals but for such religion as he possessed or
professed ?
We answer : The system was not agnostic, as many
modern and western writers assert that it is, and as
Confucius, transmitting and probably modifying- the
old religion, had made the body of his teachings to be.
Agnostic, indeed, in regard to many things wherein
a Christian has faith, modern Confucianism, besides
being bitterly polemic and hostUe to Buddhism, is
pantheistic. Certain it is that during the revival of Pure Shinto
in the eighteenth century, the scholars of the Shinto
school, and those of its great rival, the Chinese, agreed

CONFUCIANISM IN PHILOSOPHICAL FORM 143
in making loyalty '^ take the place of filial duty in the
Confucian system. To serve the cause of the Emperor
became the most essential duty to those Avith culti
vated minds. The ncAver Chinese phUosophy mightily
influenced the historians, Eai Sanyo and those of the
Mito school, whose works, uoav classic, reaUy began the
revolution of 1868. By forming- and setting in motion
the public opinion, Avhich finally overthrcAv the Sho
gun and feudalism, restored the Emperor to supreme
power, and unified the nation, they helped, with mod
ern ideas, to make the New Japan of our day. The
Shinto and the Chinese teachings became amalgamated
in a common cause, and thus the philosophy of Chu
Hi, mingUng with the nationalism and patriotism in
culcated by Shinto, brought about a remarkable result.
As a native scholar and philosopher observes, "It
certainly is strange to see the Tokugawa rule much
shaken, if not actually overthrown, by that doctrine
which generations of able Shoguns and their ministers
had earnestly encouraged and protected. It is perhaps
still more remarkable to see the Mito clan, under many
able and active chiefs, become the centre of the Kiuno "
movement, which was to result in the overthrow of the
Tokugawa famUy, of which it was itself a branch."
A Medley of Pantheism.
The philosophy of modern Confucianism is wholly
pantheistic. There is in it no such thing or being as
God. The orthodox pantheism of Old Japan means
that everything in general is god, but nothing in par
ticular is God ; that All is god, but not that God is all.
It is a " pantheistic medley." "

144 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
Chu Hi and his Japanese successors, especiaUy Kyu
so, argue finely and discourse volubly about Ki^^ or
spirit ; but it is not Spirit, or spiritual in the sense of
Him who taught even a woman at the well-curb at
Sychar. It is in the air. It is in the earth, the trees,
the floAvers. It comes to consciousness in man. His
Ri is the Tao of Lao Tsze, the Way, Eeason, Law. It
is formless, invisible.
" Bi is not separate from Ki, for then it were an empty ab
stract thing. It is joined to Ki, and may be called, by nature,
one decreed, changeless Norm. It is the rule of Ki, the very
centre, the reason Avhy Ki is Ki."
Ten or Heaven is not God or the abode of God, but
an abstraction, a sort of Unknowable, or Primordial
Necessity. " The doctrine of the Sages knows and worships Heaven,
and without faith in it there is no truth. For men and things,
the universe, are born and nourished by Heaven, and the
' Way,' the ' ri,' that is in all, is the ' Way,' the ' ri ' of Heaven.
Distinguishing root and branch, the heart is the root of Heaven
and the appearance, the revolution of tlie sun and moon, the
order of the stars, is the branch. The books of the sages teach
us to conform to the heart of Heaven and deal not with appear
ances," ' ' The teaching of the sages is the original truth and, given
to men, it forms both their nature and their relationships.
With it complete, naught else is needed for the perfect follow
ing of the ' Way,' Let then the child make its parents Heaven,
the retainer, his Lord, the wife her husband, and let each give
up life for righteousness. Thus will each serve for Heaven.
But if we exalt Heaven above parent or Lord, we shall come to
think we can serve it though they be disobeyed and like tiger
or wolf shall rejoice to kill them. To such fearful end does

CONFUCIANISM IN PHILOSOPHICAL FORM 145
the Western learning lead. , . , Let each one die for duty,
there is naught else we can do."
Thus wrote Ohashi Junzo, as late as 1857 A.D., the
same year in Avhich ToAvnsend Harris entered Yedo to
teach the practical philosophy of Christendom, and the
brotherhood of man as expressed in diplomacy. Ohashi
Junzo bitterly opposed the opening of Japan to modem
civilization and the ideas of Christendom. His book
was the SAvan-song of the dying Japanese Confucianism.
SloAv as is the dying, and hard as its death may be, the
mind of new Japan has laid away to dust aud oblivion
the Tei-shu philosophy. " At present they (the Chi
nese classics) have fallen into almost total neglect,
though phrases and allusions borrowed from them stiU
pass current in literature, and even to some extent in
the language of every-day life." Seido, the great tem
ple of Confucius in Tokyo, is noAV. utilized as an educa
tional Museum.'"
A study of this subject and of comparative relig
ion, is of immediate practical benefit to the Christian
teacher. The preacher, addressing- an audience made
up of educated Japanese, who speaks of God without
describing his personaUty, character, or attributes as
illustrated in Eevelation, will find that his hearers re
ceive his term as the expression for a bundle of ab
stract principles, or a system of laAvs, or some kind of
regulated force. They do, indeed, make some refer
ence to a " creator " by using a rare word. Occasion
ally, their language seems to touch the boundary line
on the other side of which is conscious intelligence,
but nothing approaching the clearness and definiteness
of the early Chinese monotheism of the pre-Confucian
classics is to be distinguished. '^ The modern Japan-
in

146 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
ese long ago heard joyfully the Avords, "Honor the
gods, but keep them far from you," and he has done it.
To love God would no more occur to a Japanese
gentleman than to have his child embrace and kiss
him. Whether the source and fountain of life of which
they speak has any Divine Spirit, is very uncertain,
but whether it has, or has not, man need not obey,
much less worship him. The universe is one, the es
sence is the same. Man must seek to know his place
in the universe ; he is but one in an endless chain ; let
him find his part and fulfil that part ; all else is vanitj^
One need not inquire into the origins or the ulti mates.
Man is moved by a power greater than himself ; he has
no real independence of his OAvn ; everything has its
rank and place ; indeed, its rank and place is its sole
title to a separate existence. If a man mistakes his
place he is a fool, he deserves punishment.
The Ideals of a Samurai.
Out of his place, man is not man. Duty is more im
portant than being. Nearly everything in our life is
fixed by fate ; there may seem to be exceptions, because
some wicked men are prosperous and some righteous
men are Avretched, but these are not real exceptions to
the general rule that we are made for oui- environment
and fitted to it. And then, again, it may be that our
judgments are not correct. Let the heart be right and
all is Avell, Let man be obedient and his outAvard cir
cumstance is nothing, having no relation to his joy or
happiness. Even Avhen as to his earthly body man
passes away, he is not destroyed ; the drop again be
comes part of the sea, the spark re-enters the flame,

CONFUCIANISM IN PHILOSOPHICAL FORM 147
and his life continues, though it be not a conscious
life. In this way man is in harmony with the origi
nal principle of all things. He outlasts the universe
itself. Hence to a conscientious Samurai there is nothing
in this world better than obedience, in the ideal of a
true man. What he fears most and hates most is that
his memory may perish, that he shall have no seed,
that he shall be forgotten or die under a cloud and be
thought treacherous or cowardly or base, Avhen in real
ity his life was pure and his motives high. " Better,"
sang Yoshida Shoin, the dying martyr for his princi
ples, "to be a crystal and to be broken, than to be a
tile upon the housetop and remain."
So, indeed, on a hundred curtained execution
grounds, Avith the dirk of the suicide flrmly grasped
and about to shed their oaati life-blood, have sung the
martyrs Avho died Avillingly for their faith in their idea
of Yamato Damashii." In untold instances in the
national history, men have died willingly and cheer
fully, and women also by thousands, as brave, as un
flinching as the men, so that the story of Japanese
chivalry is almost incredible in its awful suicides.
History reveals a state of society in which cool deter
mination, desperate courage and fearlessness of death
in the face of duty were quite unique, and which must
have had their base in some powerful though abnormal
code of ethics.
This leads us to consider again the things empha
sized by Japanese as distinct from Chinese and
Korean* Confucianism, and to call attention to its
fruits, Avhile at the same time we note its defects, and
show Avherein it failed. We shall then show how this

148 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
old system has already waxed old and is passing away.
Christ has come to Japan, and behold a new heaven
and a new earth !
New Japan Makes Revision.
First. For sovereign and minister, there are coming
into vogue new interpretations. This relation, if it is
to remain as the first, wiU become that of the ruler and
the ruled. Constitutional government has begun ; and
codes of law have been framed which are recognizing
the rights of the individual and of the people. Even a
woman has rights before the law, in relation to hus
band, parents, brothers, sisters and chUdren. It is
even beginning to be thought that children have rights.
Let us hope that as the rights are better understood
the duties will be equally clear.
It is coming to pass in Japan that even in govern
ment, the sovereign must consult with his people on all
questions pertaining to their welfare. Although thus
far the constitutional government makes the ministers
responsible to the Sovereign instead of to the Diet,
yet the contention of the enlightened men and the lib
eral parties is, that the ministers shall be responsible
to the Diet. The time seems at hand when the sover
eign's power over his people will not rest on tradi
tions more or less uncertain, on history manufactured
by governmental order, on mythological claims based
upon the so-called "eternal ages," on prerogatives up
held by the sword, or on the supposed grace of the
gods, but will be "broad-based upon the people's avUI."
The power of the rulers Avill be derived from the con
sent of the governed. The Emperor will become the
first and chief servant of the nation.

CONFUCIANISM IN PHILOSOPHICAL FORM 149
Eevision and improvement of the Second Eelation
Avill make filial piety something more real than that
unto Avhich China )ias attained, or Japan has jQi seen,
or which is yet universally known in Christendom. The
tyranny of the father and of the older brother, and the
sale of daughters to shame, will pass aAvay ; and there
will arise in the Japanese house, the Christian home.
It Avould be hard to say what Confucianism has done
for woman. It is probable that all civilizations, and
systems of philosophy, ethics and religion, can be
weU tested by this criterion — the position of woman.
Confucianism virtually admits two standards of moral
ity, one for man, another for Avoman,^' In Chinese
Asia adultery is indeed branded as one of the vilest of
crimes, but in common idea and parlance it is a Avom-
an's crime, not man's. So, on the other hand, chas
tity is a female virtue, it is part of womanly duty, it
has Uttle or no relation to man personally. Eight re
vision and improvement of the Third Eelation will
abolish concubinage. It will reform divorce. It will
make love the basis of marriage. It Avill change the
state of things truthfully pictured in such books as the
Genji Monogatari, or Eomance of Prince Genji, with
its examples of horrible lust and incests ; the Kojiki
or Ethnic scripture, with its naive accounts of filthiness
among the gods ; the Onna Dai Gaku, Woman's Great
Study, Avith its amazing subordination and moral sla
very of wife and daughter ; and The Japanese Bride, of
yesterday — all truthful pictures of Japanese life, for
the epoch in which each was written. These books Avill
become the forgotten curiosities of Uterature, known
only to the archaeologist.
Improvement and revision of the Fourth Eelation,

150 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
wiU bring into the Japanese home more justice, right
eousness, love and enjoyment of life. It will make
possible, also, the cheerful acceptance and glad prac
tice of those codes of law common in Christendom,
which are based upon the rights of the individual and
upon the idea of the greatest good to the greatest num
ber. It will help to abolish the evils which come from
primogeniture and to release the clutch of the dead
hand upon the living. It will decrease the power of
the graveyard, and make thought and care for the liv
ing the rule of life. It will aboUsh sham and fiction,
and promote the cause of truth. It wUl hasten the
reign of righteousness and love, and beneath propriety
and etiquette lay the basis of "charity toward all,
malice toward none."
Eevision Avith improvement of the Fifth Eelation
hastens the reign of universal brotherhood. It lifts
up the fallen, the down-trodden and the outcast. It
says to the slave " be free," and after having said " be
free," educates, trains, and lifts up the brother once
in servitude, and helps him to forget his old estate
and to know his rights as well as his duties, and de
velops in him the image of God. It says to the hi-
nin or not-human, " be a man, be a citizen, accept the
protection of the law." It says to the eta, " come into
humanity and society, receive the protection of law,
and the Avelcome of your feUows ; let memory forget
the past and charity make a new future." It -wUl
bring Japan into the fratemity of nations, making her
people one with the peoples of Christendom, not
through the empty forms of diplomacy, or by the craft
of her envoys, or by the power of her armies and navies
reconsti-ucted on modern principles, but by patient

CONFUCIANISM IN PHILOSOPHICAL FORM 151
education and unflinching loyalty to high ideals. Thus
wUl Japan become worthy of all the honors, which the
highest humanity on this planet can bestow.
The Ideal of Yamato Damashii Enlarged.
In this our time it is not only the aUen from Chris
tendom, with his hostile eye and mordant criticism,
who is helping to undermine that system of ethics
which permitted the sale of the daughter to shame, the
introduction of the concubine into the family and the
reduction of woman, even though wife and mother, to
nearly a cipher. It is not only the foreigner who as
saults that philosophy which glorified the vendetta,
kept alive private Avar, made revenge in murder the
sweetest joy of the Samurai and suicide the gate to
honor and fame, subordinated the famUy to the house,
and suppressed individuaUty and personality. It is the
native Japanese, no longer a hermit, a "frog in the
well, that knows not the great ocean " but a student,
an inquirer, and a critic, Avho assaults the old ethical
and philosophical system, and calls for a new way
between heaven and earth, and a new kind of HeaA'en
in Avhich shaU be a Creator, a Father and a Saviour.
The brain and pen of New Japan, as well as its heart,
demand that the famUy shall be more than the house
and that the Uving members shaU have greater rights
as weU as duties, than the dead ancestors. They claim
that the wife shaU share responsibiUty with the hus
band, and that the relation of husband and wife shall
take precedence of that of the father and son ; that the
mother shall possess equal authority with the father ;
that the wife, whether she be mother or not, shaU

152 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
not be compelled to share her home Avith the concu
bine ; and that the child in Japan shall be bom in the
home and not in the herd. The sudden introduction
of the Christian ideas of personaUty and individuality
has undoubtedly wrought peril to the framework of a
society which is built according to the Confucian prin
ciples ; but faith in God, love in the home, and abso
lute equality before the law will bring about a reign
of righteousness such as Japan has never known, but
toward the realization of which Christian nations are
ever advancing.
Even the old ideal of the Samurai embodied in the
formula Yamato Damashii Avill be enlarged and im
proved from its narrow limits and ferocious aspects,
when the tap-root of aU progress is aUowed to strike
into deeper truth, and the Sixth Eelation, or rather the
first relation of all, is taught, namely, that of God to
Man, and of Man to God. That this relation is un
derstood, and that the Samurai ideal, purified and
enlarged, is held by increasing numbers of Japan's
brightest men and noblest women, is shown in that
superb Christian literature which pours from the pens
of the native men and women in the Japanese Chris
tian churches. Under this flood of truth the old ob
stacles to a nobler society are Avashed aAvay, while out
of the enriched soil rises the new Japan which is to be a
part of the better Christendom that is to come. Christ
in Japan, as everywhere, means not destruction, but
fulfilment.

THE BUDDHISM OP NOETHEEN ASIA

" Life is a Dream is what the pilgrim learns,
Nor asks for more, but straightway home returns. ''
— Japanese mediseval lyric drama,
" The purpose of Buddha's preaching was to bring into light the per
manent truth, to reveal the root of all suffering, and thus to lead all senti
ent beings into the perfect emancipation from all passions, " — Outlines of
the Mahayana,
"Buddhism will stand forth as the embodiment of the eternal verity
that as a man sows he will reap, associated with the duties of masterj' over
self and kindness to all men, aud quickened into a popular religion by the
example of a noble and beautiful life," — Dharmapala of Ceylon,
"Buddhism teaches the right path of cause and effect, and nothing
which can supersede the idea of cause and effect will be accepted and be
lieved, Buddha himself cannot contradict this law which is the Buddha
of Buddhas, and no omnipotent power except this law is believed to be ex
istent in the universe,
" Buddhism does not quarrel with other religions about the truth . . .
Buddhism is truth common to every religion regardless of the outside gar
ment."— Horin Toki, of Japan.
"Death we can face; but knowing, as some of us do, what is human
life, which of us is it that without shuddering could (if we were sum
moned) face the hour of birth ? " — De Quincey,
The prayer of Buddhism, " Deliver ns from existence."
The prayer of the Christian, " Deliver us from evil."
" In the beginning, God created the heavens aud the earth," — Genesis.
" I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more
abundantly, " — Jesus.

CHAPTEE VI
THE BUDDHISM OF NORTHBKST ASIA
Pre-Buddhistic India
Does the name of Gautama, the Buddha, stand for
a sun-myth or for a historic personage ? One set of
scholars and Avriters, represented by Professor Kern,'
of Leyden, thinks the Buddha a mythical personage.
Another school, represented by Professor T. Ehys
Davids,^ declares that he Uved in human flesh and
breathed the au- of earth. We accept the historical
-view as best explaining the facts.
In order to understand a religion, in its origin at
least, we must know some of the conditions out of
which it arose. Buddhism is one of the protestant
isms of the world. Yet, is not every religion, in one
sense, protestant? Is it not a protest against some
thing to which it opposes a difference ? Every new
reUgion, like a groAving plant, ignores or rejects cer
tain elements in the soil out of which it springs. It
takes up and assimilates, also, other elements not
used before, in order to produce a flower or fruit dif
ferent from other growths out of the same soil. Yet
whether the new religion be considered as a devel
opment, fulfilment, or protest, we must know its his
torical perspective or background. To understand the
origin of Buddhism, one of the best preparations is to

156 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
read the history of India and especially of the thought
of her many generations ; for the landmarks of the
civilizations of India, as a Hindu may proudly say,
are its mighty literatures.- At these let us glance.'
The age of the Yedas extends from the year 2000
to 1400 B.C., and the history of this early India is
wonderfully like that of America. During this era, the
Hindus, one of the seven Aryan tribes of which the
Persian, Greek, Latin, Celtic, Sclav and Teutonic
form the other six, descending from the mid-Asian
plateau, settled the Punjab in Northwest India. They
drove the dark-skinned aborigines before them and re
claimed forest and swamp to civilization, making the
land of the seven rivers bright with agriculture and
brilliant with cities. This was the glorious heroic age
of joyous life and conquest, when men who believed in
a Heavenly Father^ made the first epoch of Hindu
history. Then followed the epic age, 1400-1000 B.C., when
the area of civilization was extended still farther down
the Ganges VaUey, the splendor of wealth, learning,
military prowess and social life excelling that of the
ancestral seats in the Punjab. Amid differences of
wars and diplomacy with rivalries and jealousies, a
common sacred language, literature and religion with
similar social and religious institutions, united the
various nations together. In this time the old Vedas
were compiled into bodies or collections, and the
Brahmanas and the Upanishads, besides the great epic
poems, the Mahabharata and the Eamayana were com
posed. The next, or rationalistic epoch, covers the period
from 1000 b.c. to 320 b.c, when the Hindu expansion

THE BUDDHISM OF NORTHERN ASIA 157
had covered aU India, that is, the peninsula from the
Himalayas to Cape Comorin. Then, aU India, includ
ing Ceylon, Avas Hinduized, though in differing degrees ;
the purest Aryan civilization being in the north, the
less pure in the Ganges Valley and south and east,
while the least Aryan and more Dravidian Avas iu Ben
gal, Orissa, and India south of the Kistna Eiver.
This story of the spread of Hindu civilization is a
briUiant one, and seems as wonderful as the later
European conquest of the land, and of the other " In
dians " of North America from the Atlantic to the Pa
cific. Beside the conquests in material civilization of
these om- feUow-Aryans (who were the real Indians,
and who spoke the language which is the common an
cestor of our own and of most European tongues), what
impresses us most of all, in these Aryans, is their in
teUectual energy. The Hindus of the rationalistic age
made original discoveries. They invented grammar,
geometry, arithmetic, decimal notation, and they elabo
rated astronomy, medicine, mental philosophy and logic
(Avith syllogism) before these sciences were known or
perfected in Greece. In the seventh century before
Christ, Kapila taught a system of philosophy, of which
that of the Europeans, Schopenhaur and Hartmann,
seems largely a reproduction.
Following this agnostic scheme of thought, came,
several centuries later, the dualistic Yoga^ system in
which the chief feature is the conception of Deity as
a means of final emancipation of the human soul from
further transmigTation, and of union with the Universal
Spirit or World Soul. There is, hoAvever, perhaps no
sadder chapter in the history of human thought than
the story of the later degeneration of the Yoga system

158 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
into one of bloody and cruel rites in India, and of su
perstition in China.
Still other systems followed : one by Gautama, of the
same clan or family of the later Buddha, who develops
inference by the construction of syllogism ; while
Kanada follows the atomic philosophy in which the
atoms are eternal, but the aggregates perishable by dis
integration. Against these schools, which seemed to be danger
ous "new departures," orthodox Hindus, anxious for
their ancient beliefs and practices as laid down in the
Vedas, started fresh systems of philosophy, avowedly
more in consonance with their ancestral faith. One
system insisted on the primitive Vedic ritual, and an
other laid emphasis on the belief in a Universal Soul
first inculcated in the Upanishads.
Conditions out of tuliich Buddhism Arose.
Whatever we may think of these schools of phil
osophy, or the connection with or indebtedness of
Gautama, the Buddha, to them, they reveal to us the
conceptions which his contemporaries had of the uni
verse and the beings inhabiting it. These were honest
human attempts to find God. In them the various
beings or six conditions of sentient existence are devas
or gods ; men ; asuras or monsters ; pretas or demons ;
animals; and beings in hell. Furthermore, these
schools of Hindu philosophy shoAv us the conditions
out of Avhich Buddhism arose, furnish us with its ter
minology and technical phrases, reveal to us what the re
former proposed to himself to do, and, what is perhaps
still more important, shoAv us the types to which

THE BUDDHISM OF NORTHERN ASIA 159
Buddhism in its degeneration and degradation re
verted. The strange far-off oriental words which to
day scholars discuss, theosophists manipulate, and
charlatans employ as catchpennies Avere common
words in the every-day speech of the Hindu people,
two or three thousand years ago.
Glancing rapidly at the condition of religion in the
era ushering- in the birth of Buddha, we note that the
old joyousness of Ufe manifested in the Vedic hymns
is past, their fervor and gloAv are gone. In the morn
ing of Hindu life there was no caste, no fixed priest
hood, and no idols ; but as Avealth, civUization, easy
and settled life succeeded, the taste for pompous sac
rifices conducted by an hereditary priestly caste in
creased. Greater importance was laid upon the detail
of the ceremonies, the attention of the worshipper being
turned from the deities " to the minutiae of rites, the
erection of altars, the fixing of the proper astronomical
moments for lighting the fire, the correct pronunciation
of prayers, and to the various requisite acts accompany
ing a sacrifice."^ In the chapter of decay which time
Avrote and Uterature reflects, Ave find " grotesque rea
sons given for every minute rite, dogmatic explanation
of texts, penances for every breach of form and rule,
and elaborate directions for every act and moment of
the worshipper."
The literatm-e shows a degree of credulity and sub
mission on the part of the people and of absolute
power on the part of the priests, which reminds us of
the Middle Ages in Europe. The old inspiring Avars
with the aborigines are over. The time of bearing a
noble creed, meaning culture and civilization as against
savagery and idolatry, is past, and only intestine quar-

160 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
rels and local strife have succeeded. The age of crea
tive literature is over, and commentators, critics and
grammarians have succeeded. Still more startling are
the facts disclosed by Uterary history. The Uquid
poetry has become frozen prose : the old flaming fuel of
genius is now slag and ashes. We see Hindus doing
exactly what JcAvish rabbis, and after them Christian
schoolmen and dogma-makers, did with the old Hebrew
poems and prophecies. Construing literaUy the pray
ers, songs and hopes of an earlier age, they rebuild
the letter of the text into creeds and systems, and
erect an amazing ediflce of steel-framed and stone-
cased tradition, to challenge which is taught to be her
esy and impiety. The poetical similes used in the
Eig Vedas have been transformed into mythological
tales. In the change of language the Vedas themselves
are unreadable, except by the priests, who fatten on
popular beUefs in the transmigration of souls and in
the power of priestcraft to make that transmigration
bUssful — provided Uberal gifts are duly forthcoming.
Idolatry and witchcraft are rampant. Some saviour,
some light was needed.
Buddhism a Logical Product of Hindu Thought.
At such a time, probably 557 B.C., was boi-n Shaka,
of the Muni clan, at Kapilavastu, one hundred mUes
northeast of Benares. We pass over the details' of
the Ufe of him caUed Prince, Lord, Lion of the Tribe of
Shaka, and Saviour ; of his desertion of wife and child,
called the first Great Eenunciation ; of his struggles to
obtain peace ; of his enlightenment or Buddhahood ;
of his second or Greater Eenunciation ; of merit on ac-

THE BUDDHISM OF NORTHERN ASIA 161
count of austerities ; and give the story told iu a moun
tain of books in A^arious tongues, but condensed in a
paragraph by Eomesh Chunder Dutt.
" At an early age. Prince Gautama left his royal home, and hia
wife, and new-born child, and became a Avanderer and a men
dicant, to seek a Avay of salvation for man. Hindu rites, ac
companied by the slaughter of innocent victims, repelled his
feelings, Hindu philosophy afforded him no remedy, and
Hindu penances and mortifications proved unaA^ailing after he
had practised them for years. At last, by severe contemplation,
he discovered the long coveted truth ; a holy and calm life, and
benevolence and Io%'e toward all living creatures seemed to him
the essence of religion, Self-Culture aaid universal love — this ,
was his discovei-y — this is the essence of Buddhism," ' /
From one point of vieAv Buddhism Avas the logical
continuance of Aryan Hindoo philosophy ; from an
other point of view it Avas a new departure. The lead
ing idea in the Upanishads is that the object of the
wise man should be to knoAv, iuAvardly and consciously,
the Great Soul of aU ; and by this knowledge his indi-
-vidual soul Avould become united to the Supreme
Being, the true and absolute self. This was the high
est point reached in the old Indian philosophy ^ before
Buddha Avas bom.
So, looking at Buddhism in the perspective of
Hindu history and thought, we may sa)- that it is
doubtful whether Gautama intended to found a ncAv
reUgion. As, humanly speaking, Saul of Tarsus saved
Christianity from being a Jewish sect and made it uni
versal, so Gautama extricated the new enthusiasm of
humanity from the priests. He made Aryan religion
the property of all India, What had been a rare
monopoly as narroAv as Judaism, he made the inheri-
11

162- THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
tance of all Asia. Gautama was a protestant and a
reformer, not an agnostic or skeptic. It is more prob
able that he meant to shake off Brahmanism and to
restore the piu-e and original form of the Aryan religion
of the Vedas, as far as it was possible to do so. In one
sense. Buddhism was a revolt against hereditary and
sacerdotal privilege — an attack of the people against
priestcraft. The Buddha and his disciples were level
lers. In a different age and cUme, but along a simUar
path, they did a work analogous to that of the so-called
Anabaptists in Europe and Independents in England,
centuries later.
It is certain, however, that Buddhism has groA^n
logically out of ancient Hinduism. In its monastic
feature — one of its most striking characteristics — we
see only the concentration and reduction to- system, of
the old Ufe of the ascetics and religious mendicants
recognized and respected by Hinduism. For centu
ries the Buddhist monks and nuns were regarded in
India as only a new sect of ascetics, among many oth
ers which fiourished in the land.
The Buddhist doctrine of karma, or in Japanese,
ingwa, of cause and effect, whereby it is taught that
each eff'jct in this life springs from a cause in some
preAious incarnation, and that each act in this life bears
its fruit iu the next, has grown directly out of the
Hindu idea of the transmigration of souls. This idea
is first inculcated in the Upanishads, and is recognized
in Hindu systems of philosophy.
So also the Buddhist doctrine of Nirvana, or the at
tainment of a sinless state of existence, has groAvn out
of the idea of final imion of the individual soul Avith
the UniA-ersal Soul, Avhich is also inculcated in the

THE BUDDHISM OF NORTHERN ASIA 163
Upanishads. Yet, as we shall see, the Buddhists
Avere, in the eye.s of the Brahmans, atheists, because in
the ken of these neAv levellers gods and men Avere put
on the same plane. Brahmanism has never forgiven
Buddhism for ignoring the gods, and the Hindoos fi
naUy drove out the followers of Gautama from India.
It CA^entuated that after a millenium or so of Buddhism
in India, the old gods, Brahma, Indra, etc., which at first
had been shut out from the ken of the people, by Gau
tama, found their places again in the popular faith of
the Buddhists, Avho believed that the gods as Avell as
men, Avere all progressing toward the blessed Nirvana
— that sinless life and holy calm, which is the Buddh
ist's heaven and salvation.
It is certainly very curious, and in a sense amusing,
to find flourishing in far-off Japan the old gods of India,
that one would suppose to have been utterly dead and
left behind in oblivion. As acknowledged devas or
kings and bodhisattAas or soon-to-be Buddhas, not it
few once defunct Hindu gods, utterly unknoAvn to
early Buddhism, have forced their Avay into the com
pany of the elect. Though most of them haA^e not
gained the popularity of the indigenous deities of Nip
pon, they yet attract many worshippers. They remind
one that amid the coming of the sons of Elohim be
fore Jehovah, " the satan " came also.'"
From another point of view Buddhism Avas a new
religion ; for it swejit aAvay and out of the field of its
vision the Avhole of the World or Universal Soul
theory. " It proclaimed a salvation Avhich each man
could gain for himself and by himself, in this world
during this life, Avithout the least reference to God, or
to gods, either great or small." " It placed the first

164 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
impoi-tance on knowledge ; but it AA'as no longer a
knoAvledge of God, it was a clear perception of the real
nature as they supposed it to be of men and things."
In a word, Gautama never reached the idea of a per
sonal self -existent God, though toward that truth he
groped. He was satisfied too soon." His followers
were even more easily satisfied AAith abstractions.
When Gautama saw the power over the human heart
of inward culture and of love to others, he obtained
peace, he rested on certainty, he became the Buddha,
that is, the enlightened. Perhaps he Avas not the first
Buddhist. It may be that the historical Gautama, if
so he is worthy to be called, merely made the sect or
the new religion famous. Hardly a religion in the fuU
sense of the Avord, Buddhism did not assume the role
of theology, but sought only to knoAv men and things.
In one sense Buddhism is atheism, or rather, atheistic
humanism. In one sense, also, the solution of the
mystery of God, of life, aud of the uniA'erse, Avhich
Gautama and his foUoAvers attained, Avas one of skepti
cism rather than of faith. Buddhism is, relatively, a
very modern religion ; it is one of the ncAV faiths. Is it
paradoxical to say that the Buddhists are " religious
atheists ? " Tlie Buddhist Millennium in India.
Let us noAv look at the life of the Founder. Day
after day, the pure-souled teacher attracted ucav dis
ciples while he Avith alms-boAvl Avent aroimd as mendi
cant and teacher. Salvation merely by self-control,
and love without any rites, ceremonies, charms, priestly
powers, gods or miracles, formed the burden of his

THE BUDDHISM OF NORTHERN ASIA 105
teachings. " Thousands of people left their homes,
embraced the holy order aud became monks, ignoring
caste, and relinquishing all worldly goods except the
bare necessaries of life, whicli they possessed and en
joyed in common." Probably the first monastic sys
tem of the Avorld, was that of the Indian Buddhists.
The Buddha preached the good news during forty-
five years. After his death, five hundred of his follow
ers assembled at Eajagriha and chanted together the
teachings of Gautama, to fix them in memory. A hun
dred years later, in 377 B.C., came the great schism
among the Buddhists, out of which grcAv the divisions
knoAvn as Northern and Southern Buddhism. There
Avas disagreement on ten points. A second council
Avas therefore called, and the disputed points deter
mined to the satisfaction of one side. Thereupon the
seceders went away in large numbers, aud the differ
ences were never healed; on the contrary, they have
widened in the course of ages.
The separatists began what may be called the North
ern Buddhisms of Nepal, Tibet, China, Korea and
Japan. The orthodox or Southern Buddhists are those
of Ceylon, Burma and Siam. The original canon of
Southern Buddhism is in Pali ; that of Northem
Buddhism is in Sanskrit. The one is comparatively
smaU and simple ; the other amazingly varied and volu
minous. The canon of Southern scripture is called the
Hinayana, the Little or Smaller Vehicle; the canon
of Northern Buddhism is named the Mahayana or
Great Vehicle. Possibly, also, besides the Southem
and Northem Buddhisms, the Buddhism of Japan may
be treated by itself and named Eastern Buddhism.
In the great councU caUed in 242 B.C., by King Asoka,

166 7'///!? RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
who may be termed the Constantine of Buddhism, the
sacred texts were again chanted. It was not until the
year 88 B.C. in Ceylon, six hundred years after Gautama,
that the three Pitakas, Boxes or Baskets, were com
mitted to writing- in the PaU language. In a AA-ord,
Buddhism knoAvs nothing of sacred documents or a
canon of scripture coutemporary with its first disciples.
The splendid Buddliist age of India lasted nearly a
thousand years, and Avas one of superb triumphs in
civilization. It was an age of sjoiritual emancipation,
of freedom from idol worship, of nobler humanity and
of peace. '^ It Avas foUowed by the Puranic epoch and
the dark ages. Then Buddhism Avas, as some say,
"driven out" from the land of its birth, finding new ex
pansion in Eastern and Northem Asia, and again, a stiU
more surprising development in the ultima-Thule of
the Asiatic continent, Japan. There is noAv no Buddh
ism in India proper, the faith being represented only
in Ceylon and possibly also on the main land, by the
sect of the Jains, and peradventure in Persia by Bab-
ism Avhich contains elements from thi-ee reUgions.'^
Like Christianitj^ Buddhism Avas "driven out" of its
old home to bless other nations of the Avorld. It is
probably far nearer the truth to say that Buddhism
was never expelled from India, but rather that it died
by disintegration and relapse.'* It had become Brah
manism again. The old gods and the old idol-worship
came back. It is in Japan that the ends of the earth,
eastern and western civilization, and the freest and
fullest or at least the latest developments of Christi
anity and of Buddhism, haA^e met.
In its transfer to distant lands and its developments
throughout Eastern Asia, the faith which had originated

THE BUDDHISM OF NORTHERN AKTA 167
in India suffered many changes. Dividing into two
great branches, it became a notably different religion
according as it moved along the southern, the north
ern, or the eastern channel. By the vehicle of the
Pali language it Avas carried to Ceylon, Siam, Burma,
Cambodia and the islands of the south ; that is, to
southern or peninsular and insular Asia. Here there
is little evidence of any striking departure from the
doctrines of the Pali Pitakas ; and, as Southern Buddh
ism does not greatly concern us in speaking of the re
ligions of Japan, Ave may pass it by. For although the
books and Avritings belonging to Southem Buddhism,
and comprehended under the formula of the Hinayana
or SmaUer Vehicle, have been studied in China, Korea
and Japan, yet they have had comparatively little in
fluence upon doctrinal, lituaUstic, or missionary de
velopment in Chinese Asia.
Astonishingly different has been the case with the
Northern Buddhisms which are those of Nepal, Tibet,
Mongolia, Manchuria, China, Korea and Japan. As
luxuriant as the evolutions of political and dogmatic
Christianity and as radical in their departures from the
primitive simplicity of the faith, have been these forms
of Buddhist doctrine, ritual and organization. We
cannot now dwell upon the wonderful details of the
vast and complicated system, differing so much in
various countries. We pass by, or only glance at, the
philosophy of the Punjaub ; the metaphysics of Nepal
— with its developments into what some writers con
sider to be a close approach to monotheism, and others,
indeed, monotheism itself; the system of Lamaism in
Tibet, A\-hich has paralleled so closely the develop
ment of the papal hierarchy; the possibly tAvo thou-

16« THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
sand years' growth and decay of Chinese Buddhism ;
the varieties of the Buddhism of Mongolia— almost
swamped in the Shamanistic superstitions of these
clAvellers on the plains ; the astonishing success, quick
ripening, decay, and almost utter annihilation, among
the learned and governing classes, of Korean Buddh
ism ; " and study in detail only Eastern or Japanese
Buddhism. We shaU in this lecture attempt but two things :
I. A summary of the process of thought by which
the chief features of the Northern Buddhisms came in
to vieAv.
II, An outline of the story of Japanese Buddhism
during the first three centuries of its existence.
The Development of Northern Buddhism.
Leaving the early Buddha legends and the soUd
ground of history, the makers of the newer Buddliist
doctrines in Nejoal occupied themselves with develop
ing the theory of Buddhahood and of the Buddhas;"'
for we must ever remember that Buddha" is not a
proper name, but a common adjective meaning enlight
ened, from the root to know, perceive, etc. They made
constant and marvellous additions to the primitive doc
trine, giving it a momentum which gathered force as
the centuries went on ; and, as propaganda, it moved
against the sun.
This development theory ran along the Une of per'
sonification. Not being satisfied Avitli "the wheel of the
LiAv," it personified both the hub and the spokes. It
began with the spirit of kindness out of which all hu
man virtues rise, and by the power of which the

THE BUDDHISM OF NORTHERN ASIA 169
Buddhist organization Avill conquer all sin and unljelief
and become Aictorious throughout the world. This
personification is called the Maitreya Buddha, the un
conquerable one, or the future Buddha of benevolence,
the Buddha Avho is yet to come. Here was a tremen
dous and revolutionary movement in the new faith, the
beginning of a long process. It was as though the
Christians had taken the particular attributes, justice,
mercy, etc, of God and, after personifying each one,
deified it, thus multiplying gods.
What Avas the soU for the new sowing, and Avhat was
the harvest to be reaped in due time ?
With many thousands of India Buddhists Avhose
minds Avere already steeped in Brahministic philosophy
and mythology, who were more given to speculation
and dreaming than to self-control and moral culture,
and Avho mourned for the dead gods of Hinduism, the
soil was already prepared for a growth whoUy ab
normal to true Buddhism, but altogether in keeping
with the older Brahministic philosophies from Avhich
these dreamers had been but partially converted to
Buddhism.'^ The seed is found in the doctrine which already
forms part of the system of the Little Vehicle, when it
tells of the personal Buddhas and the Buddhas elect,
or future Buddhas. In the Jataka stories, or Birth
tales, " the Buddha elect " is the title given to each of
the beings, man, angel, or animal, who is held to be a
Bodhisattva, or the future Buddha in one of his former
births. The title Bodhisattva '^ is the name given to a
being whose Karma will produce other beings in a con
tinually ascending scale of goodness until it becomes
vested in a Buddha. Or, in the more common use of

170 TJIE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
the word, a Bodhisattva (Japanese bosatsu) is a being
whose essence has become intelligence, and Avho wiU
have to pass through human existence once more only
before entering Nirvana.
In Southem Buddhist temples, the pure white image
of Maitreya is sometimes found beside the idol repre
senting Gautama or the historical Buddha. While iu
Southern Buddhism the idea of this possibiUty of de
velopment seems to have been little seized upon and
followed up, in Northern Buddhism as early as 400
A.D. the Avorship of tAvo Buddhas elect named Manjusri
and AA^alokitesvara, or personified Wisdom and Power,
had already become general. Manjusri,^ the Great
Being or "Prince Eoyal," is the personification of wis
dom, and especially of the mystic reUgious insight
which has produced the Great Vehicle or canon of
Northem Buddhism ; or, as a Japanese author says,
the third coUection of the Tripitaka was that made by
Manjusri and Maitreya. Avalokitesvara,^' the Lord of
View or All-sided One, is the personification of power,
the merciful protector and preserver of the world and
of men. Both are frequently and voluminously men
tioned in the Saddharma Pundarika,^^ in which the
good law is made plain by flowers of rhetoric, and of
which Ave shall have occasion frequently to speak.
Manjusri is the mythical author of this influential
work,** the tAventy-fourth chapter being devoted to a
glorification of the character, the power, and the ad
vantages to be derived from the worship of Avalokites
vara.

THE BUDDHISM OF NORTHERN ASIA 171

Tlie Creation of Gods.
Possibly the name of Manjusri may be derived from
that of the Indian mendicant, the traditional introducer
of Buddhism and its accompanying civilization into
Nepal. The Tibetans identify him with the minister
of a great King Strongstun, Avho lived in the seventh
century of our era and who was the great patron of
Buddhism into Tibet. He is the founder of that school
of thought Avhich ended in the Great Vehicle, — the
Uterature of Northei-n Buddhism.'-' From Nepal to
Japan, in the books of the Northern Buddhists there is
certainly much confusion between the metaphysical
being and the legendary civiUzer and teacher of Nepal
The other name, Avalokitesvara, which means the Lord
of View, " the lord who looks down from on high," in
stead of being a purely metaphysical invention, may be
only an adaptation of one epithet of Shiva, Avliich meant
Master of View.
Later and by degrees the attributes were separated
and each one was personified. For example, the power
of Avalokitesvara was separated from his protecting
care and providence. His poAver was personified as
the bearer of the thunder-bolt, or the lightning-handed
one ; and this new personification added to the two
other Buddhas elect, made a triad, the first in Northern
Buddhism. In this triad, the thunder-bolt holder Avas
Vagrapani ; Manjusri was the deified teacher ; and Ava
lokitesvara was the Spirit of the Buddhas present in
the church. Before many centuries had elapsed, these
imaginary beings, with a few others, had become gods
to whom men prayed ; and thus Buddhism became a

172 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
reUgion with some kind of theism, — which Gautama
had expressly renounced.
If any one Avants proof of this reversion into the old
reUgions of India, he has only to notice that the name,
given to the ncAv god made by personification of the
attribute of jjower, Vagrapani, or Vadjradhara, or the
bearer of the thunder-bolt, had formerly been used as
an epithet of the old fire-god of the Vedas, Indra.
It were tedious to recount all the steps in the further
development of Northern Buddhism.^ Suffice it to say,
that out of ideas and principles set forth in the earlier
Buddhism, and under the generating force rebom from
old Brahminism, the Dhyani Buddhas (that is the
Buddhas evolved out of the mind in mystic trance)
Avere given their elect Buddhas ; and so three sets of five
were co-ordinated.^^ That is, first, five pre-penultimate
Buddhas; then their Bodhisattvas or penultimate
Buddhas ; and then the ultimate or human Buddhas,
of which Gautama was one. Or, first abstraction ; then
pre-human effluence ; then emanation.
AU this multiplication of beings is unknoAvn to
Southern Buddhism, unknoAvn to the Saddharma Pun-
darika, and A^ery probably unknown also to the Chinese
pilgrims who visited India in the fifth and seventh cen
tmies. Professor Ehys Davids, in his compact Uttle
manual of Buddhism, says : ^
"Among those hypothetical beings— the creations of a sickly
scholasticism, hollow abstractions without life or reality— the
fourth Amitabha, ' Immeasurable Light,' Avhose BodhisatA\'a is
Avalokitesvara, and Avhose emanation is Gautama, occupies of
cour.se the highest and most important rank. Surrounded by
innumerable Bodhisatwas, he sits enthroned under a Bo-tree in
Sukhavati, i.e., the Blissful, a paradise of heavenly joys, whose

THE BUDDHISM OF NORTHERN ASIA 173
description occupies whole tedious books of the so-called Great
Vehicle, By this theory, each of the five Buddhas has become
three, and the fourth of these five sets of three is the second
Buddhist Trinity, the belief in which must have arisen after
the seventh century of our era,"
Buddhism has been called the light of Asia, and
Gautama its illuminator; but certainly the light has
not been pure, nor the products of its illumination
wholesome. Pardon an Ulustration. In Christian
churches and cathedrals of Europe, there is still a
great prejudice against the use of pipes, and of gas
made from coal, because of the machinery and of the
impure emanations. The prejudice is a Avholesome
one ; for we aU knoAv that most of the elements form
ing common iUuminating gas are worthless except
to couA'ey the very small amount of light-giving ma
terial, and that these elements in combustion vitiate
the air and give off deleterious products which cor
rode, tarnish and destroy. Now though Buddhist doc
trine may have been the light of India, yet to reach
the Northern and Eastern nations of Asia it had, ap
parently, to be adulterated for conveyance, as much as
is the illuminating gas in our cities. From the first,
Northem Buddhism showed a wonderful affinity, not
only for Brahministic superstitions and speculations,
but for almost everything else Avith wliich it came iu
contact in countries beyond India. Instead of combat
ing, it absorbed. It adapted itself to circumstances,
and finding certain beliefs prevalent among the people,
it imbibed them, and thus gained by accretion imtU its
bulk, both of beliefs and of disciples, was in the inverse
ratio of its purity. Even to-day, the occult theosophy
of " Isis UuveUed," and of the school of writers such

174 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
as Blavatsky, Olcott, etc, seems to be a perfectly
logical product of the Northern Buddhisms, and may
be called one of them ; yet it is simply a repetition of
what took place centuries ago. Most of the primitive
beliefs and superstitions of Nepal and Tibet Avere ab
sorbed in the ever hungry and devouring system of
Buddhistic scholasticism.

The Making of a Pantheon.
Let us glance again at this Nepal Buddhism, In
the tenth century Ave find what at first seems to be a
growth out of Polytheism into Monotheism, for a new
Being, to whom the attributes of infinity, seU'-exist-
ence and omniscience are ascribed, is invented and
named Adi-Buddha, or the primordial Buddha. Ac
cording- to the speculations of the thinkers, he had
evolved himself out of the five Dhyani-Buddhas by the
exercise of the five meditations, Avhile each of these
had evolved out of itself by Avisdom and contemplation,
the corresponding Buddhas elect. Again, each of the
latter evolved out of his own essence a material world,
— our present Avoiid being the fourth of these, that is of
Avaloki. One almost might consider that this setting
forth of the primordial Buddha was real Monotheism ;
but on looking more carefuUy one sees that it is as
little real Monotheism as Avas possible in the system
of Gnosticism. Indeed the force of evolution could
not stop here ; for, since even this primordial Buddha
rested upon Ossa of hypothesis piled upon Pelion of hy
pothesis, there must be other hypotheses yet to come,
and so the Tantra system, a compound of old Brahmin
ism Avith the magic and witchcraft and Shamanism of

THE BUDDHISM OF NORTHERN ASIA 175
Northem Asia burst into AieAv. As this was to travel
into Japan and be hailed as purest Buddhism, let us
note how this tenth century Tantra system grew up.
To see this clearly, is to look upon the parable of the
man with the unclean spirit being acted out on a vast
scale in history.
In the sixth century of our era, one Asanga, or
Asamga, Avi-ote the Shastra, caUed the Shastra Yoga-
chara Bhumi."^ AVith great dexterity he erected a sort
of clearing-house for both the corrupt Brahminism and
corrupt Buddhism of his day, and exchanging and re
arranging the gods and devils in both systems, he
represented them as Avorshippers and supporters of
the Buddha and Avalokitesvara. In such a system,
the old primitive Buddhism of the noble eight-fold
path of self-conquest and pure morals was utterly lost.
Instead of that, the worshipper gave his whole poAv-
ers to obtaining occult potencies by means of magic
phrases and magic circles. Then grew up whole for
ests of monasteries and temples, Avith an outburst of
devUish art representing many-headed and many-eyed
and many -handed idols on the walls, on books, ou the
roadside, with manifold charms and phrases the endless
repetitions of vs'hich were supposed to have efficacy with
the hypothetical being who fiUed the heavens. That Avas
the age of idols for China as well as for India ; and the
old Chinese house, once empty, SAvept and garnished
by Confucianism, Avas noAV filled with a mob of unclean
spirits each Avorse than the first. With more coura
geous logic than the more matter-of-fact Chinese, the
Tibetan erected his prayer-miUs ^' and let the winds
of heaven and the flowing waters continually multiply
his prayers and holy syllables. And these inventions

176 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
Avere duly imported into Japan, and even now are far
from being absent.*
Passing over for the present the history of Buddh
ism in China, ^' sufiice it to say that the Buddhism
Avhich entered Japan from Korea in the sixth century,
was not the simple atheism touched with morality, the
bald skepticism or benevolent agnosticism of Gautama,
but a religion already over a thousand years old. It was
the sj'stem of the Northem Buddhists. These, dissat
isfied, or unsatisfied, Avith absorption into a passionless
state through seU'-saciifice and moral discipline, had
evolved a philosophy of religion in Avhich Avere gods,
idols and an apparatus of conversion utterly unkuoAvn
to the primitive faith.
Buddhism Already Corrupted irhen brought to Japan.
This sixth century Buddhism in Japan Avas not the
army with banners, Avliich Avas introduced still later
Avitli the luxuriances of the fuUy developed system,
its paradise wonderfully like Mohammed's and its over-
populated pantheon. It Avas, however, ready with the
necessary machinery, both material and mental, to make ¦
conquest of a people AAiiich had not only religious
aspirations, but also latent gesthetic possibilities of a
high order. As in its course through China this
Northern Buddhism had acted as an all-poAverful ab
sorbent of local beliefs and superstitions, so in Japan it
was destined to make a more remarkable record, and,
not only to absorb local ideas but actually to cause the
indigenous religion to disappear.
Let us inquire Avho A\ere the people to Avhom Buddh
ism, Avheu already possessed of a millenium of history,

THE BUDDHISM OF NORTHERN ASIA 111
entered its Ultima Tliule in Eastern Asia. At what
stage of mutual groAvth did Buddhism and the Japan
ese meet each other ?
Instead of the forty millions of thoroughly homogen
eous people in Japan — according to the census of De
cember 31, 1892 — all being loyal subjects of one Em
peror, we must think of possibly a million of hunters,
fishermen and farmers in more or less warring clans or
tribes. These were made up of the various migrations
from the main land and the drift of humanity brought
by the ocean currents from the south ; Ainos, Koreans,
Tartars and Chinese, with probably some Malay and
Nigrito stock. In the central part of Hondo, the main
island, the Yamato tribe dominated, its chief being
styled Sum^ru-mikoto, or Mikado. To the south and
southwest, the Mikado's power was only raore or less
felt, for the Yamato men had a long struggle in secur
ing supremacy. Northward and eastward lay great
stretches of land, inhabited by unsubdued and uncivil
ized native tribes of continental and most probably of
Korean origin, and thus more or less closely akin to
the Yamato men. StUl northward roamed the Ainos, a
race whose ancestral seats may have been in far-off
Dravidian India. Despite the constant confiicts be
tween the Yamato people who had agriculture and the
beginnings of government, law and literature, and their
less civiUzed neighbors, the tendency to amalgamation
was already strong. The problem of the statesman,
was to extend the sway of the Mikado over the whole
Archipelago. Shinto was, in its formation, made use of as an en
gine to conquer, unify and civilize all the tribes. In
one sense, this conquest of men having loAver forms of
13

178 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
faith, by beUevers in the Kami no Michi, or Way of the
Gods, was analogous to the Aryan conquest of India
and the Dravidians. However this may be, the energy
aud valor displayed in these early ages formed the ideal
of Yamato Damashii (The Spirit of unconquerable
Japan), which has so powerfully influenced the mod
em Japanese. We shall see, also, how grandly Buddh
ism also came to be a powerful force in the unifica
tion of the Japanese people. At first, the new faith
would be rejected as an alien invader, stigmatized as a
foreign religion, and, as such, sure to invoke the Avrath
of the native gods. Then later, its superiority to the
indigenous cult would be seen both by the wise and
the practically minded, and it would be welcomed and
enjoyed. The Inviting Field.
Never had a new religion a more inviting field or
one more sure of success, than had Buddhism on step
ping from the Land of Morning Dawn to the Land of
the Eising Sun. Coming as a gorgeous, dazzling and
disciplined array of all that could touch the imagina
tion, stimulate the intellect and move the heart of the
Japanese, it was irresistible. For the making of a
nation,. Shinto was as a donkey engine, compared to
the system of furnaces, boUers, shaft and propeller of
a ten-thousand-ton steel cruiser, moved by the energies
of a million years of sunbeam force condensed into
coal and released again through transmigration by fire.
All accounts in the vernacular Japanese agree, that
their Butsu-do or Buddhism was imported from
Korea. In the sixteenth year of Keitai, the twenty-

THE BUDDHISM OF NORTHERN ASIA 179
seventh Mikado (of the list made centuries after, and
the eleventh after the impossible line of the long-lived
or mythical Mikados), a.d. 5^, it is said that a man
from China brought with him an image of Buddha in
to Yamato, and setting it up in a thatched cottage wor
shipped it. The people called it "foreign-country
god." Visitors discussed with him the religion of Sha
ka, as the Japanese call Shakyamuni, and some little
knowledge of Buddhism was gained, but no notable
progress was made until a.d. 552, which is generally
accepted and celebrated as the year of the introduc
tion of the faith into Japan. Then a king of Hiaksai
in Korea, sent over to the court and to the Mikado
golden images of the Buddha and of the triad of
"precious ones," with Sutras and sacred books. These
holy relics are beUeved to be still preserved in the
famous temple of Zenkoji,^^ belonging- to the temple of
the Tendai Sect at Nagano in Northem Japan, this
shrine being dedicated to Amida and his two followers
Kwannon (Avalokitesvara) and Dai-sei-shi (Mahastana-
prapta). This gToup of idols, as the custodian of the
shrine will tell you, was made by Shaka himself out of
gold, found at the base of the tree Avhich groAvs at the
centre of the universe. After remaining in Korea for
eleven hundred and twelve years, it was brought to
Japan. Mighty is .the stream of pilgrims which con
tinually sets toward the holy place. A common prov
erb declares that even a cow can find her Avay thither.
In A.D. 572 and again in 584, new images, sutras and
teachers came over from another part of Korea. The
Mikado caUed a councU to determine what should be
done with the idols, to the worship of which he was
himself inclined ; but a majority Avere against the

180 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
idea of insulting the native gods by receiving the pres
ents and thus introducing a foreign reUgion. The min
ister of state, hoAvever, one Soga no Iname, expressed
himself in favor of Buddhism, and put the images in
his country house which he converted into a temple.
When, soon after, the land was afflicted with a pesti
lence, the opponents of the new faith attributed it to
the wrath of the gods at the hospitality giyen to the
ncAv idols. War broke out, fighting took place, and the
Buddhist temple was burned and the idols throAvn into
the river, near Osaka. Great portents followed, and
the enemies of Buddhism were, it is said, burned up
by flames descending from heaven.
The tide then turned in favor of the Indian faith, and
Soga rebuilt his temple. Priests and missionaries
were invited to come over from Korea, being gladly
furnished by the aUies of Japan from the state of
Shinra, and Buddhism again flourished at the court,
but not yet among the people. Once more, fighting
broke out ; and again the temple of the alien gods was
destroyed, only to be rebuilt again. The chief cham
pion of Buddhism was the son of a Mikado, best knoAvn
by his posthumous title, Shotoku,^ who all his life was
a vigorous defender and propagator of the new faith.
Through his influence, or very probably through the
efforts of the Korean missionaries, the devastating war
between the Japanese and Koreans was ended. In
the peace which followed, notable progress was made
through the vigor of the missionaries encouraged by
the regent Shotoku, so that at his death in the year
A.D. 621, there were forty-six temples, and thirteen hun
dred and eighty-five priests, monks and nuns in Japan.
Many of the most famous temples, which are now

THE BUDDHISM OF NORTHERN ASIA 181
fuU of wealth and renown, trace their foundations to
this era of Shotoku and of his aunt, the Empress Suiko
(a.d. 593-628), who were friendly to the ncAv reUgion.
Shotoku may be almost caUed the founder of Japanese
Buddhism. Although a layman, he is canonized and
stands unique in the Pantheon of Eastern Buddhism,
his image being prominently visible in thousands of
Japanese temples.
Legend, in no country more luxurious than in Japan,
tells us that the exotic reUgion made no progress until
Amida, the boundlessly Merciful One, assuming the
shape of a concubine of the imperial prince who after
ward became the Mikado Yome, gave birth to Sho
toku, Av-ho was himself Kwannon or the goddess of
mercy in human form ; and that when he grew up, he
took to wife an incarnation of the Buddha elect, Mahas-
tana-prapta, or in Japanese Dai-sei-shi, Avhose idol is
honored at Zenkoji.
Tlie New Faith Becomes Popular.
Then Buddhism became popular, passing out from
the narrow circle of the court to be welcomed by the
people. In A.D. 623, monks came over directly from
China, and we find mentioned two sects, the Sanron
and the Jojitsu, which are no longer extant in Japan.
In about a.d. 650 the fame of Yuan Chang (Hiouen
Thsang) the Chinese pilgrim to India, or the holy
land, reached Japan ; and his illustrious example was
enthusiastically followed. History now frequently re
peated itself. The Japanese monk, Dosho, crossed the
seas to China to gaze upon the face and become the
pupU of that illustrious Chinese pilgrim, who had seen

182 THK RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
Buddha Land. Later on, other monks crossed over
to the land of Sinim, until we find that in this and
succeeding centuries, hundreds of Japanese in their
frail junks, braved the dangers of the stormy ocean, in
order to study Sanskrit, to read the old scriptures, to
meet the new lights of learning or revelation, and to
become versed in the latest fashions of religion. We
find the pilgrims returning and founding new sects or
sub-sects, and stimulating by their enthusiasm the
monks and the home missionaries. In the year a.d.
700 the custom of cremation was introduced. This
wrought not only a profound change in customs, but
also became the seed of a rich crop of superstitions ;
since out of the cremated bodies of the saints came
forth the shari or, in Sanskrit, sarira. These hard
substances or pellets, preserved in crystal cabinets, are
treated as holy gems or reUcs. Thus venerated, they
become the nuclei of cycles of fairy lore.
In A.D. 710, the great monastery at Nara was
founded ; and here we must notice or at least glance
at the great throng of civilizing influences that came
in with Buddhism, and at the great army of artists,
artisans and skilled men and women of every sort of
trade and craft. We note that with the buUding of
this great Nara monastery came another proof of im
provement and the added element of stability in Japan
ese civilization. The ancient dread AA-hich the Japanese
had, of living in any place where a person had died was
passing away. The nomad life was being given up.
The successor of a dead Mikado Avas no longer com
pelled to build himself a new capital. The traveUer
in Japan, familiar Avith the ancient poetry of the
Manyo-shu, finds no fewer than fifty-eight sites ^ as

THE BUDDHISM OF NORTHERN ASIA 183
the early homes of the Japanese monarchy. Once oc
cupying the proud position of imperial capitals, they
are uoav for the most part mere hamlets, oftentimes
mere names, with no visible indication of former hu
man habitation ; Avhile the old rivers or streams once
gay with barges filled with silken-robed lords and la
dies, have dried up to mere Avasherwomen's runnels.
For the first time after the building- of this Buddhist
monastery, the capital remained permanent, Nara be
ing the imperial residence during seventy-five years.
Then beautiful Kioto was chosen, and remained the
residence of successive, generations of emperors until
1868. In A.D. 735, Ave read of the Kegon sect. Two
years later a large monastery, Avith a seven-storied pa
goda alongside of it, was ordered to be built in every
province. These, with the temples and their surround
ings, and with the wayside shrines beginning to spring
up like exotic flowers, made a striking alteration in the
landscape of Japan. The Buddhist scriptures were
numerously copied and circulated among the learned
class, yet neither now nor ever, except here and there
in fragments, were they found among the people. For,
although the Buddhist canon has been repeatedly im
ported, copied by the pen and in modern times printed,
yet no Japanese translation has ever been made. The
methods of Buddhism in regard to the circulation of
the scriptures are those, not of Protestantism but of
Eoman Catholicism.
In the same year, the Mikado called for contribu
tions from all the people for the building of a colossal
image of the Buddha, which was to be of bronze and
gilded. Yet, fearing that the Shinto gods might be
offended, a skilfuk priest named Giyoku, — probably

184 THE RELIGIONS OF .TAPAN
the same man Avho introduced the potter's wheel into
Japan,— was sent to the shrine of the Sun-goddess in
Ise to present her with a shari or relic of the Buddha,
and find out how she Avould regard his project.
After seven days and nights of waiting, the chapel
doors flew open and the loud-voiced oracle was inter
preted in a favorable- sense. The night foUoAving the
return of the priest, the Mikado dreamed that the sun-
goddess appeared to him in her own form and said
"The sun is Birushana" (Vairokana). This meant
that the chief deity of the Japanese proclaimed herself
an avatar or incarnation of one of the old Hindu gods.*"
She also approved the project of the image ; and in
this same year, 759, native gold was found in Japan,
which sufficed for the gilding of the great idol that,
after eleven hundred years and many vicissitudes, still
stands, the glory of a multitude of pilgrims.
In A.D. 754 a famous priest, Avho introduced the new
Eitsu Sect, was able to convert the Mikado and obtain
four hundred converts in the imperial court. Thirteen
years later, another tremendous triumph of Buddhism
was scored and a deadly blow at Shinto was struck.
The Buddhist priests persuaded the Mikados to aban
don their ancient title of Sumeru and adopt that of
Tenno (Heavenly King or Tenshi) Son of Heaveu,
after the Chinese fashion. At the same time it was
taught that the emperor could gain great merit and
sooner become a Buddha, by retiring from the actiA^e
cares of the throne and becoming a monk, with the
title of Ho-6, or Cloistered Emperor. This innovation
had far-reaching consequences, profoundly altering the
status of the Mikado, giving sensuaUsm on the one
hand and priestcraft on the other, their coveted op-

THE BUDDHISM OF NORTHERN ASIA 185
portunity, changing the ruler of the nation from an ac
tive statesman into a recluse and the recluse into a pious
monk, or a Ucentious devotee, as the case might be.
It paved the way for the usurpation of the government
by the unscrupulous soldier, " the man on horseback,"
who was destined to rule Japan for seven hundred
years, whUe the throne and its occupant were in the
shadow. One of a thousand proofs of the progress of
the propaganda scheme is seen in the removal of the
Shinto temple which had stood at Nikko, and the erec
tion in its place of a Buddhist temple. In a.d. 805 the
famous Tendai, and in 806 the poAverful Shingon Sect
were introduced. All was now ready in Japan for the
gi-owth not only of one new Buddhism, but of several
varieties among the Northern Buddhisms Avhich so
arouse the astonishment of those who study the simple
Pali scriptures that contain the story of Gautama, and
who know only the southern phase of the faith, that
is to Asia, relatively, what Christianity is to Europe.
We say relatively, for while Buddhism made Chinese
Asia gentle in manners and kind to animals, it covered
the land with temples, monasteries and images ; on
the other hand the religion of Jesus filled Europe not
only with churches, abbeys, monasteries and nunner
ies, but also with hospitals, orphan asylums, light
houses, schools and colleges. Between the fruits of
Christendom and Buddhadom, let the world judge.
Survey and Summary.
To sum up : Buddhism is the humanitarian's, and
also the skeptic's, solution of the problem of the uni
verse. Its three great distinguishing characteristics are

180 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
atheism, metempsychosis and absence of caste. It was
in its origin pure democracy. As against despotic priest
hood and oppressive hierarchy, it was congregational.
Theoretically it is so yet, though far from being so prac
tically. It is certainly sacerdotal and aristocratic in or
ganization. As in any other system which has so vast
a hierarchy with so many grades of honor and author
ity, its theory of democracy is now a memory. First
preached in a land accursed by caste and under spirit
ual and secular oppressions, it acknowledged no caste,
but declared aU men equaUy sinful and miserable, and
all equally capable of being freed from sin and misery
through Buddhahood, that is, knowledge or enlighten
ment.^* The three-fold principle laid down by Gautama,
and UOAV in dogma, literature, art and worship, a
triad or formal trinity, is, Buddha, the attainment of
Buddha-hood, or perfect enlightenment, through medi
tation and benevolence ; Karma, the laAv of cause
and effect ; and Dharma, discipline or order ; or, the
Lord, the Law and the Church. Paying no attention
to questions of cosmogony or theogony, the imiverse
is accepted as an ultimate fact. Matter is eternal.
Creation exists but not a Creator. All is god, but God
is left out of consideration. The gods are even less
than Buddhas. Humanity is glorified and the stress of
all teaching is upon this Ufe. In a word: a sinless life,
attainable by man, through his own exertions in this
Avorld, above all the poAvers or beings of the universe,
is the essence of original Buddhism. Original Nirvana
meant death which ends all, extinction of existence.
Gautama's immediate purpose Avas to emancipate
himself and his followers from the fetters of Brahmin-

THE BUDDHISM OF NORTHERN ASIA 1S7
ism. He tried to leave the world of Hindu philosophy
behind him and to escape from it.
Did he succeed ? Partially.
Buddha hoped also to lise above the superstitions of
the common people, but in this he was again only par
tially successful.'^ " The clouds returned after the
rain." The old dead gods of Brahminism came back
under ncAv names and forms. The malarial exhalations of
corrupt Brahmanistic philosophy, continuaUy poisoned
the atmosphere Avhich Buddha's disciples breathed.
StiU Avorse, as his reUgion transmigrated into other
lands, it became itseU a history of transformation, until
to-day no religion on earth seems to be such a kaleido
scopic phantasmagoria. Polytheism is rampant over
the gxeater part of the Buddhist world to-day. In the
larger portion of Chinese Asia, pantheism dominates
the mind. In modern Babism, — a mixture of Moham
medanism, Christianity and Buddhism, — there are
streaks of dualism. If Monotheism has ever dawned
on the Buddhist world, it has been in fitful pulses as in
auroral flashes, soon to leave darkness darker.
For us is this .lessson : Buddhism, brought face to
face Avith the problem of the Avoiid's evU and possible
improvement, evades it ; begs the whole question at
the outset ; prays : " Deliver us from existence. Save
us from life and give us as Uttle as possible of it."
Christianity faces the problem and flinches not ; orders
advance aU along the line of endeavor and prays : " De-
Uver us from evil ; " and is ever of good cheer, because
Captain and leader says : " I have overcome the Avorld."
Go, win it for me. " I have come that they might have
life, and that they might liaA-e it more abundantly."

EIYOBU, OE MIXED BUDDHISM

" All things are nothing but mind."
" The doctrines of Buddhism have no fixed forms."
" There is nothing in things themselves that enables us to distingnish
in them either good or evil, right or wrong. It is but man's fancy that
weighs their merits and causes him to choose one and reject the other,''
"Non-individuality is the general principle of Buddhism," — Outlines
of the Mahayana.
"It (Shinto) was smothered before reaching maturity, but Buddhism
and Confucianism had to disguise and change in order to enter Japan,"
" Life has a limited span and naught may avail to extend it. This is
manifested by the impermanence of human beings. But yet whenever
necessary I will hereafter make my appearance from time to time as a god,
a sage, or a Buddha," — Last words of Shaka the Buddha, in Japanese
biography, " It is our opinion that Buddhism cannot long hold its ground, and that
Christianity must finally prevail throughout all Japan, . , . Now, when
Buddhism and Christianity are iu conflict for the ascendency, this indiffer
ence of the Japanese people to the difference of sects is a great disadvant
age to Buddhism, That they should worship Jesus Christ with the same
mind as they do Inari or Miojin is not at all inconsistent in their estima
tion or contrary to their custom, ' ' — Fukuzawa, of Tokio,
" How long halt ye between two opinions ? If the Lord be God, follow
him : but if Baal, then follow him," — Elijah,
" Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles ? "—Jesus.
" Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter ? "
— James, " What concord hath Christ with Belial ? "  PauL

CHAPTEE Vn
EIYOBU, OR MIXED BUDDHISM
Syncretism in Religion
Two centuries and a half of Buddhism in Japan,
showed the leaders and teachers of the Indian faith
that complete Aictory over the whole nation was yet
very far off. The court had indeed been invaded and
AA'on. Even the Mikado, the ecclesiastical head of
Shinto, and the incarnation and vicar of the heavenly
gods, had not only embraced Buddhism, but in many
instances had shorn the hair and taken the vows of the
monk. Yet the people clung tenaciously to their old
traditions, customs and worship ; for their gods were
like themselves and indeed were of themselves, since
Shinto is only a transfiguration of Japanese life. In
the Japanese of those days Ave can trace the same traits
AA'hich we behold in the modern son of Nippon, espe
ciaUy his intense patriotism and his warlike tendencies.
To convert these people to the peaceful dogmas of Sid-
dartha and to make them good Buddhists, something
more than teaching and ritual was necessary. It Avas
indispensable that there should be complete substitu
tion, all along the ruts and paths of national habit, and
especiaUy that the names of the gods and the festivals
should be Buddhaized.
Popular custoras are nearly immortal and ineradica-

192 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
ble. Though wars may come, dynasties rise and fall, and
convulsions in nature take place, yet the people's man
ners and amusements are A-ery slow in changing. If,
in the history of Christianity, the European mission
aries found it necessary in order to make conquest of
our pagan forefathers, to baptize and re-name without
radically changing old notions and habits, so did it
seem equally indispensable that in Japan there should
be some system of reconciliation of the old and the
ncAv, some theological revolution, which should either
fulfil, absorb, or destroy Shinto.
In the histories of reUgions in Western Asia, North
ern Africa and Europe, we are familiar with efforts at
syncretism. We have seen hoAv Philo attempted to
unite Hebrew righteousness and Greek beauty, and to
harmonize Moses and Plato. We knoAv of Euhemerus,
who thought he read in the old mythologies not only
the outlines of real history, but the hieroglyphics of
legend and tradition, truth and revelation.^ Students
of Church history are well aware that this principle
of interpretation was foUowed only too generously by
TertuUian, Clement of Alexandria, Lactantius, Chry
sostom and others of the Church Fathers. Indeed, it
would be hard to find in any of the great religions of
the world an utter absence of syncretism, or the union
of apparently hostUe religious ideas. In the Thousand
and One Nights, we have an example in popular litera
ture. We see that the ancient men of India, Persia
and pre-Mohammedan Arabia now act and talk as or
thodox Mussulmans. In matters pertaining to art and
furniture, the statue of Jupiter in Eome serves for St.
Peter, and in Japan that of the Virgin and child for
the Buddha and his mother.^

RIYOBU, OR MIXED BUDDHISM 193
What, however, chiefly concerns the critic and stu
dent of reUgions is to inquire Uoav far the process has
been natural, and the efforts of those who have brought
about the union have been honest, and their motives
pure. The Bible pages bear witness, that Israel
ites too often tried to make the same fountain give
forth sweet waters and bitter, and to grow thistles and
grapes on the same stem, by uniting the cults of Je
hovah and the Baalim. King Solomon's enterprises in
the same direction are more creditable to him as a
politician than as a worshipper.^ In the history of
Christianity one cannot commend the efforts either of
the Gnostics or the neo-Platonists, nor always justify
the medioeval missionaries in their methods. Nor can
Ave accurately describe as successful the ingenuity of
Vossius, the Dutch theologian, who, following the
scheme of Euhemerus, discovered the Old Testament
patriarchs in the disguise of the gods of Paganism.
Nor, even though Germany be the land of learning, can
the clear-headed scholar agree with some of her ration-
aUsts, Avho are often busy in the same field of industry,
'setting forth wild criticism as " science."
The Kami and the Buddhas.
In Japan, to solve the problem of reconciliation be
tween the ancient traditions of the divine ancestors and
the dogmas of the Indian cult, it Avas necessary that some
master spirit, profoundly learned in the two Ways,
of the Kami and of the Buddhas, should be bold, and
also as it seems, crafty and unscmpulous. To con
vert a line of theocratic emperors, whose authority was
derived from their alleged divine origin and sacerdotal
13

194 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
character, into patrons and propagandists of Buddhism,
and to transform indigenous Shinto gods into Buddhas
elect, or Buddhas to come, or Buddhas iu a former
state of existence, were tasks that might appall the
most prodigious intellect, and even strain the capacities
of Avhat one might imagine to be the universal religion
for all mankind.
Yet from such a task continental Buddhism had not
shrunk before and did not shrink then, nor indeed from
it do the insular Japanese sects shrink now. Indeed,
Buddhism is quite ready to adopt, absorb and swallow
up Japanese Christianity. With all encompassing
tentacles, and with colossal powers of digestion and as
similation, Northern Buddhism had draAvn into itself a
large part of the Brahminism out of Avliich it originally
sprang,^ reversing- the old myth of Chronos by swal
lowing its parents. It had gathered in, pretty much
all that Avas in the heavens above and the earth be
neath and the waters that were imder the earth, in
Nepal, Tibet, China and Korea. Thoroughly exer
cised aud disciplined, it was ready to devour and digest
all that the imagination of Japan had conceived.
AVe must remember that, at the opening of the ninth
centui'}', the Buddhism rampant in China and indeed
throughout Chinese Asia, was the Tantra system of
Yoga-chara.^ This compound of polytheism and pan
theism, with its sensuous paradise, its goddess of mercy
and its pantheon of eA^ery sort of worshipable beings,
was also equipped with a system of philosophy by
Avhich Buddhism could be adapted to almost every
yearning of human nature in its lowest or its highest
form, and by Avhich things apparently contradictory
could be reconciled. Furthermore— and this is not

RIYOBU, OR MIXED BUDDHISM 195
the least important thing to consider when the work to
be done is for the ordinary man as an individual and
for the common people in the mass — it had also a tre
mendous apparatus for touching the imagination and
captivating the fancy of the unthinking and the un
educated. For example, consider the equipment of the Buddh
ist priests of the ninth century in the matter of art !
alone. Shinto knows next to nothing of nvi,^ and in- 1
deed one might almost say that it knows little of civili- !
zation. It is like ultra-Puritauic Protestantism and i
Iconoclasm. Buddhism, on the contrary, is the mother j
of art, and art is her ever-busy child and handmaid. |
The temples of the Kami were bald and bare. The
Kojiki told nothing of life hereafter, and kept silence
on a hundred points at which human curiosity is sure
to be active, and at which the Yoga system Avas vol
uble. Buddhism came Avith a set of visible symbols \
Avhich should attract the eye and fire the imagination, j
and A\ithin ethical limits, the passions also. It was a
mixed and variegated system, — a resultant of many
forces.' It came AA'ith the thought of India, the art-
influence of Greece, the phUosophy of Persia, the spec
ulations of the Gnostics and, in all probability, Avitli
ideas borrowed indirectly from Nestorian or other
forms of Christianity ; and thus furnished, it entered
Japan. The Mission of Art.
Thus far the insular kingdom had known only tho
monochrome sketches of the Chinese painters, which
could have a meaning for the educated few alone. The
composite Tantra dogmas fed the fancy and stimulated

196 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
the imagination, filling them with pictures of life, past,
present and future. " The sketch was replaced by the
illumination." AVhole schools of artists, imported
from China and Korea, multipUed their works and at
tracted the untrained senses of the people, by filling
the temples with a blaze of glory. " This result was
sought by a gorgeous but studied play of gold and color,
and a lavish richness of mounting and accessories, that
appear strangely at variance Avith the begging bowl and
patched garments of primitive Buddhism." ^ The change
in the Japanese temple was as though the gray clouds
had been kissed by the sun and made to laugh raiu-
boAvs. The country of the Fertile Plain of Sweet Flags
Avas transformed. It suddenly became the land wherein
gods grew not singly but in whole forests. Like the
Shulamite, when introduced among the jeweUed ladies
of Solomon's harem, so stood the boor amid the sheen
and gold of the new temples.

"Gold Avas the one tiling essential to the Buddhist
piece, and sometimes, Avhen applied on a black ground, Avas the
only material used. In all cases it Avas employed with an un
sparing hand. It appeared in uniform masses, as in the body
of the Buddha or in the golden lakes of the Western Paradise ;
in minute diapers upon brocades and clothing, in circlets aud
undulating rays, to form the glory surrounding the head of
Amitaba ; in raised bosses and rings upon the armlets or neck
lets of the Bodhisattvas and Devas, and in a hundred other
manners. The pigments chosen to harmonize Avith this display
Avere necessarily body colors of the most pronounced hues, and
were untoned by any trace of chiaroscuro. Such materials as
these Avould surely try the average artist, but the Oriental
painter knew how to dispose them without risk of crudity or
gaudiness, and the precious metal, however lavishly applied,
Avas distributed oA'er the picture with a judgment that Avould

RIYOBU, OR MIXED BUDDHISM 197
make it difficult to alter or remove any part Avithout detriment
to the beauty of the work, " "
In our day, Japanese art has won its oavu place in
the world's temple of beauty. Even those famUiar Avith
the master-pieces of Em-ope do not hesitate to award
to the artists of Nippon a meed of praise Avhich, Avithin
certain limits, is justly applied to them equally Avith
the masters of the ItaUan, the Dutch, the Flemish, or
the French schools. It serves our purpose simply to
point out that art Avas apoAverful factor in the religious
conquest of the Japanese for the ucav doctrines of the
Yoga system, which in Japan is called Eiyobu, or
Mixed Buddhism.
We say Mixed Buddhism rather than Eiyobu Shinto,
for Shinto Avas less corrupted than swalloAved up, Avhile
Buddhism suffered one more degree of mixture and
added one more chapter of decay. It increased in
its visible body, Avhile in its mind it became less and
less the religion of Buddha and more and more a
thing with the old Shinto heart stiU in it, making a
strange growth in the eyes of the continental believ
ers. To the Northern and Southern was now added
an Eastern or Japanese Buddhism.
Who Avas the Avonder-Avorker that annexed the Land
of the Gods to Buddhadom and re-read the Kojiki as a
sutra, and all Japanese history and traditions as only a
chapter of the incarnations of Buddha ?
Kobo the Wonder Worker.
The Philo and Euhemerus of Japan was the priest
Kukai, who was bom in the province of Sanuki, in the
year 774. He is better knoAvn by his posthumous title

198 THE RELIGIONS OF .TAPAN
Kobo Daishi, or the Great Teacher who promulgates
the LaAv. By this name Ave shall caU him. About his
birth, life and death, have multiplied the usual SAA-ad-
dling bands of Japanese legend and tradition,!" and to
his tomb at the temple on Mount Ko-ya, the Campo
Santo of Japanese Buddhism, still gather innumerable
pilgrims. The "hall of ten thousand lamps," each
flame emblematic of the Wisdom that saves, is not, in
deed, in these days lighted annually as of old ; but the
vulgar yet believe that the great master still lives in
his mausoleum, in a state of profoundly silent medita
tion. Into the hall of bones near by, covering a deep
pit, the teeth and " Adam's apjjle " of the cremated
bodies of believers are thrown by their relatives, though
the pit is cleared out every three years. The devotees
believe that by thus disposing of the teeth and
" Adam's apple," they obtain the same spiritual privi
leges as if they were actually entombed there, that is,
of being bom again into the heaven of the Bodhisattva
or the Pure Land of Absolute Bliss, by vutue of the
mystic formulas repeated by the great master in his
lifetime. Let us sketch the life of Kobo,
First named Toto-mono, or Treasure, by his parents,
who sent him to Kioto to be educated for the priest
hood, the youth spent four years in the study of the
Chinese classics. Dissatisfied with the teachings of
Confucins, he became a disciple of a famous Buddhist
priest, named lAvabuchi (Eock-edge or throne). Soon
taking upon himself the voavs of the monk, he was first
named Kukai, meaning " space and sea," or heaven
aud earth." He overcame the dragons that assaulted
him, by prayers, by spitting at them the rays of the

RIYOBU. OR MIXED BUDDHISM 199
evening star which had floAvn from heaven into his
mouth and by repeating the mystic formulas called
Dharani.'- Annoyed by hobgobUns A\ith Avhom he
was obliged to converse, he got rid of them by sur
rounding himself with a consecrated imaginary enclos
ure into Avhich they Avere unable to enter against his
wUl. We mention these legends only to caU the attention
to the fact that they are but copies of those already
accepted in China at that time, and are the logical and
natural fruit of the Tantra school at which we have
glanced. In 804, Kobo was appointed to visit the
Middle Kingdom as a government student. By means
of his clever pen and calligraphic skill he won his way
into the Chinese capital. He became the favored dis
ciple of a priest who taught him the mystic doctrines
of the Yoga. Having acquired the whole of the sys
tem, and equipped himself with a large library of
Buddhist doctrinal Avorks and still more Avitli every
sort of ecclesiastical furniture and religious goods, he
returned to Japan.
Multitudes of wonders are reported about Kobo, all
of which show the growth of the Tantra school. It is
certain that his erudition Avas immense, and that he
was probably the most learned man of Japan in that
age, and possibly of any other age. Besides being a
Japanese Ezra in multiplj'ing Avritings, he is credited
with the invention of the hira-gana, or running script,
and if correctly so, he deserves on this account alone
an immortal honor equal to that of Cadmus or Sequoia.
The kana ^^ is a syllabary of forty-seven letters, which
by diacritical marks, may be increased to seventy. The
kata-kana is the square or print form, the hira-kana is

200 TUE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
the round or " grass " character for writing. Though
not as valuable as a true phonetic alphabet, such as
the Koreans and the Cherokees possess, the i-ro-ha, or
kana script, even though a sj'Uabary and not an alpha
bet, was a Avonderful aid to popular writing and in
struction. Evidently the idea of the i-ro-ha, or Japanese ABC,
was derived from the Sanskrit alphabet, or, Avhat some
modern Anglo-Indian has called the Deva-Nagari or
the god-alphabet. There is no evidence, however, to
show that Kobo did more than arrange in order forty-
seven of the easiest Chinese signs then used, in such
a manner that they conveyed in a few lines of doggerel
the sense of a passage from a sutra in which the mor
tality of man and the emptiness of all things are
taught, and the doctrine of Nirvana is suggested."
Hokusai, the artist, in a sketch Avhich embodies the
popular idea of this bonze's immense industry, repre
sents him copying the shastras and sutras. Kobo is
on a seat before a large upright sheet of paper. He
holds a brush-pen in his mouth, and one in each of his
hands and feet, all moving at once." Favorite por
tions of the Buddhist scriptures Avere indeed so rapidly
multiplied in Japan iu the ninth century, as to suggest
the idea, that, even in this early age, block printing had
been imported from China, Avhence also afterward, in
all probability, it was exported into Europe before the
days of Guttenberg and Coster. i" The popular imagi
nation, however, was more easily moved on seeing five
brushes kept at work and all at once by the muscles
in the fingers, toes and mouth of one man. Yet, "had
his life lasted six hundred years instead of sixty, he
could hardly have graven all the images, scaled all the

RIYOBU, OR MIXED BUDDHISM 201
mountain peaks, confounded aU the sceptics, Avrought
all the miracles and performed all the other feats with
which he is popularly credited,"
Kobo's Irenicon.
Kobo indeed Avas both the Philo and Euhemerus
of Japan, plus a large amount of priestly cunning
and Avhat his enemies insist Avas dishonesty and for
gery. Soon after his return from China, he went to
the temples of Ise,'^ the most holy place of Shinto.''
Taking a reverent attitude before the chief shrine, that
of Toko Uke Bime no Kami or Abundant-Food-Lady-
God, or the deified Earth as the producer of food and
the upholder of aU things upon its surface, the suppli
ant waited patiently AvliUe fasting- and praying.
In this, Kobo did but follow out the ordinary Shinto
plan for securing god-possession and obtaining revela
tion ; that is, by starving both the stomach and the
brain,'" After a week's Avaiting he obtained the vis
ion. The Food-possessing Goddess revealed to him
the yoke (or Yoga) by which he could harness the na
tive and the imported gods to the chariot of victorious
Buddhism. She manifested herself to him and de
livered the revelation on which his system is founded,
and which, briefly stated, is as foUoAvs :
All the Shinto deities are avatars or incarnations of
Buddha. They Avere manifestations to the Japanese,
before Gautama had become the enlightened one, or
the jewel in the lotus, and before the holy Avheel of
the law or the sacred shastras and sutras had reached
the island empire. Furthermore, provision Avas made
for the future gods and deified holy ones, who were

2(12 TlfE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
to proceed from the loins of the Mikado, or other Japa
nese fathers, according to the saying of Buddha which
is thus recorded in a Japanese popular work :
"Life has a limited span, and naught may avail to extend it.
This is manifested by the impermanence of human beings, but
yet, whenever necessary, I Avill hereafter make my appearance
from time to time as a god (Kami), a sage (Confucian teacher),
or a Buddha (Hotoke).""'
In a word, the Shint5 goddess talked as orthodox
(Yoga) Buddhism as the ancient characters of the In
dian, Persian and pre-Islam-Arabic stories in the Ara
bian Nights noAv talk the purest Mohammedanism.^
According to the words put into Gautama's mouth at
the time of his death, the Buddha was already to reap
pear in the particular form and in aU the forms, ac
ceptable to Shintoists, Confucianists, or Buddhists of
Avhatever sect.
Descending from the shrine of Aision and revelation,
Avith a complete scheme of reconciliation, with corre
lated catalogues of Shinto and Buddhist gods, with
litm-gies, Avith lists of old popular festivals newly
named, with the apparatus of art to captivate the
senses, Kobo forthwith baptized each native Shinto
deity Avith a new Chinese-Buddhistic name. For every
Shinto festival he arranged a corresponding Buddhist's
saints' day or gala time. Then, trainmg up a band of
disciples, he sent them forth proclaiming the ucav ireni
con. Tlie Hindu Yoga Becomes Japanese Riyobu.
It was just the time for this brilliant and able eccle
siastic to succeed. The power and personal infiuence
of the Mikado were weakening, the court swarmed with

RIYOBU, OR MIXED BUDDHISM 203
monks, the rising military classes Avere already safely
under the control of the shavelings, and the pen of
learning had everyAvhere proved itself mightier than
the sword and muscle. Kobo's particular dialectic
Aveapons were those of the Yoga-chara, or in Japanese,
the Shingon Shu, or Sect of the True Word.-^ He,
like his Chinese master, taught that we can attain the
state of the Enlightened or Buddha, whUe iu the pres
ent physical body which was born of our parents.
This branch of Buddhism is said to have been
founded in India about a.d. 200. by a saint avIio made
the discovery of an iron pagoda inhabited by the holy
one, Vagrasattva, Avho communicated the exact doctrine
to those who have handed it down through the Hindoo
aud Chinese patriarchs. The books or scriptures of
this sect are in three sutras ; yet the essential point in
them is the Mandala or the circle of the Two Parts, or
in Japanese Eiyobu. Introduced into China, a.d. 720,
it is knoAvn as the Yoga-chara school.
Kobo finding- a Chinese worm, made a Japanese
dragou, able to swallow a national religion. In the act
of deglutition and the long process of the digestion of
Shinto, Japanese Buddhism became something differ
ent from every other form of the faith in Asia. Noted
above aU preAious developments of Buddhism for its
pantheistic tendencies, the Shingon sect could recog
nize in any Shinto god, demi-god, hero, or being, the
avatar in a previous stage of existence of some Buddh
ist being of corresponding grade.
For example,^' Amaterasu or Ten-Sho-Dai-Jin, the
sun-goddess, becomes Dai Nichi Niorai or Amida,
whose colossal efligies stand in the bronze images Dai
Butsu at Nara, Kioto and Kamakura.

204 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
Ojin, the god of Avar, became Hachiman Dai Bosatsu,
or the great Bodhisattva of the Eight Banners. Adopted
as their patron by the fighting Genji or Minamoto
warriors of mediseval times, the Buddhists could not
well afford to have this popular deity outside their pan
theon. For each of the thirty days of the month, a Bodhi
sattva, or in Japanese jDronunciation Bosatsu, Avas ap
pointed. Each of these BodhisattA'as became a Dai
Mio Jin or Great Enlightened Spirit, and was repre
sented as an avatar in Japan of Buddha in the previ
ous ages, when the Japanese Avere not yet prepared to
receive the holy law of Buddhism.
Where there Avere not enough Dai Mio Jin already
existing in native traditions to fill out the number re
quired by the ucav scheme, ncAv titles Avere invented.
One of these was Ten-jin, Heavenly being or spirit.
The famous statesman and scholar of the tenth century,
SugaAvara Michizane, Avas posthumously named Ten-
jin, and is even to this day Avorshipped by many chil
dren of Japan as he Avas formerly for a thousand years
by nearly all of them, as the divine patron of letters.
Kompira, Benten and other popular deities, often con
sidered as properly belonging to Shinto, "are evidently
the offspring of Buddhist priestly ingenuity." ^ Out of
the eight millions or so of native gods, several hundred
were catalogued under the general term Gon-gen. or
temporary manifestations of Buddha. In this list are
to be found not only the heroes of local tradition, but
even deified forces of nature, such as Avind and fire.
The custom of making gods of great men after their
death, thus begun on a large scale by Kobo, has gone
on for centuries. lyeyasii, the political unifier of

RIYOBU, OR MIXED BUDDHISM 205
Japan, shines as a star of the first magnitude in the
heavens of the Eiyobu system, under the name of To-
slio - gu, or Great Light of the East. The common
people speak of him as Gon - gen Sama, the latter
word being an honorary form of address for all beings
from a baby to a Bosatsu.
In this way, Kobo arranged a sort of clearing-house
or joint -stock company in which the Bodhisattvas,
kami and other miscellaneous beings, in either the
native or foreign religion, were mutually interchange
able. In a large sense, this feat of priestly dexterity
was but the repetition in history, of that of Asanga Avith
the Brahmanism and Buddhism of India three centu
ries before. It Avas this Asanga who wrote the Yoga-
chara Bhumi. The succession of syncretists in India,
China and Japan is Asanga, Hiukio and Kobo.
The Happy Family of Riyobu.
Nevertheless this attempt at making a happy family
and ploughing- with an ox and ass in the same yoke,
has not been an unqualified success. It wUl sometimes
happen that one god escapes the classification made
by the Buddhists and slips into the fold of Shinto, or
vice versa ; while again the label-makers and pasters —
as numerous in scholastic Buddhism as in sectarian
Christendom — have hard A\'oi-k to make the labels stick.
A popular Gon-gen or Dai-Mio-jin, whose name and re-
noAvn has for centuries attracted croAvds of pilgrims,
and yielded fat revenues as regularly as the autumn
harvests, is not readily surrendered by the old Buddh
ist proprietors, however cleverly or craftily the bonzes
may yield outAvard conformity to governmental edicts.

206 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
On the other hand, the efforts, both archaeological and
practical, Avhich have been made in recent years by
fiercely zealous Shintoists, savor of the smartness of
New Japan more than they suggest either sincerity or
edification. It often requires the finest tact on the
part of both the strenuous Buddhists and the stalwart
purists of Shinto, to extricate the various gods out of
the mixture and mess of Eiyobu Shinto, and to keep
them from jostling each other.
This reclaiming and kidnapping of gods and trans
ferring them from one camp to another, has been espe
ciaUy active since 1870, when, under government aus
pices, the Eiyobu temples were purged of all Buddh
ist idols, furnitm-e and infiuences. The term Dai Mio
Jin, or Great Illustrious Spirit, is no longer oflicially
permitted to be used of the old kami or gods of
Shintu, Avho were known to have existed before the
days of Kobo. In some cases these gods have lost
much of the esteem in which they were held for cen
turies. Especially is this true of the infamous rebel
of the tenth century, Masakado.^" On the entrance
into Yedo of the Imperial army, in 1868, his idol was
torn from its shrine and hacked to pieces by the pa
triots. His place as a deity (Kanda Dai Mio Jin, or
Great Illustrious Spirit of Kanda) was taken by an
other deified being, a brother to the aboriginal earth-
god Avho, in the ages of the Kami, "resigned his
throne in favor of the Mikado's ancestors when they
descended from Heaven." The apotheosis of the rebel
Masakado had been resorted to by the Buddhist can-
onizers because the unquiet spirit of the dead man
troubled the people. This method of laying a ghost
by making- a god of him, Avas for centuries a favorite

RIYOBU, OR MIXED BUDDHISM 207
one in Japanese Buddhism. Indeed, a large part of
the practical and parochial duties of the bonzes con
sists in quieting the restless spirits of the departed.
AU Japanese popular religion of the past has been
intensely local and patriotic. The ancient idea that
Nippon was the first country created and the centre of
the world, has persisted through the ages, modifying
every imported reUgion. Hence the noticeable fact in
Japanese Buddhism, of the comparative degradation of
the Hindu deities and the exaltation of those which
were natiA-e to the soil. . ^
The normal Japanese, be he priest or lay brother,
theologian or statesman, is nothing if not patriotic.
Even the Chinese gods and goddesses which, clothed
in Indian drapery and stiU preserving their Aryan
features, were imported to Japan, could not hold their
own in competition with the popularity of the indige
nous inhabitants of the Japanese pantheon. The nor
mal Japanese eye does not see the ideals of beauty in
the human face and form in common with the Aryan
Aision, Benten or Kuanon, with the features and drap
ery of the homelike beauties of Yamato or Adzuma,
have ever been more lovely to the admiring eye of the
Japanese sailor and farmer, than the Aryan features
of the idols imported from India. So also, the wor
shipper to Avliom the lovely scenery of Japan Avas fresh
from the hands of the kami Avho were so much like
himself, turned naturally in preference, to the " gods
many " of his own land.
Succeeding centuries only made it Avorse for the im
ported devas or gods, while the kami, or the gods
sprung from the soil created by Izanami and Izanagi
steadily rose in honor.

208 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN

Degradation of the Foreign Deities.
For example, the Indian saint Dharma is reputed to
have come to the Dragon-fly Country long before the
advent of Buddhism, but the people were not ready for
him or his teachings, and therefore he returned to
India. So at least declares the book entitled San Kai
Ei*^ (Mountain, Sea and Earth), Avhich is a re-reading
and explanation of Japanese mythology and tradition as
recorded in the Kojiki, by a Kioto priest of the Shin
Shu Sect. Of this Dharma, it is said, that he outdid
the Eoman Eegulus Avho suffered involuntary loss of
his eyelids at the hands of the Carthaginians. Dhar
ma cut off his own eyelids, because he could not keep
awake. ^ Throwing the offending- flesh upon the ground,
he saAv the tea-plant arise to help holy men to keep
vigil. Daruma, as the Japanese spell his name, has a
temple in central Japan. It is related that when Sho
toku, the first patron of Buddhism, was one day walk
ing abroad he found a poor man dying of hunger, who
refused to answer any questions or give his name.
Shotoku ordered food to be given him, and wrapped
his OAVU mantle round him. Next day the beggar died,
and the prince charitably had him buried on the spot.
Shortly afterward it was observed that the mantle Avas
lying neatly folded up, on the tomb, which on exami
nation proved to be empty. The supposed dying beg
gar Avas no other than the Indian Saint Dharma, and a
pagoda Avas built over the grave, in Avhich images of
the priest and saint were enshrined.^ Yet, alas, to-day
Daruma the Hindoo and foreigner, despite his avatar,
his humility, his vigils and his seU-mutilation, has

RIYOBU, OR MIXED BUDDHISM 209
been degraded to be the shop-sign of the tobacconists.
Besides being ruthlessly caricatured, he is usually pict-
m-ed Avith a scowl, his lidless eyes as Avide open as
those upon a Chinese junk-prow or an Egyptian cofiin-
lid. Often even, he has a pipe in his mouth — a comi
cal anachronism, suggestive to the smoker of the dark
ages that knew no tobacco, before nicotine made the
whole world of savage and of civiUzed kin. Legless
dolls and snow-men are named after this foreigner,
Avhose name is associated almost entirely with what is
ludicrous. On Kobo's expounding his scheme to the Mikado,
the emperor was so pleased Avitli his servant's ingenu
ity, that he gave it the name of Eiyobu* Shinto ; that
is, the two-fold divine doctrine, double way of the gods,
or amalgamated theology. Henceforth the Japanese
could enter Nirvana or Paradise through a two-leaved
gate. As for the people, they also were pleased, as
they usually are Avhen change or reform does not
mean abolition of the old festivals, or of the washings,
sousings, and fun at the tombs of their ancestors in
the graveyards, or the merry-makings, or the pilgrim-
ages,-^! which are usually only other names for social
recreation, and often for sensual debauch. The Yoga
had become a kubiki, for Shinto and Buddhism Avere
now harnessed together, not indeed as true yoke-fel-
loAvs, but yet joined as inseparably as Iavo oxen making
the same furrow.
Many a miya now became a tera. At first in many
edifices, the rites of Shinto and Buddhism were al
ternately performed. The Buddhist symbols might
be in the front, and the Shintoist in the rear of the
sacred hall, or vice versa, with a bamboo curtain be-
14

210 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
tween ; but gradually the two blended. Instead of
austere simplicity, the Shinto interior contained a
museum of idols.
Image carvers had now plenty to do in making, out
of camphor or hinoki Avood, efligies of such of the
eight miUion or so of kamis as were giA'en places in
the new and enlarged pantheon. The multijDlication
Avas always on the side of Buddhism. Soon, also, the
architecture Avas altered from the type of the primi
tive hut, to that of the low Chinese temple with great
sweeping roof, re-curved eaves, many-columned audi
torium and imposing gateway, v/ith lacquer, paint,
gilding and ceilings, on which, in blazing gold and
color, were depicted the emblems of the Buddhist
paradise. Many of these stUl remain even after the
national purgation of 1870, just as the Christian in
scriptions survive in the marble palimpsests of Ma
hometan mosques, converted from basiUcas, at Damas
cus or Constantinople. The toru was no longer raised
in plain hinoki wood, but was now constructed of hewn
stone, rounded or polished. Sometimes it was even of
bronze Avith gilded crests and Sanskrit monograms,
surmounted, it may be, Avitli tablets of painted or
stained Avood, on Avhich were Chinese letters gUttering
Avith gold. This departm-e from the primitive idea of
using only the natural trunks of trees, "somewhat on
the principle of Exodus, 20: 25,"''^ was a radical one in
the ninth century. The elongated barrels with iron
hoops, or the riveted boiler-plate and stove-pipe pat
tern, in this era of Meiji is a still more radical and
even scandalous innovation.

RIYOBU OR MIXED BUDDHISM 211

Shinto Buried in Buddhism.
So complete Avas the victor}^ of Eiyobuism, that for
nearly a thousand years Shinto as a reUgion, except in
a few isolated spots, ceased from sight and sank to a
mere mythology or to the shadow of a mythology. The
very knowledge even of the ancient traditions Avas lost
in the Buddhaized forms in Avhich the old stories*^
Avere cast, or in the omnipresent ritual of the Buddhist
tera. Yet, after aU, it is a question as to which suffered
most. Buddhism or Shinto. Who can tell Avhich Avas
the base and which Avas the true metal in the alloy
that Avas formed ? The San Kai Ei shows how supersti
tions manifold became imbedded in Buddhism. It was
not alone through the Shingon sect, which Kobo intro
duced, that this Yoga or union came. In the other
great sect caUed the Tendai, aud in the later sects,
more especiaUy in that of Nichiren, the same principle
of absorption Avas foUoAved. These sects also adopted
many elements derived from the god- way and thus be
came Shintoized. Indeed, it seems certain that that
vast development of Japanese Buddhism, pecuUar to
Japan and unknoAvn to the rest of the Buddhist world,
scouted by the Southem Buddhists as dreadful heresy,
and rousing the indig-nation of students of early Buddh
ism, like Max Miiller and Professor Whitney, is largely
owing to this attempted digestion of Japanese myth
ology. The anaconda may indeed be able, by reason
of its marvellously flexible jaws and its abundant ac
tivity of salivary glands, to swalloAV the calf, and even
the ox ; but sometimes the serpent is killed by its oavu

212 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
voracity, or at least made helpless before the destroy
ing hunter. When sAveet potatoes and pumpkins are
planted in the same hill, and the cooked product comes
on the table, it is hard to teU whether it is tuber or
hoUow fruit, subterranean or superficial growth, that Ave
are eating. So in Eiyobu, whether it be most imo or
kabocha is a fair question. If the Buddhism in Japan
did but add a chapter of decay and degradation to the
religion of the Light of Asia, is not this owing to the
act of Kobo — justified indeed by those who imitated
his example, yet hardly to be called honest ? A stroke
of ecclesiastical dexterity, it may have been, but
scarcely a lawful example or an illustrious and com
mendable specimen of syncretism in religion.
Many students have asked what is the peculiar, the
characteristic difference between the Buddhism of Ja
pan and the other Buddhisms of the Asian contin
ent. If there be one cause, leading all others, we in
cline to believe it is because Japanese Buddhism is not
the Buddhism of Gautama, but is so largely Eiyobu
or Mixed. Yet in the alloy, which ingredient has pre
served most of its qualities ? Is Japanese Buddhism
really Shintoized Buddhism, or Buddhaized Shinto?
Which is the parasite and which the parasitized ? Is the
hermit crab Shinto, and the shell Buddhism, or vice
versa ? About as many corrupt elements from Shinto
entered into the various Buddhist sects as Buddhism
gave to Shinto.
This process of Shintoizing Buddhism or of Buddh-
aizing Shinto — that is, of combining Shinto or purely
Japanese ideas and practices Avith the systems im
ported from India, went on for five centuries. The
old native habits and mental characteristics were not

RIYOBU, OR MIXED BUDDHISM 213
eradicated or profoundly modified; they were rather
safely preserved in so-called Buddhism, not indeed as
dead flies in amber but as Uve creatures, fattening on a
body, which, every year, while keeping outward form
and name, was being emptied of its normal and typical
life. It is no gain to pure Avater to add either mi
crobes or the food which nourishes them.
Buddhism Writes Neio Chapters of Decay.
PhenomenaUy, the -victory was that of Buddhism.
The mustard -seed has indeed become a great tree,
lodging every fowl of heaA^en, clean and unclean ; but
potentially and in reality, the leavening power, as now
seen, seems to have been that of Shinto. Or, to change
metaphor, since the hermit crab and the shell Avere
separated by laAv only one generation ago, in 1870, Ave
shall soon, before many generations, discern clearly
which has the life and Avhich has only the shell.'^
There are but fcAv literary monuments "^ of Eiyobu
ism, and it has left few or no marks in the native
chronicles, misnamed history, Avhich utterly omit or
ignore so many things interesting to the student and
humanist.^' Yet to this mixture or amalgamation of
Buddhism Avith Shinto, more probably than to any
other direct influence, may also be ascribed that strik
ing alteration in the system of Chinese ethics or Con
fucianism which differentiates the Japanese form from
that prevalent in China. That is, instead of filial
piety, the relation of parent and child, occupying the
first place, loyalty, the relation of lord and retainer,
master and servant, became supreme. Although Buddh
ism made the Mikado first a King (Tenno) or Son of

214 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
Heaven (Ten-Shi), and then a monk (Ho-o), and after
his death a Hotoke or Buddhist deity, it caused him
early to abdicate from actual life. Buddhism is thus
directly responsible for the habitual Japanese resigna
tion from active life almost as soon as it is entered, by
men in all classes. Buddhism started all along and
down through the lines of Japanese society the idea of
early retirement from duty ; so that men were consid
ered old at forty, and hors concours before forty-five.''
Life Avas condemned as vanity of vanities before it was
mature, and old age a friend that nobody Avished to
meet,^ although Japanese old age is but European
prime. In a measure. Buddhism is thus responsible
for the paralysis of Japanese civilization, which, like
oft-tapped maple-trees, began to die at the top. This
Avas in accordance with its theories and its literature.
In the Bible there is, possibly, one book which is pessi
mistic in tone, Ecclesiastes. In the bulky and dropsi
cal canon of Buddhism there is a whole library of de
spondency and despair.
Nevertheless, the ethical element held its own in the
Japanese mind ; and against the pessimism and pueril
ity of Buddhism and the religious emptiness of Shinto,
the bond of Japanese society w-as sought in the idea
of loyalty. While then, as we repeat, everything that
comes to the Japanese mind suffers as it were "a sea
change, into something new and strange," is it not fair
to say that the change made by Kobo Avas at the ex
pense of Buddhism as a system, and that the thing
that suffered reversion was the exotic rather than the
native plant ? For, in the emergence of this ucav idea
of loyalty as supreme, Shinto and not Buddhism Avas
the dictator.

RIYOBU, OR MIXED BUDDHISM 215
Even more after Kobo's death than during his life,
Japan improved upon her imported faith, and rapidly
developed new sects of all degrees of reputableness and
disreputableness. Had Kobo lived ou through the
centuries, as the boors still believe,'^ he could not have
stopped, had he so desired, the workings of the leaven he
had brought from China. From the sixth to the tweUth
century, Avas the missionary age of Japanese Buddhism.
Then followed tAvo centimes of amazing development
of doctrine. Novelties in religion blossomed, fruited
and became monuments as permanent as the age-en
during forests Hakone, or Nikko. Gautama himself,
were he to retm-n to " red earth " again, could not rec-
og-nize his OAvn cult in Japan.
In China to-day Buddhism is in a bad state. One
writer calls it, " The emasculated descendant that now
occupies the land Avith its drone of priests and its
temples, in Avhich scarce a worthy disciple of the
learned patriarchs of ancient daj'S is to be found. Ee-
ceived with open arms, persecuted, patronized, smiled
upon, tolerated, it with the last phase of its existence,
has reached, not the halcyon days of peace and rest,
but its final stage, foreshadoAving its decay from rot
tenness and corruption."'"' So also, in a like report,
agree many witnesses. The common people of China
are to-day Taoists rather than Buddhists.''^
If this be the position in China, something not very
far from it is found in Japan to-day. Whatever may
be the Buddhism of the few learned scholars, Avho
have imbibed the critical and scientific spirit of Chris
tendom, and whatever be the professions and represen
tations of its earnest adherents and partisans, it is cer
tain that popular Buddhism is both ethically and

216 TIIE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
vitaUy in a Ioav state. In outward array the system is
still imposing. There are yet, it may be, mUlions of
stone statues and whole forests of wayside effigies,
outdoors and unroofed — irreverently called by the
Japanese themselves, "wet gods." Hosts upon hosts
of lacquered and gilded images in Avood, sheltered under
the temple tiles or shingles, still attract worshippers.
Despite shiploads of copper Buddhas exported as old
metal to Europe and America, and thousands of tons
of gods and imps melted into coin or cannon, there are
myriads of metal reminders of those fruits of a relig
ion that once educated and satisfied ; but these are, in
the main, no longer to the natives instruments of in
spiration or compeUers to enthusiasm. In this time
of practical charity, they are poor substitutes for those
hospitals and orphan asylums which were practically
unknown in Japan until the advent of Christianity.
Kobo's smart example has been followed only too
well by the people in every part of the country. One
has but to read the stacks of books of local history to
see what an amazing proportion of legends, ideas, su
perstitions and revelations rests on dreams; how in
credibly numerous are the apparitions ; how often the
floating images of Buddha are found on the AA-ater;
hoAV frequently flowers have rained out of the sky;
how many times the idols have spoken or shot forth
their dazzling rays — in a Avord ; hoAv often art and arti
fices have become alleged and accepted reaUty. Un
fortunately, the characteristics of this literature and
undergrowth of idol lore are monotony and lack of
originality ; for nearly all are copies of Kobo's model.
His cartoon has been constantly before the busy weav
ers of legend.

RIYOBU, OR MIXED BUDDHIS.V 217
It may indeed be said, and said truly, that in its
multiplication of sects and in its groAvth of legend and
superstition, Buddhism has but foUoAved every knoAvn
religion, including traditional Christianity itself. Yet
popular Buddhism has reached a point Avhich shoAvs,
that, instead of having a self-purgative and seU-re-
forming poAver, it is apparently still treading in the
steps of the degradation Avhich Kobo began.
The Seven Gods of Good Fortune.
We repeat it, Eiyobu Buddhism is Japanese Buddh
ism AAith vengeance. It is to-day suffering from the
effect of its own sins. Its ingwa is manifest. Take,
for example, the little group of divinities known as
the Seven Gods of Good Fortune, which forms a popu
lar appendage to Japanese Buddhism and which are a
direct and logical groAvth of the work done by Kobo,
as shown in his Eiyobu system. Not from foreign writ
ers and their fancies, nor even from the books which
profess to describe these divinities, do we get such an
idea of their real meaning and of their influence with
the people, as we do l^y observation of every-day prac
tice, and a study of the idols themselves and of Japa
nese folk-lore, popular romance, local history and guide
books. These familiar divinities, indeed, at the present
day owe their vitality rather to the artists than the
priests, and, it may be, have received, together Avith
some rather rude handUng, nearly the Avhole of their
extended popularity and influence from their lay sup
porters. The Seven Happy Gods of Fortune form
nominaUy a Buddhist assemblage, and their efligies on
the kami-dana or god-shelf, found in nearly every Jap-

218 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
anese house, are universally visible. The child in
Japan is rocked to sleep by the soothing sound of the
lullaby, which is often a prayer to these gods. Even
though it may be with laughing and merriment, that,
in their name the evil gods and imps are exorcised
annually on Ncav Year's eve, with showers of beans
which are supposed to be as disagi-eeable to the Buddh
ist demons " as drops of holy Avater to the Devil,"
yet few households are complete without one or more
of the images or the pictures of these favorite deities.
The separate elements of this conglomerate, so
typical of Japanese religion, are from no fewer than
four different sources : Brahmanism, Buddhism, Tao
ism and Shintoism. " Thus, Bishamon is the Buddh
ist Vdis'ramana *^ and the Brahmanic Kuvera ; Ben
ten is Sarasvati, the Avife of Brahma ; Daikoku is an
extremely popularized form of Mahakala, the black-
faced Temple Guardian ; Hotel has Taoist attributes,
but is regarded as an incarnation of Maitreya, the
Buddhist Messiah ; Fuku-roku-jiu is of purely Taoist
origin, and is perhaps a personiflcation of Lao-Tsze
himself ; Ju-ro-jin is almost certainly a duplicate of
Fuku-roku-jiu ; and, lastly, Ebisu, as the son of Iza
nagi and Izanami, is a contribution from the Shinto
hero-worship." ^^ If Eiyobu Buddhism be two-fold,
here is a textm-e or amalgam that is shi-bu, four-fold.
Let us watch lest go-bu, with Christianity mixed in, be
the next result of the process. To play the Japanese
game of go-ban, with Christianity as the flfth counter,
and Jesus as a Palestinian avatar of some Dhyani
Buddha, crafty priests in Japan are even now planning.
This illustration of the Seven Gods of Happiness,
whose local characters, functions and relations havA

RIYOBU, OR MIXED BUDDHISM 219
been developed especially within the last three or four
hundred years, is but one of many that could be ad
duced, shoAving what proceeded ou a larger scale. The
Eiyobu process made it almost impossible for the av
erage native to draw the line betAveen history and myth
ology. It destroyed the boundary lines, as Pantheism
invariably does, betAveen fact and fiction, truth and
falsehood. The Japanese mind, by a natural, possi
bly by a racial, tendency, falls easily into Pantheism,
Avhich may be called the destroyer of boundaries and
the maker of chaos and ooze. Pretty much all early
Japanese " history " is ooze ; yet there are grave and
learned men, even in the Constitutional Japan of the
Meiji era — masters in their arts and professions, gradu
ates of technical and philosophical com-ses — Avho sol
emnly talk about their " first emperor ascending the
throne, B.C. 660," and to whom the dragon-born, early
Mikados, and their fellow-tribesmen, seen through the
exaggerated mists of the Kojiki, are divine personages.
Tlie Gon-gen in the Processions.
While living in Japan between 1870 and 1874, the
writer used to enjoy watching and studying the long
processions which celebrated the foundation of temples,
national or local festivals, or the completion of some
great public enterprise, such as the railway between
Tokio and Yokohama. In rich costume, decoration,
and representation most of the cultus-objects were
marvels of art and skill. Besides the gala dresses and
uniforms, the fantastic decorations and personal adorn
ments, the dances which represented the comedies and
tragedies of the gods and the striking scenes in the

220 THE RELIGIONS OF .JAPAN
Kojiki, there were colossal images of Kami, Bodhisatt
vas, Gon-gen, Dai Mio Jm, and of imps, oni, mythical
animal forms and imaginary monsters.''^ More inter
esting than anything else, hoAvever, were the male and
female figures, set high upon triumphal cars having
many tiers, and arrayed in characteristic primeval,
ancient, mediseval, or early modem dress. Some were
of scoAvling, others of benign visage. In some years,
everyone of the eight hundred and eight streets of
Yedo' sent its contribution of men, money, decora
tions, or vehicles.
As seen by four kinds of spectators, the average ig
norant native, the Shintoist, the learned Buddhist, and
the critical historical scholar, these effigies represented
three different characters or creations. EspeciaUy Avere
those divine personages called Gon-gen worth the study
of the foreign observer.
(1) The common boor or streetman saluted, for ex
ample, this or that Dai Mio Jin, as the great iUustrious
spirit or god of a particular district. To this spirit and
image he prayed ; in his honor he made offerings ; his
Avrath he feared ; and his smile he hoped to win, for the
Gon-gen Avas a divine being.
(2) To the Shintoist, avIio hated Buddhism and the
Eiyobu Shinto wdiich had oA-eiiaid his ancestral faith,
and Avho scorned and tabooed this Chinese term Dai
Mio Jin, this or that image represented a divine ances
tor whose name had in it many Japanese syllables, Avith
no defiling Chinese sounds, and Avho Avas the Kami or
patron deity of this or that neighborhood.
(3) To the Buddhist, this or that personage, in his
lifetime, in the early ages of Japanese history, had .
been an avatar of Buddha viho had appeared in human

RIYOBU, OR MIXED BUDDHISM 221
flesh and brought blessings to the people and neigh
borhood ; yet the people of the early ages being un
prepared to receive his doctrine or revelation, he had
not then revealed or preached it ; but uoav, as for a
thousand years since the time of the illustrious and
saintly Kobo, he had his right name and received his
just honors and worship as an avatar of the eternal
Buddha. So, although Buddhist and Shintoist might
quarrel as to his title, and diAide, even to anger, on
minor points, they would both agxee in letting the com
mon people take their j)leasm-e, enjoy the festivals and
merriment, and preserve their reverence and worship.
(4) Still another spectator studied with critical in
terest the swaying- figure high in air. With a taste for
archaeology, he admired the accuracy of the drapery
and associations. He was amused, it may be, Avith oc
casional anachronisms as to garments or equipments.
He knew that the original of this personage had been
nothing more than a human being, who might indeed
have been conspicuous as a brave soldier in Avar, or as
a skilful physician Avho helped to stop the plague, or as
a civiUzer who imported new food or improved agri
culture. In a word, had this subject of the ancient Mikado
lived in modem Christendom, he might be honored
through the government, patent oflice, privy council,
the admiralty, the university, or the academy, as the case
or Avortli might be. He might shine in a plastic rep
resentation by the sculptor or artist, or be known in
the popular literature ; but he would never receive re
ligious worship, or aught beyond honor and praise. In
this swamping of history in legend and of fact in dogma,
Ave behold the fruit of Kobo's work, Eiyobu Buddhism.

222 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN

Kobo's Work Undone.
Buddhism calls itself the jcAvel in the lotus. Japan
ese poetry asks of the dewdrop "Avhy, having the heart
of the lotus for its home, does it pretend to be a gem ? "
For a thousand years Eiyobu Buddhism was received as
a pure brilliant of the first water, and then the scholar
ship of the Shinto revivalists of the eighteenth cen
tury exjiosed the fraudulent nature of the unrelated
parts and declared that the jewel called Eiyobu was
but a craftsman's doublet and should be split apart.
Only a splinter of diamond, they declared, croAvned a
mass of paste. Indignation made learning hot, and in
1870 the cement was liquefied in civil Avar. The doub
let was rent asunder by imperial decree, as when a lapi-
dist melts the mastic that holds in deception adamant
and glass, while real diamond stands all fire short of the
hj'dro-oxygen flame. The Eiyobu temples were purged
of all Buddhist symbols, furniture, equipment and per
sonnel, and were made again to assume their august and
austere simplicity. In the eyes of the purely aesthetic
critic, this national purgation was Puritanical icono
clasm ; in those of the priests, cast out to earn rice else-
wise and elscAvhere, it was outrage, which in individual
instances called for reprisal in blood, fire and assassi
nation; to the Shintoist, it Avas an exhibition of the
righteous judgment of the long-insulted gods ; in the
ken of the critical student, it seems very much hke
historic and poetic justice.
In our day and time, Eiyobu Buddhism furnishes us
Avith a Avarning, for, looked at from a purely human
point of vieAv, what happened to Shinto may possibly

RIYOBU, OR MIXED BUDDHISM 223
happen to Japanese Christianity. The successors of
those Avho, in the ninth century, did not scruple to
Buddhaize Shinto, and in later times, even our OAvn, to
Shintoize Buddhism while holding to Buddha's name
and all the revenue possible, Avill Buddhaize Christi
anity if they have power and opportunity ; and signs
are not wanting to show that this is upon their pro
gramme. The water of stagnant Buddhism is still a SAvarming
mass, which needs cleansing to purity by a knoAvledge
of one God AA'ho is Light and Love. Without such
knowledge, the manifold changes in Buddhism will but
form fresh chapters of degradation and decay. Holding
such knowledge, Christianity may pass through end
less changes, for this is her capability by Divine power
and the authorization of her Founder. The ncAV
Buddhism of our day is endeavoring to save itself
through reformation and progress. In doing so, the
danger of the destruction of the system is great, for
thus far change has meant decay.

NOETHEEN BUDDHISM IN ITS DOCTEINAL
EVOLUTIONS

" To the millions of China, Corea, and Japan, creator and creation are
new and strange terms." — J. H. De Forest.
' ' The Law of our Lord, the Buddha, is not a natural science or a relig
ion, but a doctrine of enlightenment ; and the object oE it is to give rest to
the restless, to point out the Master (the Inmost Man) to those that are
blind and do not perceive their Original State."
" The Saddharma Pundarika Sutra teaches us how to obtain that desir
able knowledge of the mind as it is in itself [universal wisdom].
Mind is the One Reality, and all scriptures are the micrographic photo
graphs of its images. He that fully grasps the Divine Body of Sakyamuni,
holds ever, even without the written Sutra, the inner Saddharma Pundarika
in his hand. He ever reads it mentally, even though he would never read
it orally. He is anified with it, though he has no thought about it. He is
the true keeper of the Sutra," — Zitsnzen Ashitsu of the Tendai sect.
"It [Buddhism] is idealistic. Everything is as we think it. The world
is my idea. , , Beyond our faith is naught. Hold the Buddhist to
his creed and insist that such logic destroys itself, and he triumphs smil
ingly, ' Self-destructive ! Of course it is. All logic is. That is the cen
tre of my philosophy.' "
" It [Buddhism] denounces all desire and offers salvation as the reward
of the murder of our affections, hopes, and aspirations. It is possible
where conscious existence is believed to be the chief of evils." — George
William Knox,
" Swallowing the device of the priests, the people well satisfied, dance
their prayers," — Japanese Proverb.
" The wisdom that is from above is, , without variance, without
hypocrisy, " — James.
"The mystery of God, even Christ in whom are all the treasures of wis
dom and knowledge." — Paul,

CHAPTEE Vni
NORTHERN BtTDDHISM IN ITS DOCTRINAL EVOLUTIONS
Chronological Outline
In sketching the history of the doctrinal develop
ments of Buddhism in Japan, we note that the system,
greatly corrupted from its original simplicity, was in
552 A.D. already a millennium old. Several distinct
phases of the much- altered faith of Gautama, were intro
duced into the islands at various times between the
sixth and the ninth century. From these and from
others of native origin have sprung the larger Japan
ese sects. Even as late as the seventeenth century,
novelties in Buddhism were imported from China, and
the exotics took root in Japanese soil ; but then, with
a single exception, only to grow as curiosities ui the
garden, rather than as the great forests, which had al
ready sprung from imported and native specimens.
We may divide the period of the doctrinal develop
ment of Buddhism in Japan into four epochs :
I. The first, from 552 to 805 a.d., will cover the first
six sects, which had for their centre of propagation,
Nara, the southern capital.
II. Then follows Eiyobu Buddhism, from the ninth
to the twelfth centuries.
III. This was succeeded by another explosion of

228 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
doctrine wholly and peculiarly Japanese, and by a
wide missionary propagation.
IV. From the sixteenth to the nineteenth century,
there is little that is doctrinally noticeable, until our
own time, when the new Buddhism of to-day claims at
least a passing notice.
The Japanese writers of ecclesiastical history class
ify in three groups the tweh'e great sects as the first
six, the tAvo mediseval, and the four modern sects.
In this lecture we shall merely summarize the
characteristics of the first five sects which existed be
fore the opening of the ninth century but which are
not formally extant at the present time, and treat more
fully the purely Japanese developments. The first
three sects may be grouped under the head of the
Hinayana, or Smaller Vehicle, as Southern or primi
tive orthodox Buddhism is usually called.
Most of the early sects, as Avill be seen, were founded
upon some particular sutra, or upon selections or col
lections of sutras. They correspond to some extent
with the manifold sects of Christendom, and yet this
iUustration or reference must not be misleading. It is
not as though a new Christian sect, for example, were
in A.D. 500 to be formed wholly on the gospel of Luke,
or the book of the Eevelation ; nor as though a new sect
should uow arise in Norway or Tennessee because of a
special emphasis laid on a combination of the epistle to
the Corinthians and the book of Daniel. It is rather
as though distinct names and organizations should be
founded upon the writings of TertulUan, of Augustine,
of Luther, or of Calvin, and that such sects should ac
cept the literary Avork of these scholars not only as
commentaries but as Holy Scripture itself.

NORTHERN BUDDHISM 229
The Buddhist body of scriptures has several times
been imported and printed in Japan, but has never
been translated into the vernacular. The canon " is
not made up simply of writings purporting to be the
words of Buddha or of the apostles who were his im
mediate companions or followers. On the contrary, the
canon, as received in Japan, is made up of books, writ
ten for the most part many centuries after the last of
the contemporaries of Gautama had passed away. Not
a few of these writings are the products of the Chinese
intellect. Some books held by particular sects as holy
scripture were composed in Japan itself, the very books
themselves being Avorshipped. Nevertheless those Avho
are apparently farthest away from primitive Buddhism,
claim to understand Buddha most clearly.
Tlie Standard Doctnnal Work.
One of the most famous of books, honored especially
by several of the later and larger sects in Japan, aud
probably the most widely read and most generally
studied book of the canon, is the Saddharma Pun
darika.^ Professor Kern, Avho has translated this very
rhetorical work into English, thinks it existed at or
some time before 250 a.d., and that in its most ancient
form it dates some centuries earlier, possibly as early
as the opening of the Christian era. It has noAv tAventy-
seven chapters, and may be called the typical scripture
of Northem Buddhism. It is overfloAvingly full of those
sensuous images and descriptions of the Paradise, in
which the imagination of the Japanese Buddhist so re
vels, and in it both rhetoric and mathematics run
wild. Of this book, "the cream of the revealed doc-

230 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
trine," we shall hear often again. It is the standard of
orthodoxy in Japanese Buddhism, the real genius of
which is monastic asceticism in morals and philosoph
ical scepticism in reUgion.
In most of the other sutras the burden of thought
is ontology. Doctrinally, Buddhism seems to be less
a religion than a system of philosophy. Hundreds of
volumes in the canon concern themselves almost wholly
with ontological speculations. The Japanese mind,^
as described by those who have studied most acutely
and profoundly its manifestations in language and lit
eratm-e, is essentially averse to speculation. Yet the
first forms of Buddhism presented to the Japanese,
were highly metaphysical. The history of thought in
Japan, shows that these abstractions of dogma were
not congenial to the islanders. The new faith w^on its
way among the people .by its outward sensuous attrac
tions, and by appeals to the imagination, the fancy and
the emotions; though the men of culture were led cap
tive by reasoning which they could not ansAver, even if
they could comprehend it. Though these early forms
of dogma and philosoj)hy no longer survive in Japan,
having been ecUpsed by more concrete and sensuous
arguments, yet it is necessary to state them in order to
shoAv. first, what Buddhism really is; second, doc
trinal development in the farthest East; and, third,
the peculiarities of the Japanese mind.
In this task, Ave are happy to be able to rely upon
native Avitness aud confession.'' The foreigner may
easily misrepresent, even Avhen sincerely inclined to
utter only the truth. Each religion, in its theory at
least, must be judged by its ideals, and not by its fail
ures. Its truth must be stated by its own professors.

NORTHERN BUDDHISM 231
In the " History of The Twelve Japanese Sects," by
Bunyiu Nanjio, M.A. Oxon., and in " Le Bouddhisme
Japonais," by Eyauon Fujishima, we have the untram-
meUed utterances, of nine Uving lights of the religion of
Shaka as it is held and taught in Dai Nippon. The
former scholar is a master of texts, and the latter of
philosophy, each editor excelling in his own depart
ment ; and the two books complement each other in
value. Buddhism, being a logical growth out of Brahman
ism, used the old sacred language of India and in
herited its vocabulary. In the Tripitaka, that is, the
three book -baskets or boxes, we have the term for
canon of scripture, in the complete collection of which
are sutra, vinaya and abidliarma. We shall see, also,
that Avhile Gautama shut out the gods, his speculative
foUowers who claimed to be his successors, opened the
doors and allowed them to troop in again. The de
mocracy of the congregation became a hierarchy and ,
the empty swept and garnished house, a pantheon.
A sutra, from the root siv, to scav, means a thread or
string, and in the old Veda religion referred to house
hold, rites or practices and the moral conduct of life ;
but in Buddhist phraseology it means a body of doc
trine. A shaster or shastra, from the Sanskrit root pas,
to govern, relates to discipline. Of these shastras and
sutras we must frequently speak. In India and China
some of these sutras are exponents, of schools of
thought or opinion, or of vieAvs or methods of looking
at things, rather than of organizations. In Japan
these schools of philosophy, in certain instances, be
come sects with a formal history.
In China of the present day, according to a Japanese

232 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
traveller and author, "the Chinese Buddhists seem
.... to unite all different sects, so as to make one
harmonious sect." The chief divisions are those of the
blue robe, who are allied with the Lamaism of Tibet and
whose doctrine is largely " esoteric," and those of the
yelloAV robe, Avho accept the three fundamentals of prin
ciple, teaching and discipline. Dhyana or contempla
tion is their principle ; the Kegon or Avatamsaka sutra
and the Hokke or Saddharma Pundarika sutra, etc.,
form the basis of their teaching ; and the Vinaya of the
Four Divisions (Dharmagupta) is their discipline. On
the contrary, in Japan there are vastly greater diver
sities of sect, principle, teaching and discipline.
Btiddhism as a System of Metaphysics.
The date of the birth of the Buddha in India, ac
cepted by the Japanese scholars is e.g. 1027 — the day
and month being also given with suspicious accuracy.
About nine centuries after Gautama had attained Nir
vana, there Avere eighteen schools of the Hinayana or
the doctrine of the Smaller Vehicle. Then a shastra
or institute of Buddhist ontology in nine chapters, Avas
composed, the title of Avhich in EngUsh, is. Book of the
Treasury of Metaphysics. It had such a powerful in
fluence that it Avas called an intelligence-creating, or as
we say, an epoch-making book.
This Ku-sha shastra, from the Sanskrit kosa, a store,
is eclectic, aud contains nine chapters embodying the
views of one of the schools, Avith selections from those
of others. It Avas translated in a,d. 563, into Chinese
by a Hindu scholar ; but about a hundred years later
the famous pilgrim, Avhom the Japanese caU Gen-j6, but

NORTHERN BUDDHISM 233
who is knoAvn in Europe as Hiouen Thsang,' made a bet
ter translation, whUe his disciples added commentaries.
In A.D. 658, two Japanese priests" made the sea-
journey westward into China, as Gen-jo had before
made the land pUgrimage into India, and became pu-
pUs of the famous pUgrim. After long study they re-
tm-ned, bringing the Chinese translation of this shastra
into Japan. They did not form an independent sect ;
but the doctrines of this shastra, being eclectic, were
studied by all Japanese Buddhist sects. This Ku-sha
scripture is still read in Japan as a general institute
of ontology, especially by advanced students Avho Avisli
to get a general idea of the doctrines. It is full of
technical terms, and is well named The Store-house of
Metaphysics. The Ku-sha teaches control of the passions, and the
government of thought. The burden of its philosophy
is materiaUsm ; that is, the non-existence of self and
the existence of the matter which composes self, or,
as the Japanese writer says : " The reason why all things
are so minutely explained in this shastra is to drive
away the idea of self, and to show the truth in order
to make living beings reach Nirvana." Among the
numerous categories, to express AA-hich many technical
terms are necessary, are those of "forms," eleven in
number, including the five senses and the six objects
of sense ; the six kinds of knoAvledge ; the forty-six
mental qualities, grouped under six heads; and the
fourteen conceptions separated from the mind ; thus
making in all seventy-two compounded things and
three immaterial things. These latter are " conscious
cessation of existence," " unconscious cessation of ex
istence," and " space."

234 TIIE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
The Eeverend Shuzan Emura, of the Shin-shu sect
of Japan, after specifying these seventy-five Dharmas,
or things compounded and things immaterial, says : '
" The former include all things that proceed from a
cause. This cause is Karma, to which everything ex
isting is due. Space and Nirvana alone excepted.
Again, of the three immaterial things the last two are
not subjects to be understood by the Avisdom not free
from frailty. Therefore the ' conscious cessation of
existence ' is considered as being the goal of all effort
to him who longs for deliverance from misery.''
In a Avord, this one of the many Buddhisms of Asia
is vastly less a religion, in any real sense of the word,
than a system of metaphysics. However, the doctrine
to be mastered is graded in three Yanas or Vehicles ;
for there are now, as in the days of Shaka, three classes
of being, graded according to their ability or power to
understand " the truth." These are :
(I.) The Sho-mon or lowest of the disciples of
Shaka, or hearers Avho meditate on the cause and ef
fect of everything. If acute in understanding, they
become free from confusion after three births ; but if
they are dull, they pass sixty kalpas ^ or aeons before
they attain to the state of enlightenment.
(II.) The Engaku or Pratyeka Buddhas, that is,
" singly enlightened," or beings in the middle state,
Avho must extract the seeds or causes of actions, and
must meditate on the twelve chains of causation, or
understand the non-eternity of the world, Avhile gazing
upon the falling flowers or leaves. They attain en
lightenment after four births or a hundred kalpas,
according to their ability.
(III.) The Bodhisattvas or Buddhas-elect, who prac-

NORTHERN BUDDHISM 235
tise the six perfections (perfect practice of alms-giving,
morality, patience, energy, meditation and wisdom) as
preliminaries to Nirvana, which they reach only after
countless kalpas.
These three grades of pupils in the mysteries of
Buddha doctrine, are said to have been ordered by
Shaka himself, because understanding human beings so
thoroughly, he knew that one person could not com
prehend two ways or vehicles (Yana) at once. People
were taught therefore to practise anyone of the three
vehicles at pleasure.
We shall see how the later radical and democratic
Japanese Buddhism SAvept aAvay this gradation, and de
claring but the one vehicle (eka), opened the kingdom
to all believers.
The second of the early Japanese schools of thought,
is the Jo-jitsu,^ or the sect founded chiefly upon the
shastra which means The Book of the Perfection of
the Truth, containing selections from and explanations
of the true meaning of the Tripitaka. This shastra •
was the work of a Hindu whose name means Lion-
armor, and Avho lived about nine centuries after Gau
tama. Not satisfied with the narrow vicAvs of his
teacher, who may have been of the Dharmagupta school
(of the four Disciplines), he made selections of the best
and broadest interpretations then current in the several
different schools of the Smaller Vehicle. The book is
eclectic, and attempts to unite all that Avas best in each
of the Hinayana schools ; but certain Chinese teachers
consider that its explanations are applicable to the
Great Vehicle also. Translated into Chinese in 406
A.D., the commentaries upon it soon numbered hun
dreds, and it was widely expounded and lectured upon.

236 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
Commentaries upon this shastra were also written in
Korean by Do-zo. From the peninsula it Avas intro
duced into Japan. This Jo-jitsu doctrine was studied
by prince Shotoku, and promulgated as a division of the
school called San-Eon. The students of the Jo-jitsu
school never formed in Japa^i a distinct organization.
The burden of the teachings of this school is pure
nihilism, or the non-existence of both self and of mat
ter. There is an utter absence of substantiality in aU
things. Life itself is a prolonged dream. The ob
jects about us are mere delusive shadows or mirage,
the product of the imagination alone. The past and
the future are without reality, but the present state of
things only stands as if it were real. That is to say :
the true state of things is constantly changing, yet it
seems as if the state of things were existing, even as does
a circle of flre seen Avhen a rope watch is turned round
very quickly. Japanese Pilgrims to China.
The Eis-shu or Vinaya sect is one of purely Chinese
origin, and was founded, or rather re-founded, by the
Chinese priest Dosen, who lived on Mount Shunan
early in the seA^enth century, and claimed to be only
re-proclaiming the rules given by Gautama himself.
He Avas well acquainted Avith the Tripitaka and es
pecially versed in the Vinaya or rules of discipline.
His purpose Avas to unite the teachings of both the
Greater and the Lesser Vehicle in a sutra Avhose burden
should be one of ethics and not of dogma.
The founder of this sect was greatly honored by the
Chinese Emperor. Furthermore, he was honored in

NORTHERN BUDDHISM 237
vision by the holy Pindola or Binzura,!" who praised
the founder as the best man that had promulgated the
discipline since Buddha himself. In later centuries,
successors of the founder compiled commentaries and
reproclaimed the teachings of this sect.
In A.D. 724 two Japanese priests Avent over to China,
and having mastered the Eis-shu doctrine, received
permission to propagate it in Japan. With eighty-two
Chinese priests they returned a few years later, having
attempted, it is said, the journey flve times and spent
twelve years on the sea. On their return, they received
an imperial invitation to live in the great monastery at
Nara, and soon their teachings exerted a poAverful in
fluence on the court. The emperor, empress and four
hundred persons of note were received into the Buddh
ist communion by a Chinese priest of the Eis-shu school
in the middle of the eighth century. The Mikado Sho-
mu resigned his throne and took the vow and robes of
a monk, becoming Ho-o or cloistered emperor. Under
imperial direction a great bronze image of the Vairo
kana Buddha, or Perfection of Morality, was erected,
and terraces, towers, images and all the paraphernalia
of the new kind of Buddhism were prepared. Even
the earth was embroidered, as it were, with sutras and
shastras. Symbolical landscape gardening, which, in
its mounds and paths, variously shaped stones and lan
terns, artificial cascades and streamlets, teaches the holy
geography as AveU as the allegories and hidden truths
of Buddhism, made the city of Nara beautiful to the
eyes of faith as well as of sight.
This sect, with its exceUence in morality and be
nevolence, proved itself a beautifier of human life,
of society and of the earth itself. Its work was an

238 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
irenicon. It occupied itself exclusively with the
higher ethics, the higher meditations and the higher
knoAvledge. Interdicting what Avas evU and prescrib
ing what was good, its precepts varied in number and
rigor according to the status of the disciple, lay or
clerical. It is by the observance of the sila, or grades
of moral perfection, that one becomes a Buddha. Be
sides making so powerful a conquest at the southern
capital, this sect Avas the one which centuries after
ward built the first Buddhist temple in Yedo. Being
ordinary human mortals, however, both monk and lay
man occasionally illustrated the difference between
profession and practice.
These three schools or sects, Ku-sha, Jo-jitsu, and
Eis-shu, may be grouped under the Hinayana or
Smaller Vehicle, Avitli more or less afliliation with
Southern Buddhism ; the others uow to be described
Av^ere AvhoUy of the Northern division.
The Hosso-shu, or the Dharma-lakshana sect, as de
scribed by the Eev. Dai-ryo Takashi of the Shin-gon
sect, is the school which studies the nature of Dhar
mas or things. The three worlds of desire, form and
formlessness, consist in thought only; and there is
nothing outside thought. Nine centuries after Gau
tama, Maitreya,'' or the Buddha of kindness, came
down from the heaven of the Bodhisattva to the lec
ture-hall in the kingdom in central India at the re
quest of the Buddhas elect, and discoursed five shas
tras. After that two Buddhist fathers who were
brothers, composed many more shastras and cleared up
the meaning of the Mahayana. In 629 a.d., in his
twenty-ninth year, the famous Chinese pilgrim, Gen-j6
(Hiouen-thsang), studied these shastras and sciences.

NORTHERN BUDDHISM 239
and returning to China in 645 a.d., began his great work
of translation, at which he continued for nineteen years.
One of his disciples Avas the author of a hundred com
mentaries on sutras and shastras. The doctrines of
Gen-jo and his disciples Avere at four different times,
from 653 to 712 a.d., imported into Japan, and named,
after the monasteries in which they were promulgated,
the Northern and Southern Transmission.
Tlie Middle Path.
The burden of the teachings of this sect is subject
ive idealism. They embrace principles enjoining com
plete indifference to mundane affairs, and, in fact,
thorough personal nullification and the ignoring of aU
actions by its disciples. In these teachings, thought
only, is real. As we have already seen with the Ku-
sha teaching, human beings are of three classes, di
vided according to intellect, into higher, middle and
lower, for whom the systems of teachings are neces-
sarUy of as many kinds. The order of progress with
those Avho give themselves to the study of the Hosso
tenets, is, '^ first, they knoAv only the existence of things,
then the emptiness of them, and finally they enter the
middle path of " true emptiness and Avonderful exist
ence." From the first, such discipline is long and painful,
and ultimate victory scarcely comes to the ordinary
being. The disciple, by training in thought, by de
stroying passions and practices, by meditating on the
only knoAvledge, must pass through three kalpas or
aeons. Constantly meditating, and destroying the two
obstacles of passion and cognizable things, the dis-

240 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
ciple then obtains four kinds of wisdom and truly at
tains perfect enlightenment or Pari-Nirvana.
The San-ron Shu, as the Three-Shastra sect caUs
itself, is the sect of the Teachings of Buddha's whole
life.'^ Other sects are founded upon single sutras, a
fact Avhicli makes the student Uable to narrowness of
opinion. The San-ron gives greater breadth of view
and catholicity of opinion. The doctrines of the
Greater Vehicle are the principal teachings of Gau
tama, and these are thoroughly explained in the three
shastras used by this sect, which, it is claimed, con
tain Buddha's own words. The meanings of the titles
of the three favorite sutras, are. The Middle Book, The
Hundred, and The Book of Twelve Gates. Other books
of the canon are also studied and valued by this sect,
but all of them are apt to be perused from a particular
point of view ; i.e., that of Pyrronism or infinite nega
tion. There are two lines of the transmission of this doc
trine, both of them through China, though the intro
duction to Japan was made from Korea, in 625 a.d.
Not to dAvell upon the detail of history, the burden of
this sect's teaching, is, infinite negation or absolute ni
hilism. Truth is the inconceivable state, or, in the
words of the Japanese Avriter : " The truth is nothing
but the state where thoughts come to an end ; the
right meditation is to perceive this truth. He who
has obtained this meditation is called Buddha. This
is the doctrine of the San-ron sect."
This sect, by its teachings of the Middle Path,
seems to furnish a bridge from the Hinayana or
Southern school, to the Mahayana or Northern school
of Buddhism. Part of its Avork, as set forth by the

NORTHERN BUDDHISM 241
Eev. Ko-cho Ogurusu, of the Shin sect, is to defend
the authenticity, genuineness and canonicity of the
books Avhich form the Northern body of scriptures.
In these Iavo sects Hos-so and San-ron, called those
of Middle Path, and much alike in principle and
teaching, the whole end and aim of mental discipline,
is nihilism — in the one case subjective, and in the
other absolute, the end and goal being nothing — this
view into the nature of things being considered the
right one.
Is it any wonder that such teachings could in the
long run satisfy neither the trained intellects nor the
unthinking common people of Japan ? Is it far from
the truth to suspect that, even when accepted by the
Japanese courtiers and nobles, they were received, only
too often, in a Platonic, not to say a PickAvickian,
sense? The Japanese is too polite to say "no" if he
can possibly say " yes," even when he does not mean
it ; while the common people all over the world, as be
tween metaphysics and polytheism, choose the latter.
Is it any wonder that, along with this propagation of
Nihilism as taught in the cloisters and the court, his
tory informs us of many scandals and much immoral
ity between the women of the court and the Buddhist
monks ?
Such dogmas were not able to live in organized
forms, after the next importations of Buddhism Avhich
came in, not partly but wholly, under the name of the
Mahayana or Great Vehicle, or Northern Buddhism.
By the ncAv philosophy, more concrete and able to ap
peal more closely to the average man, these five schools,
which, in their discussions, dealt 'almost AvlioUy Avith
noumena, were absorbed. As matter of fact, none of
16

242 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
them is now in existence, nor can we trace them,
speaking broadly, beyond the tenth century. Here
and there, indeed, may be a temple bearing the name
of one of the sects, or grades of doctrine, and occa
sionaUy an eccentric individual who " witnesses " to
the old metaphysics ; but these are but fossils or his
torical relics, and are generally regarded as such.
Against such baldness of philosophy not only might
the cultivated Japanese intellect rcA'olt and react, but
as yet the common people of Japan, despite the mod
ern priestly boast of the care of the imperial rulers for
what the bonzes still love to call " the people's relig
ion," were but slightly touched by the Indian faith.
The Great Vehicle.
The Kegon-Shu or Avatamsaka-sutra sect, is founded
on a certain teaching which Gautama is said to have
promulgated in nine assemblies held at seven different
places during the second week of his enlightenment.
This sutra exists in no fewer than six texts, around each
of which has gathered some interesting mythology. The
first two texts were held in memory and not committed
to palm leaves ; the second pair are secretly preserved
in the dragon palace of Eiu-gu'* under the sea, and are
not kept by the men of this world. The fifth text of
100,000 verses, was obtained by a Bodhisattva from the
palace of the dragon king of the Avorld under the sea
and transmitted to men in India. The sixth is the
abridged text.
It concems us to notice that the shorter texts were
translated into Chinese in the fourth century, and that
later, otlier translations Avere made — 86,000 verses of

NORTHERN BUDDHISM 243
the fifth text, 45,000 verses of the sixth text, etc.
When the doctrine of the sect had been perfected by
the fifth patriarch and he lectured on the sutra, rays of
Avhite light came from his mouth, and there rained won
derful heavenly flowers. In a.d. 786 a Chinese Vinaya
teacher or instructor in Buddhist discipline, named
Do-sen, first brought the Kegon scriptures to Japan.
Four years later a Korean priest gave lectures on them
in the Golden-Bell Hall of the Great Eastern Monas
tery at Nara. He completed his task of expounding
the sixty volumes in three years. Henceforth, lectur
ing on this sutra became one of the yearly services of
the Eastern Great Monastery.
"The Ke-gon sutra is the original book of Buddha's
teachings of his whole life. All his teachings there
fore sprang from this sutra. If we attribute aU the
branches to the origin, we may say that there is no
teaching of Buddha for his whole life except this
sutra." '^ The title of the book, when literally trans
lated, is Great - square - Avide - Buddha - flower - a dorn-
ment-teaching — a title sufiiciently indicative of its
rhetoric. The age of hard or bold thinking was giving
way to floAvery diction, and the LaAv Avas to be made
easy through fine Avriting.
The burden of doctrine is the imconditioned or real
istic, pantheism. Nature absolute, or Buddha tathata,
is the essence of aU things. Essence and form were in
their origin combined and identical. Fire and water,
though phenomenally different, are from the point of
view of Buddha-tathata absolutely identical. Matter
and thought are one — that is Buddha-tathata. In
teaching, especially the young, it must be remembered
that the mind resembles a fair page upon Avhicli the

244 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
artist might trace a design, especial care being needed
to prevent the impression of evil thoughts, in order to
accomplish which one must completely and ahvays di
rect the mind to Buddha.'" One notable sentence in
the text is, " when one first raises his thoughts toward
the perfect knowledge, he at once becomes fully en
lightened." In some parts of the metaphysical discussions of this
sect we are reminded of European mediaeval scholasti
cism, especially of that discussion as to hoAV many an
gels could dance on the point of a cambric needle Avith
out jostling each other. It says, "Even at the point
of one grain of dust, of immeasurable and unlimited
worlds, there are innumerable Buddhas, Avho are con
stantly preaching the Ke-gon kiG (sutra) throughout
the three states of existence, past, present and future,
so that the preaching- is not at all to be collected.""
A Neiv Chinese Sect.
\In its formal organization the Ten-dai sect is of
Chinese origin. It is named after Tien Tai,'^ a moun
tain in China about fifty mUes south of Ningpo, on
Which the book wliich forms the basis of its tenets Avas
composed by Chi-sha, now canonized as a Dai Shi or
Great teacher. Its special doctrine of completion and
suddenness was, however, transmitted directly from
Shaka to Vairokana and thence to Maitreya, so that
the apostolical succession of its orthodoxy cannot be
questioned. The metaphysics of this sect are thought to be the
most profound of the Greater Vehicle, combining into
a system the two opposite ideas of being and not being.

NORTHERN BUDDHISM 245
The teachers encoiu-age all men, Avhether quick or slow
in understanding, to exercise the principle of "comple
tion" and "suddenness," together Avith four doctrinal
divisions, one or all of Avhich are taught to men accord
ing to their ability. The object of the doctrine is to
make men get an excellent understanding, practise
good discipline and attain to the great fruit of En
lightenment or Buddha-hood.
Out of compassion, Gautama appeared in the Avorld
and preached the truth in several forms, according to
the circumstances of time and place. There are four
doctrinal divisions of "completion," "secrecy," "medi
tation," and "moral precept," Avhich are the means of
knoAving the prmciple of "completion." From Gau
tama Vairokana and Maitreya the doctrine passed
through more than twenty Buddhas elect, and arrived
in China on the twentieth day of the twelfth month,
A.D. 401. The delivery to disciples was secret, and
the term used for this esoteric transmission means
"handed over Avithin the tower."
In A.D. 805, two Japanese pilgrims went to China,!
and received orthodox training. With twenty oth-[
ers, they brought the Ten-dai doctrines into Japan.
During this century, other Japanese disciples of the
same sect crossed the seas to study at Mount Tien Tai.
On coming back to Japan they propagated the various
shades of doctrine, so that this main sect has many
branches. It Avas chiefly through these pUgrim s from
the West that the Sanskrit letters, writing- and litera
ture were imported. In our day, evidences of Sanskrit
learning, long since neglected and forgotten, are seen
chiefiy in the graveyards and in charms and amulets.
Although the philosophical doctrines of Ten-dai are

246 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
much the same as those of the Ke-gon sect, being
based on pantheistic realism, and teaching that the
Buddha-tathata or Nature absolute is the essence of all
things, yet the Ten-dai school has striking and peculiar
features of its own. Instead of taking some particular
book or books in the canon, shastra, or sutra, selection
or collection, as a basis, the Chinese monk Chi-sha
first mastered, and then digested the whole canon.
Then selecting certain doctrines for emphasis he sup
ported them by a wide range of quotation, professing
to give the gist of the pure teachings of Gautama
rather than those of his disciples. In practice, how
ever, the Saddharma Pundarika is the book most hon
ored by this sect; the other sutras being employed
mainly as commentary. Furthermore, this sect makes
as strenuous a claim for the true apostolical succession
from the Founder, as do the other sects.
The teachers of Ten-dai doctrine must fully estimate
character and abiUty in their pupils, and so apportion
instruction. In this respect and in not a few others,
they are like the disciples of Loyola, and have properly
been called the Jesuits of Buddhism. They are as
cetics, and teach that spiritual insight is possible only
through prolonged thought. Their purpose is to rec
ognize the Buddha, in all the forms he has assumed
in order to save mankind. Nevertheless, the highest
truths are incomprehensible except to those who have
already attained to Buddha-hood.'^ In contrast to the
Nichirenites, Avho give an emotional and ultra-concrete
interpretation and expression to the great sutra Hokke
Kio, the Ten-dai teachers are excessively phUosophical
and intellectual.
In its history the Ten-dai sect has foUowed out its

NORTHERN BUDDHISM 247
logic. Being realistic in pantheism, it reverences not
only Gautama the historic Buddha, but also, large num
bers of the Hindu deities, the group of idols called
Jizo, the god Fudo, and Kuannon the god or goddess of
mercy, under his or her protean forms. In its early
history this sect welcomed to its pantheon the Shinto
gods, w^ho, according- to the scheme of Eiyobu Shin
to, were declared to be avatars or manifestations of
Buddha. The three sub-sects stUl differ in their wor
ship of the avatars selected as supreme deities, but
their philosophy enables them to sweep in the Buddlias
of every age and cUme, name and nation. Many other
personifications are found honored in the Ten-dai tem
ples. At the gateways may usually be seen the colos
sal painted and hideous images of the two Devas or
kmgs (Ni-0). These worthies are none other than
Indra and Brahma of the old Vedic mythology.
Space aud time — which seem never to faU the Bud
dhists in their Uterature — would fail us to describe this
sect in full, or to show in detail its teachings, wherein
are wonderful resemblances to European ideas and
facts — in philosophy, to Hegel and Spinoza and in his
tory, to Jesuitism. Nor can we stay to point out the
many instances in which, invading the domain of poli
tics, the Ten-dai abbots Avith their armies of monks,
having made their monasteries miUtary arsenals and
issuing forth clad in armor as infantry and cavalry,
have turned the scale of battle or dictated policies to
emperors. Like the Praetorian guard of Eome or the
clerical militia in Spain, these men of keen intellect
have left their marks deep upon the social and politi
cal history of the country in which they dwelt. They
have understood thoroughly the art of practising re-

248 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
ligion for the sake of revenue. To secure their ends,
priests have made partnerships with other sects ; in
order to hold Shinto shrines, they have married to
secure heirs and make office hereditary ; and finaUy in
the Purification of 1870, when the Eiyobu system was
blown to the winds by the Japanese Government, not a
few priests of this sect became laymen, in order to
keep both office and emolument in the purified Shinto
shrines. Tlie Sect of the True Word.
It is probable that the conquest and obliteration of
Shinto might have been accomplished by some priest
or priests of the Ten-dai sect, had such a genius as
Kobo been found in its household; but this great
achievement Avas reserved for the man who introduced
into Japan the Shin-gon Shu, or Sect of the True
Word. The term gon is the equivalent of Mantra,^" a
Sanskrit term meaning word, but in later use referring
to the mystic salutations addressed to the Buddhist
gods. " The doctrine of this sect is a great secret law.
It teaches us that we can attain to the state of the
' Great Enlightened,' that is the state of ' Buddha,'
while in the present physical body, which Avas born of
our parents (and which consists of six elements,^*
Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Ether, and KnoAvledge), if
we follow the three great secret laws, regarding Body,
Speech, and Thought." ^^
The history of the transmission of the doctrine from
the greatest of the spirit-bodied Buddhas to the his
toric founder, Vagrabodhi, is carefuUy given. The
latter was a man very learned in regard to many doc
trines of Buddhism and other religions, and was es-

NORTHERN BUDDHISM 249
peciaUy well acquainted with the deepest meaning of
the doctrine of this sect, which he taught in India for
a considerable time. The doctrine is recorded in sev
eral sutras, yet the essential point is nothing but the
Mandala, or circle of the two parts, or, in Japanese,
Eiyobu. The great preacher, Vagrabodhi, in 720 a.d., came
with his disciples to the capital of China, and trans
lated the sacred books, seventy-seven in number. This
doctrine is the weU-kuoAvn Yoga-chara, which has been
weU set forth by Doctor Edkins in his scholarly volume
on Chinese Buddhism. As "yoga" becomes in plain
English " yoke," and as " mantra " is from the same
root as "man" and "mind," we have no difficulty in
recognizing the original meaning of these terms ; the
one in its nobler significance referring to tmion Avith
Buddha or Gnosis, and the other to the thought taking
lofty expression or being debased to hocus-pocus in
charm or amulet. Like the history of so many San
skrit words as now uttered in every-day English speech,
the story of the word mantra forms a picture of mental
processes and apparently of the degradation of thought,
or, as some AviU doubtless say, of the decay of religion.
The term mantra meant first, a thought ; then thought ¦
expressed ; then a Vedic hymn or text ; next a spell or
charm. Such have been the later associations, in India,
China and Japan Avith the term mantra.
The burden of the philosophy of the Shin-gon,
looked at from one point of view, is mysticism, and
from another, pantheism. One of the forms of Buddha
is the principle of everything. There are ten stages
of thought, and there are two parts, "lengthwise " and
"crosswise " or exoteric and esoteric. Other doctrines

250 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
of Buddhism represent the first, or exoteric stage, and
those of the Shin-gon or true word, the second, or eso
teric. The primordial principle is identical with that of
Mah a- Vairokana, one of the forms *^ of Buddha. The
body, the word and the thought are the three myste
ries, which being found in all beings, animate and in
animate, are to be fully understood only by Buddhas,
and not by ordinary men.
To show the actual method of intellectual procedure
in order to reach Buddha-hood, many categories, tables
and diagrams are necessary; but the crowning tenet,
most far reaching in its practical influence, is the teach
ing that it is possible to reach the state of Buddlia-hood
in this present body.
As discipline for the attainment of exceUence along
the path marked out in the "Mantra sect," there are
three mystic rites : (1) Avorshipping the Buddha with
the hand in certain positions called signs ; (2) repeat
ing Dharani, or mystic formulas ; (8) contemplation.
Kobo himself and all those Avho imitated him, prac
tised fasting in order to clear the spiritual eyesight.
The thinking - chairs, so conspicuous in many old
monasteries, though warmed at intervals through the
ages by the living bodies of men absorbed in contem
plation, are rarely much worn by the sitters, because
almost absolute cessation of motion characterizes the
long and hard thinkers of the Shin-gon philosophers.
The idols in the Shin-gon temples represent many a
saint and disciple, Avho, by perseverance in what a
critic of Buddhism calls " mind-murder," and the use
of mystic finger tAvistings and magic formulas, has won
either the Nirvana or the penultimate stage of the Bod
hisattva.

NORTHERN BUDDHISM 251
In the sermons and discourses of Shin-gon, the sub
tle points of an argument are seized and elaborated.
These are mystical on the one side, and pantheistic on
the other. It is easily seen how Buddha, being in
Japanese gods as well as men, and no being without
Buddha, the Avay is made clear for that kind of a mar
riage between Buddhism and Shinto, in which the Iavo
become one, and that one, as to revenue and advantage.
Buddhism. Truth Made Apparent by One's Oivn Thought.
The Japanese of to-day often speak of these seven
reUgious bodies which we have enumerated and de
scribed, as " the old sects," because much of the philos
ophy, and many of the forms and prayers, are common
to aU, or, more accui-ately speaking, are popularly sup
posed to be ; while the priests, being celibates, refrain
from sake, flesh and fish, and from all intimate rela
tions with women. Yet, although these sects are con
sidered to be more or less conformable to the canon of
the Greater Vehicle, and AvhUe the last three certainly
introduce many of its characteristic features — one sect
teaching that Buddha-hood could be obtained even
in the present body of fiesh and blood — yet the idea of
Paradise had not been exploited or emphasized. This
new gospel was to be introduced into Japan by the
Jo-do Shu or Sect of the Pure Land.
Before detailing the features of Jo-do, we call atten
tion to the fact that in Japan the propagation of the
old sects was accompanied by an excessive use of idols,
images, pictures, sutras, shastras and all the furniture
thought necessary in a Buddhist temple. The course

252 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
of thought and action in the Orient is in many respects
similar to that in the Occident. In western lands, with
the ebb and flow of religious sentiment, the iconolater
has been followed by the iconoclast, and the over
crowded cathedrals have been purged by the hammer
and flre of the Protestant and Puritan. So in Japan
we find analogous, though not exactly similar, reactions.
The rise and prosperity of the believers in the Zen
dogmas, which in their early history used sparingly the
eikon, idol and sutra, give some indication of protest
against too much use of externals in religion. May we
call them the Quakers of Japanese Buddhism ? Cer
tainly, theirs was a movement in the direction of sim
plicity. The introduction of the Zen, or contemplative sect,
did, in a sense, both precede and foUow that of Shin
gon. The word Zen is a shortened form of the term
Zenna, Avhich is a transliteration into Chinese of the
Sanskrit word Dhyana, or contemplation. It teaches
that the truth is not in tradition or in books, but in
one's seK. Emphasis is laid ou introspection rather
than on language. "Look carefuUy Avithin and there
you wiU find the Buddha," is its chief tenet. In the
Zen monasteries, the chair of contemplation is, or
ought to be, always in use.
The Zen Shu movement may be said to have arisen
out of a reaction against the multiplication of idols. It
indicated a return to simpler forms of worship and
conduct. Let us inquire how this was.
It may be said that Buddhism, especiaUy Northem
Buddhism, is a vast, compUcated system. It has a
literature and a sacred canon which one can think of
only in connection with long trains of camels to carry,

NORTHERN BUDDHISM 253
or freight trains to transport, or ships a good deal
bigger than the Mayflower to import. Its multitudi
nous rules and systems of discipline appall the spirit
and weary the flesh even to enumerate them ; so that,
from one point of view, the making of new sects is a
necessity. These are labor-saving inventions. They
are attempts to reduce the great bulk of scriptures to
manageable proportions. They seek to find, as it were,
the mother-Uquor of the great ocean, so as to express
the truth in a crystal. Hence the endeavors to sim-
pUfy, to condense ; here, by a selection of sutras,
rather than the whole collection ; there, by emphasis
on a single feature and a determination to put the
whole thing in a form AA-hich can be grasped, either by
the elect few or by the people at large.
The Zen sect did this in a more rational way than
that set forth as orthodox by later priestcraft, which
taught that to the believer who simply turned round
the revolving library containing the canon, the merit of
having read it aU would be imputed. The rin-zo*^
found near the large temples, — the cunning invention
of a Chinese priest in the sixth century, — soon became
popular in Japan. The great wooden book-case turn
ing on a pivot contains 6,771 volumes, that being the
number of canonical volumes enumerated in China and
Japan. The Zen sect teaches that, besides aU the doctrines
of the Greater and the Lesser Vehicles, whether hid
den or apparent, there is one distinct line of transmis
sion of a secret doctrine Avhich is not subject to any
utterance at aU. According to their tenet of contem
plation, one is to see directly the key to the thought of
Buddha by his oavu thought, thus freeing himself from

254 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
the multitude of different doctrines — the number of
which is said to be eighty-four thousand. In fact, Zen
Shu or "Dhyana sect" teaches the short method of
making truth apparent by one's own thought, apart
from the Avritings.
The story of the transmission of the true Zen doc
trine is this :
" When the blessed Shaka Avas at the assembly on Vulture's
Peak, there came the heavenly king, Avho offered the Buddha a
golden-colored flower and asked him to preach the laAv. The
Blessed One simply took the flower and held it in his hand, but
said no word. No one in the whole assembly could tell Avhat
he meant. The venerable Mahahasyapa alone smiled. Then
the Blessed One said to him, ' I have the wonderful thought of
Nirvana, the eye of the Bight Law, which I shall now give to
you."' Thus was ushered in the doctrine of thought trans
mitted by thought."
After tAventy-eight patriarchs had taught the doc
trine of contemplation, the last came into China in a.d.
520, aud tried to teach the Emperor the secret key of
Buddha's thought. This missionary Bodhidharma Avas
the third son of a king of the Kashis, in Southern In
dia, and the historic original of the tobacconist's shop-
sign in Japan, Avho is known as Daruma. The impe
rial Chinaman Avas not yet able to understand the secret
key of Buddha's thought. So the Hindu missionary
Avent to the monastery on Mount Su, Avhere in medi
tation, he sat doAvn cross-legged with his face to a wall,
for nine years, by Avliich time, says the legend, his
legs had rotted ofi' and he looked like a snow-image.
During that period, people did not know him, and
called him simply the Wall-gazing Brahmana. After-
Avard he had a number of disciples, but they had dif-

NORTHERN BUDDHISM 255
ferent views that are called the transmissions of the
skin, flesh, or bone of the teacher. Only one of them
got the whole body of his teachings. Two great sects
were formed : the Northern, which was undivided, and
the Southern, which branched off into five houses and
seven schools. The Northern Sect was introduced into
Japan by a Chinese priest in 729 a.d., while the South
ern Avas not brought over until the twelfth century. In
both it is taught that perfect tranquiUity of body and
mind is essential to salvation. The doctrine is the
most sublime one, of thought transmitted by thought
being entirely independent of any letters or Avords.
Another name for them is, "The Sect whose Mind
Assimilates with Buddha," direct from whom it claims
to have received its articles of faith.
Too often this idea of Buddhaship, consisting of ab
solute freedom from matter and thought, means prac
tically mind-murder, and the emptiness of idle reverie.
Contrasting modern reality Avith their ancient ideal,
it must be confessed that in practice there is not a little
letter worship and a good deal of pedantry ; for, in all
the teachings of abstract principles by the different
sects, there are endless puns or plays upon words in
the renderings of Chinese characters. This arises from
that antithesis of extreme poverty in sounds with amaz
ing luxuriance in Aviitten expression, wiiich character
izes both the Chinese and Japanese languages.
In the temples Ave find that the later deities intro
duced into the Buddhist pantheon are here also wel
come, and that the triads or groups of three precious
ones, the " Buddhist trinity," so-called,*' are surrounded
by gods of Chinese or Japanese origin. The Zen sect,
according to its professions and early history, ought to

256 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
be indifferent to Avorldly honors and emoluments, and
indeed many of its devotees are. Its history, however,
shoAvs how poorly mortals live up to their principles
and practise what they preach. Furthermore, these
professors of peace and of the joys of the inner life in
the So-to or sub-sect have made the twenty-fifth and
twenty-sixth years of Meiji, or a.d. 1893 and 1894,
famous and themselves infamous by their long-con
tinued and scandalous intestine quarrels. Of the three
sub-sects, those called Ein-zai and So-to, take their
names from Chinese monks of the ninth centm-y ; AvhUe
the third, 0-baku, founded in Japan in the seventeenth
century, is one of the latest importations of Chinese
Buddhistic thought in the Land of the Eising Sun.
Japanese authors usuaUy classify the first six de
nominations at which we have glanced, some of which
are phases of thought rather than organizations, as
"the ancient sects." Ten-dai and Shin-gon are "the
mediseval sects." The remaining four, of which we
shall noAv treat, and which are more particularly Japan
ese in spirit and development, are " the modern sects."

THE BUDDHISM OP THE JAPANESE

" A drop of spray cast by the infinite
I hung an instant there, and threw my ray
To make the rainbow. A microcosm I
Reflecting all. Then back I fell again.
And though I perished not, I was no more." — ¦
The Pantheist's Epitaph,
"Buddhism is essentially a religion of compromise,"
"Where Christianity has One Lord, Buddhism has a dozen,"
"I think I may safely challenge the Buddhist priesthood to give a plain
historical account of the Life of Amida, Kwannon, Dainichi, or any other
Mahayana Buddha, without being in serious danger of forfeiting my
stakes, "
'' Christianity openly puts this Absolute Unconditioned Essence in the
forefront of its teaching. In Buddhism this absolute existence is only put
forward when the logic of circumstances compels its teachers to have re
course to it." — A, Lloyd, in The Higher Buddhism in the Light of the
Nicene creed.
"Now these six characters, ' Na-mu-A-mi-da-Butsu,' Zend-o has ex
plained as follows : 'Namu' means [our] following His behest — and also
[His] uttering the Prayer and bestowing [merit] upon us. ' Amida Butsu '
is the practice of this, consequently by this means a certainty of salvation
is attained,"" By reason of the conferring on ns sentient creatures of this great good
ness and great merit through the utterance of the Prayer, and the bestowal
[by Amida] the evil Karma and [effect of the] passions, accumulated
through the long Kalpas, since when there was no beginning, are in a
moment annihilated, and, in consequence, those passions and evil Karma
of ours all disappearing, we live already in the condition of the steadfast,
who do not return [to revolve in the cycle of Birth and Death]," — Rennyo
of the Shin sect, tl473.
" In the beginning was the Word, and the "Word was with God, and the
Word was God," — John,
"The Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither
shadow of turning," — James,

CHAPTEE IX
THE buddhism OF THE JAPANESE
The Western Paradise
We cannot take space to show how, or how much,
or Avhether at all. Buddhism was affected by Christi
anity, though it probably was. Suffice it to say that
the Jo-do Shu, or Sect of the Pure Land, Avas the flrst
of the many denominations in Buddhism which defi
nitely and clearly set forth that especial peculiarity of
Northern Buddhism, the Western Paradise. The
school of thought Avhich issued in Jo-do Shu was
founded by the Hindoo, Memio. In a.d. 252 an Indian
scholar, learned in the Tripitaka, came to China, and
translated one of the great sutras, called Amitayus.
This sutra gives a history of Tathagata Amitabha,'
from the first spiritual impulses which led him to the
attainment of Buddha-hood in remote Kalpas down to
the present time, when he dwells in the Western World,
called the Happy, where he receives all living beings
from every direction, helping them to turn away from
confusion and to become enlightened.^ The apocalyp
tic twentieth chapter of the Hokke Kio is a glorifica
tion of the transcendent power of the Tathagatas, ex
pressed in flamboyant oriental rhetoric.
We have before called attention to the fact that, Avith
the multiplication of sutras or the Sacred Canon and

260 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
the vast increase of the apparatus of Buddhism as
¦well as of the hardships of brain and body to be under
gone in order to be a Buddhist, it was absolutely
necessary that some labor-saving system should be de
vised by which the burden could be borne. Now, as
a matter of fact, all sects claim to found their doctrine
on Buddha or his Avork. According to the teaching of
certain sects, the means of salvation are to be fotmd in
the study of the whole canon, and in the practice of
asceticism and meditation. Ou the contrary, the new
lights of Buddhism who came as missionaries into
China, protested against this expenditure of so much
mental and physical energy. One of the first Chinese
propagators of the Jo-do doctrine declared that It was
impossible, oAving to the decay of religion in his own
age, for anyone to be saved in this way by his own ef
forts. Hence, instead of the noble eight-fold path of
primitive Buddhism, or of the complicated system of
the later Buddhistic Phaiiseeism of India, he substi
tuted for the difficult road to Nirvana, a simple faith in
the all-saving power of Amida. In one of the sutras it
is taught, that if a man keeps in his memory the name
of Amida one day, or seven daj's, the Buddha together
with Buddhas elect, Avill meet him at the moment of
his death, in order to let him be born in the Pure
Land, and that this matter has been equally approved
by all other Buddhas of ten different directions.
One of the sutras, translated in China during the
flfth century, contains the teaching of Buddha, which
he delivered to the Avife of the King of Magadha, who
on account of the Avickedness of her son was feeUng
Aveary of this Avorld. He shoAved her hoAv she might
be born into the Pure Land, Three paths of good ao-

THE BUDDHISM OF THE JAPANESE 261
tions were pointed out. Towf.rd the end of the par
ticular sutra which he advised her to read and recite,
Buddha says : " Let not one's voice cease, but ten times
complete the thought, and repeat the formula of the
adoration of Amida." "This practice," adds the Jap
anese exegete and historian, "is the most excellent
of aU."
HoAv weU this latter teaching is practised may be
demonstrated Avhen one goes into a Buddhist temple
of the Jo-do sect iu Japan, and hears the constant re
frain, — murmured by the score or more of listeners to the
sermon, or swelUng like the roar of the ocean's waves,
on festival days, when thousands sit on the mats be
neath the fretted roof to enjoy the exposition of doc
trine — " Namu Amida Butsu " — " Glory to the Eternal
Buddha ! " ^^
The apostoUcal succession or transmission through
the patriarchs and apostles of India and China, is well
known and clearly stated, withal duly accredited and
embellished with signs and wonders, in the historical
Uterature of the Jo-do sect. In Buddhism, as iu
Christianity, the questions relating to True Churchism,
High Churchism, the succession of the apostles, teach
ers and rulers, and the validity of this or that method
of ordination, form a large part of the literature of con
troversy. Nevertheless, as in the case of many a Chris
tian sect which calls itself the only true church, the
date of the organization of Jo-do Avas centuries later
than that of the Fomider and apostles of the original
faith. Five hundred years after Zen-do (a.d. 600-650),
the great propagator of the Jo-do philosophy, Ho-nen,
the founder of the Jo-do sect, was born ; and this phase
of organized Buddhism, like that of Shin Shu and

262 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
Nichirer Shu, may be classed under the head of East
ern or Japanese Buddhism.
When only nine years of age, the boy afterward
caUed Ho-nen, was converted by his father's dying
words. He went to school in his natiA'e province, but
his iDiiest-teacher foreseeing his greatness, sent him to
the monastery of Hiyeizan, near Kioto. The boy's let
ter of introduction contained only these words : " I send
you an image of the Bodhisattva, (Mon-ju) Manjusri."
The boy shaved his head and receiA-ed the precepts of
the Ten-dai sect, but in his eighteenth year, waiving
the prospect of obtaining the headship of the great de
nomination, he built a hut in the Black Eavine and
there five times read through the five thousand vol
umes * of the Tripitaka. He did this for the purpose
of finding out, for the ordinary and ignorant people
of the present day, how to escape from misery. He
studied Zen-do's commentary, and repeated his exam
ination eight times. At last, he noticed a passage in it
beginning with the words, " Chiefly remember or re
peat the name of Amida with a whole and undivided
heart." Then he at once understood the thought of
Zen-do, who taught in his work that whoever at any
time practises to remember Buddha, or calls his name
even but once, wiU gain the right effect of going to be
born in the Pure Land after death. This Japanese
student then abandoned all sorts of practices which
he had hitherto followed for years, and began to re
peat the name of Amida Buddha sixty thousand times
a day. This event occurred in a.d. 1175.

THE BUDDHISM OF THE JAPANESE 263

Ho-nen, Founder of the Pure Land Sect.
This path-flnder to the Pure Land, who developed a
special doctrine of salvation, is best known by his post-
hmnous title of Ho-nen. During his lifetime he Avas
very famous and became the spiritual preceptor of
three Mikados. After his death his biography Avas
compiled in forty - eight volumes by imperial order,
and later, three other emperors copied or republished
it. In the history of Japan this sect has been one of
the most influential, especially with the imperial and
shogunal families. In Kioto the magnificent temples
and monasteries of Chion-in, and in Tokio Zo-jo-ji,
are the chief seats of the two principal divisions of
this sect. The gorgeous mausoleums, — weU known
to every foreign tourist, — at Shiba and Uyeno in
Tokio, and the clustered and matchless splendors of
Nikko, belong to this sect, which has been under the
patronage of the illustrious line of the Tokugawa,^
Avhile its temples and shrines are numbered by many
thousands. The doctrine of the Jo do, or the Pure Land Sect, is
easily discerned. One"of Buddha's disciples said, that
in the teachings of the Master there are two divisions
or vehicles. In the Maha-yana also there are two
gates; the Holy path, and the Pure Laud. The
SmaUer Vehicle is the doctrine by which the immedi
ate disciples of Buddha and those for five hundred
years succeeding, practised the various virtues and dis
cipline. The gateway of the Maha-yana is also the
doctrine, by Avhich in addition to the trainings men
tioned, there are also understood the three virtues of

264 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
spiritual body, wisdom aud deliverance. The man
who is able successfully to complete this coui-se of dis
cipline and practice is no ordinary person, but is sup
posed to possess merit produced from good actions
performed in a former state of existence. The doc
trine by Avhicli man may do so, is called the gate of
the Holy Path.
During the fifteen hundred years after Buddha there
Avere from time to time, such personages in the world,
who attained the end of the Holy Path ; but in these
latter days people are more insincere, covetous and
contentious, and the discipline is too hard for degen
erate times and men. The three trainings already
spoken of are the correct causes of deliverance ; but if
people think them as useless as last year's almanac,
Avhen can they complete their deliverance ? Ho-nen,
deeply meditating on this, shut up the gate of the
Holy Path and opened that of the Pure Land ; for in
the former the effective deliverance is expected in this
Avoiid by the three trainings of morality, thought and
learning, but in the latter the great fruit of going to
be born in the Pure Land after death, is expected
through the sole practice" of repeating Buddha's name.
Moreover, it is not easy to accomplish the cause and
effect of the Holy Path, but both those of the doctrine
of the Pure Land are very easy to be completed.
The difference is like that between travelling by land
and travelling by Avater.^ The doctrines preached by
the Buddha are eighty-four thousand in number ; that is
to say, he taught one kind of people one system, that
of the Holy Path, and another kind that of the Pure
Land. The Pure Land doctrine of Ho-nen was derived
from the sutra preached by the great teacher Shaka.

THE BUDDHISM OF THE JAPANESE 265
This simple doctrine of " land travel to Paradise "
was one which the people of Japan could easUy under
stand, and it became amazingly popular. Salvation
along this route is a case of being " carried to the skies
on flowery beds of ease, Avhile others sought to win the
prize and sailed through bloody seas."
Largely through the influence of Jo-do Shu and of
those sects most closely allied to it, the technical terms,
pecuUar phraseology and vocabulary of Buddhism be
came part of the daily speech of the Japanese. When
one studies their language he finds that it is a compli
cated organism, including within itself several distinct
systems. Just as the human body harmonizes Avithin
itseU such vastly differing organized functions as the
osseous, digestive, respiratory, etc., so, embedded in
what is caUed the Japanese language, there are, also, a
Chinese vocabulary, a polite vernacular, one system of
expression for superiors, another for inferiors, etc.
Last of all, there is, besides a peculiar system of pro
nunciation taught by the priests, a Buddhist language,
which suggests a firmament of starry and a prairie of
fiowery metaphors, with intermediate deeps of space
full of figurative expressions.
In our own mother tongue we have something simi
lar. The dialect of Canaan, the importations of Juda
ism, the irruptions of Hebraic idioms, phrases and
names into Puritanism, and the ejaculations of the
camp-meeting, which vein and color our English
speech, may give some idea of the variegated strams
which make up the Japanese language. Further, the
peculiar nomenclature of the Fifth Monarchy men, is
fuUy paralleled in the personal names of priests and
even of laymen in Japan.

266 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN

Characteristics of the Jo-do Sect.
Ho-nen teaches that the solution of abstract ques
tions and doctrinal controversies is not needed as
means of grace to promote the work of salvation.
Whether the priests and their followers were learned
and devout, or the contrary, mattered little as regards
the final result, as all that is necessary is the continual
repetition of the prayer to Amida.
It may be added that his followers practise the mas
ter's precepts with emphasis. Their incessant pound
ing upon Avooden fish-drums and bladder-shaped bells
during their public exercises, is as noisy as a frorvtier
camp-meeting. The rosary is a notable feature in the
private devotions of the Buddhists, but the Jo-do sect
makes especial use of the double rosary, which was in
vented with the idea of being manipulated by the left
hand only ; this gave freedom to the right hand, " fa
cilitating a happy combination of spiritual and Secular
duty." At funerals of believers a particular ceremony
was exclusively practised by this sect, at which the
friends of the deceased sat in a circle facing the priest,
making as many repetitions as possible.'
Iu Mohammedan countries, blind men, who cannot
look down into the surrounding gardens or house tops
at the pretty Avomen in or on them, but Avho have clear
and penetrating voices, are often chosen as muezzins to
utter the call to prayer from the minarets. On much
the same principle, in Old ,Tapan, Jo-do priests, blind
to metaphysics, but handsome, elegantly dressed and
with fine cleliver}^ Avent about the streets singing and
intoning prayers, rich presents being made to them.

THE BUDDHISM OF THE JAPANESE 267
especially by the ladies. The Jo-do people cultivate
art and aesthetic ornamentation to a notable degree.
They also understand the art of fictitious and sensa
tional miracle-mongering. It is said that Zen-do, the
famous Chinese founder of this Chinese sect, when
Avriting his commentary, prayed for a wonderful exhi
bition of supernatural poAver. Thereupon, a being ar
rayed as a priest of dignified presence gave him in
struction ou the division of the text in his first volume.
Hence Zen-do treats his oavu work as if it were the
work of Buddha, and says that no one is allowed either
to add or to take away even a Avord or sentence of the
book. The Pm-e Land is the western Avorld Avliere Amida
lives. It is perfectly pure aud free from faults. Those
who wish to go thither will certainly be re-born there,
but other-wise they will not. This world, on the con
trary, is the effect of the action of aU beings, so that
even those who do not wish to be born here are never
theless obliged to come. This world is called the Path
of Pain, because it is full of all sorts of pains, such as
birth, old age, disease, death, etc. This is therefore
a world not to be attached to, but to be estranged
and separated from. One who is disgusted Avith this
world, and who is filled with desire for that world, Avill
after death be born there. Not to doubt about these
words of Buddha, even in the slightest degree, is called
deep faith ; but if one entertains the least doubts he Avill
not be born there. Hence the saying : " In the great
sea of the law of Buddha, faith is the only means to
enter."

268 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN

Salvation Through tlie Merits of Another.
In this absolute trust in the all-saving power of
Amida as compared with the ways promulgated before,
we see the emergence of the Buddhist doctrine of jus
tification by faith, the simplification of theology, and a
revolt against Buddhist scholasticism. The Japanese
technical term, " tariki," or relying upon the strength
of another, renouncing all idea oiji-riki or self-poAver,^
is the substance of the Jo-do doctrine ; but the expanded
term ta-riki chiu noji-riki, or " self -effort depending on
another," while expressing the whole dogma, is rather
scornfully applied to the Jo-doists by the men of the
Shin sect. The invocation of Amida is a meritorious
act of the believer, much repetition being the sub
stance of this combination of personal and vicarious
work. Ho-nen, after making his discovery, beUeving it pos
sible for all mankind eventually to attain to perfect
Buddhaship, left, as wt) have seen, the Ten-dai sect,
which represented particularism and laid emphasis on
the idea of the elect. Ho-nen taught Buddhist uni-
versalism. Belief and repetition of prayer secure
birth into the Pm-e Land after the death of the body,
and then the soul moves onward toward the perfection
of Buddha-hood.
The Japanese Avere delighted to have among them
a genius Avho could thus Japanize Buddhism, and Jo-
do doctrine Avent forth conquering and to conquer.
From the tAvelfth century, the tendency of Japanese
Buddhism is in the direction of universalism and de
mocracy. In later developments of Jo-do, the panthe-

THE BUDDHISM OF THE JAPANESE 269
istic tendencies are emphasized and the syncretistic
powers are enlarged. WhUe mysticism is a striking
feature of the sect and the attainment of truth is by the
grace of Amida, yet the native Kami of Japan are
logically accepted as avatars of Buddha. History had
little or no rights in the case ; philosophy was dicta
tor, and that philosophy Avas Ho-nen's. Those later
Chinese deities made by personifying- attributes or ab
stract ideas, which sprang up after the introduction of
Buddhism into China, are also Avelcomed into the
temples of this sect. That the common people really
believe that they themselves may attain Buddha-hood
at death, and enter the Pure Land, is shown in the fact
that their ordinary expression for the dead saint is
Hotoke — a general term for aU the gods that were once
human. Some popular proverbs indicate this in a
form that easily lends itself to irreverence and mer
riment. The Avhole tendency of Japanese Buddhism and its
full momentum were now toAvard the development of
doctrine even to startling proportions. Instead of the
ancient path of asceticism and virtue with agnosticism
and atheism, Ave see the means of salvation put now,
and perhaps too easily, Avithin the control of all. The
pathway to Paradise was made not only exceedingly
|3lain, but also extremely easy, perhaps even ridicu
lously so ; Avhile the door was open for an outburst
of new and local doctrines unknoAvn to India, or even
to China. The ramjDant vigor with Avhich Japanese
Buddhism began to absorb everything in heaven, earth
and sea, which it could make a Avorshipable object or
cause to stand as a Kami or deity to the mind, will be
seen as Ave proceed. The native proverb, instead of

270 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
being an irreverent joke, stands for an actual truth —
" Even a sardine's head may become au object of wor
ship." " Reformed " Buddhism.
We now look at what foreigners call " Eeformed "
Buddhism, which some even imagine has been bor
rowed from Protestant Christianity — notwithstanding
that it is centuries older than the Eeformation in
Europe. The Shin Shu or True Sect, though really founded
on the Jo-do doctrines, is separate from the sect of the
Pure Land. Yet, besides being called the Shin Shu, it
is also spoken of as the Jo-do Shin Shu or the True
Sect of the Pure Land. It is the extreme form of the
Protestantism of Buddhism. It lays emphasis on the
idea of salvation wholly through the merits of another,
but it also paints in richer tints the sensuous delights
of the Western Paradise. As the term Pure Land is
antithetical to that of the Holy Path, so the word Shin,
or True, expresses the contrary of what are termed the
"temporary expedients."
While some say that we should practise good works,
bring our stock of merits to maturity, and be born' in
the Pure Land, others say that we need only repeat
the name of Amida in order to be born in the Pure
Land, by the merit produced from such repetition.
These doctrines concerning repetitions, however, are
all considered but " temporary expedients." So also is
the rigid classification, so prominent in " the old sects,"
of all beings or pupils into three grades. As in Islam
or Calvinism, all believers stand on a level. To Shin-
ran the Eadical, the practices even of Jo-do seemed

THE BUDDHISM OF THE JAPANESE 271
complicated and difficult, and all that appeared neces
sary to him Avas faith in the desire of Amida to bless
and save. To Shinran,'' faith Avas the sole saving act.
To rely upon the poAver of the Original Prayer of
Amitabha Buddha Avith the whole heart aud give up
all idea oiji-riki or self-power, is caUedthe truth. This
truth is the doctrine of this sect of Shin.'° In a Avord,
not synergism, not faith and works, but faith only is
the teaching of Shin Shu.
Shinran, the founder of this sect in Japan, was bom
a.d. 1173 and died in the year 1262. He Avas very
naturally one Avho had been first educated in the Jo-do
sect, then the ruling one at the imperial court in Kioto.
Shall we call him a Japanese Luther, because of his
insistence on salvation by faith only ? He is popu
larly beUeved to have been descended from one of the
Shinto gods, being on his father's side the twenty-first
in the line of generation. On his mother's side he
was of the Uneage of the Minamoto or Genji, a clan
sprung from Mikados and famous during centuries for
its victorious warriors. Ho-nen was his teacher, and
like his teacher, Shinran studied at the great monas
tery near Kioto, learning first the doctrine of the Ten
dai, and then, at the age of twenty-nine, receiving from
Ho-nen the tenets of the Jo-do sect. Shortly after, at
thirty years of age, he began to promulgate his doc
trines. Then he took a step as new to Buddhism, as
was Luther's union with Katharine von Bora, to the
ecclesiasticism of his time. He married a lady of the
imperial court, named Tamayori, who was the daugh
ter of the Kuambaku or premier.
Shinran thus taught by example, if not formally and
by Avritten precept, that marriage was honorable, and

272 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
that celibacy was an invention of the priests not Avar-
ranted by primitive Buddhism. Penance, fasting,
1 prescribed diet, pilgrimages, isolation from society
\ Avhether as hermits or in the cloister, and generaUy
amulets and charms, are all tabooed bj^ this sect. Mon
asteries imposing life-vows are unknown Avithin its pale
Family life takes the place of monkish seclusion. De
vout prayer, purity, earnestness of life and trust in
Buddha himself as the only w-orker of perfect right
eousness, are insisted upon. Morality is taught to be
more important than orthodoxy.
In practice, the Shin sect even more than the Jo-do,
teaches that it is faith in Buddha Avhich accom
plishes the salvation of the believer. Instead of wait
ing- for death in order to come under the protection of
Amida, the faithful soul is at once receiA^ed into the
care of the Boundlessly Compassionate. In a word,
the Shin sect believes in instantaneous couA'ersion and
sanctiflcation. Between the Eoman and the Eeformed
soteriology of Christendom, was Melancthonism or the
cooperate union of the divine and the human Avill. So,
the old Buddhism prior to Shinran taught a phase of syn
ergism, or the union of faith and Avorks. Shinran, in his
" Eeformed" Buddhism, taught the simplicity of faith.
So also in regard to the sacred writings, Shinran op
posed the San-ron school and the three-grade idea.
The scriptures of other sects are in Sanskrit and Chi
nese, which only the learned are able to read. The
special Avritings of Shinran are in the A^ernacular.
Three of the sutras, also, have been translated into
Japanese and expressed in the kana script. Single
ness of purpose characterized this sect, which Avas
often called Monto, or followers of the gate, in refer-

THE BUDDHISM OF THE JAPANESE 273
ence to its unity of organization, and the opening- of
the way to all by Shinran and the doctrine taught by
him. Yet, lest the gate might seem too broad, the
Shin teachers insist that morality is as important as
faith, and indeed the proof of it. The high priests of
Shin Shu have ever held a high position and wielded
vast influence in the religious development of the peo
ple. While the temples of other sects are built in se
questered places among the hills, those of Shin Shu are
erected in the heart of cities, on the main streets, and
at the centres of population, — the priests using every
means within their power to induce the people to come
to them. The altars are on an imposing scale of mag
nificence and gorgeous detail. No Eoman Catholic
church or cathedral can outshine the splendor of these
temples, in which the Avay to the Western Paradise is
made so clear and plain. Another name for the sect
is Ikko.
After the death of Shinran, his youngest daughter
and one of his grandsons erected a monastery near his
tomb in the eastern suburbs of Kioto, to Avhich the
Mikado gave the title of Hon-guanji, or Monastery of
the Original Voav. This was in allusion to the voav
made by Amida, that he would not accept Buddhaship
except under the condition that salvation be made
attainable for all who should sincerely desire to be
born into his kingdom, and signify their desire by in
voking his name ten times." It is upon the passage
in the sutra where this vow is recorded, that the doc
trine of the sect is based. Its central idea is that man
is to be saved by faith in the mercy of the boundlessly
compassionate Amida, and not by Avorks or vain repe
titions. Within our o\A-n time, on November 28, 1876,
IS

274 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
the present reigning Mikado bestowed upon Shinran
the posthumous title Ken - shin Dai - shi, or Great
Teacher of the Eevelation of Truth.

The Protestants of Japanese Buddhism.
This is the sect which, being caUed "Eeformed"
Buddhism " and resembUng Protestantism in so many
points, both large and minute, foreigners think, has
been borrowed or imitated from European Protestant
ism.'^ As matter of fact, the foundation principles of
Shin-Shu are at least six hundred years old. They are
perfectly clear in the writings of the founder,''' as well
as in those of his successor Eennio,'' who wrote the
Ofumi or sacred Avritings, now daily read by the dis
ciples of this denomination. With the characteristic
object of reaching the masses, they are Avritten, as we
have shown, not in the mixed Chinese and Japanese
characters, but in the common script, or kana, which
all the people of both sexes can read. Within the last
two decades the Shin educators have been the first to
organize their schools of learning on the models of
those in Christendom, so that their young men might
be trained to resist Shinto or Christianity, or to meas-
m-e the truth in either. Their ucav temples also show
European influence in architecture and fumitm-e.
Liberty of thought and action, and incoercible desire
to be free from governmental, traditional, ultra-eccle
siastical, or Shinto influence — in a Avord, protestant
ism in its pure sense, is characteristic of the great sect
founded by Shinran,
Indeed the Shin sect, which sprang out of the Jo-do,
maintains that it alone professes the true teaching of

THE BUDDHISM OF THE JAPANESE 275
Ho-nen, and that the Jo-do sect has wandered from the
original doctrines of its founder. Whereas the Jo-do
or Pure Land sect beUeves that Amida wiU come to
meet the soul of the beUever on its separation from
the body, in order to conduct it to Paradise, the Shin
or True Sect of the Pure Land believes in immediate
salvation and sanctiflcation. It preaches that as soon
as a man beUeves in Amida he is taken by him under
his merciful protection. Some might denominate these
people the Methodists of Buddhism.
One good point in their Protestantism is their teach
ing that morality is of equal importance with faith.
To them Buddha-hood means the perfection and un-
Umitedness of wisdom and compassion. " Therefore,"
writes one, " knowing the inability of our own power
we should believe simply in the vicarious Power of the
Original Prayer. If we do so, we are in correspond
ence with the wisdom of the Buddha and share his
great compassion, just as the water of rivers becomes
salt as soon as it enters the sea. For this reason this
is called the faith in the Other Power."
To their everlasting honor, also, the Shin believers
have probably led all other Japanese Buddhists in car
ing for the Eta, even as they probably excel in preach
ing the true spiritual democracy of all believers, yes,
CA^en of women.'" "According to the earlier and gen
eral view of Buddhism, women are condemned, in
virtue of the pollution of their nature, to look forward
to rebirth in other forms. By no possibility can they,
in their existence as women, reach the higher grades
of holiness which lead to Nirvana. According to the
Shin Shu system, on the other hand, a believing woman
may hope to attain the goal of the Buddhist at the

276 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
close of her present life." " This doctrine seems to be
founded on that passage in the eleventh chapter of the
SaddharmaPundarika, in Avhicli the daughter of Sagara,
the Naga-king, loses her sex as female and reappears as
a Bodhisattva of male sex.'^
The Shin sect is the largest in Japan, having more
than tAvice as many temples as any four of the great
sects, and five thousand more than the So-do or sub-
sect of Jo-do, which is the next largest ; or, over nine
teen thousand in all. It is also supposed to be one of
the richest and most powerful of all the Japanese sects.
In reality, however, it possesses no fixed property, and
is dependent entirely upon the voluntary contributions
of its adherents. To-day, it is probably the most active
of them all in education, learning and missionary
operations in Yezo, China and Korea.
Interesting as is the development of the Jo-do and
Shin sects, vvhich became popular largely through
their promulgation of dogmas founded on the AVest-
em Paradise, we must not forget that both of them
preached a new Buddha — not the real figure in history,
but an iinhistoric and unreal phantom, the creation
and dream of the speculator and visionary. Amida,
the personification of boundless light, is one of the
luxuriant growths of a sickly scholasticism — a hollow
abstraction Avithout life or reality. Amidaism is utterly
repudiated by many Japanese Buddhists, who give no
place to his idol on their altars, and reject utterly the
teaching as to Paradise and salvation through the
merits of another.
Yet these two special developments by natives,
though embodying tendencies of the Japanese mind,
did not reach the limit to Avhich Northern Buddhism

THE BUDDHISM OF THE JAPANESE 277
Avas to go iu those almost incredible lengths, Avhicli
prompted Professor Whitney '^ to call it "the high-
faluting school," and which Ave have seen in our OAvn
time under the cultivation of western admirers.

The Nichiren Sect.
The Japanese mind runs to pantheism as naturally
as an unpruned grape-vine runs to fibre and leaves.
When Nichiren, the ultra-patriotic aud ultra-demo
cratic bonze, saAv the Ught iu a.d. 1222, he. Avas des
tined to bring religion not onlj- doAvn to man, but
even down to the beasts and to the mud. He founded
the Saddharma-Pundarika sect, now called Nichiren
Shu. Born at Kominato, near the mouth of Yedo Bay,
he became a neophite in the Shin-gon sect at the age
of twelve, and was admitted into the priesthood when
but fifteen years old. Then he adopted his name,
which means Sun-lotus, because, according to a typical
dream very common in Korea and Japan, his mother
thought that she had conceived by the sun entering
her body. Through a miracle, he acquired a thorough
knoAvledge of the whole Buddhist canon, in the course
of which he met with words, which he converted into
that formula which is constantly in the mouth of the
members of the Nichiren sect, Namu-myo-ho-ren-ge-
kyo — "O, the Sutra of the Lotus of the Wonderful
Law."^ His history, full of amazing activity and of
romantic adventure, is surrounded by a perfect sunrise
splendor, or, shall we say, sunset gorgeousness, of
mythology and fable. The scenes of his Ufe are mostly
laid in the region of the modern Tokio, and to the cid-

278 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
tivated traveller, its story lends fascinating charms to
the landscape in the region of Yedo Bay. Nichiren
Avas a fiery patriot, and ultra-democratic in his sym
pathies. He was a radical believer in "Japan for the
Japanese." He was an ecclesiastical Soslii. He felt that
the developments of Buddhism already made, were not
sufficiently comprehensive, or fully suited to the com
mon people. So, in a.d. 1282, he founded a new sect
AA'hich gradually included within its pantheon all possi
ble Buddhas, and canonized pretty nearly all the saints,
righteous men and favorite heroes known to Dai Nip
pon. Nichiren first made Japan the centre of the
universe, and then brought religion down to the lowest.
He considered that the period in which he lived was
the latter day of the law, and that aU creatures ought
to share in the merit of Buddha-hood. Only the origi
nal Buddha is the real moon in the sky, but aU Buddh
as of the subordinate states are like the images of
the moon, reflected upon the waters. All these difier
ent Buddhas, be they gods or men, beasts, birds or
snakes, are to be honored. Indeed, they are both hon
ored and Avorshipped in the Nichiren pantheon. Be
sides the historic Buddha, this sect, Avhich is the most
idolatrous of all, admits as objects of its reverence such
personages as Nichiren, the founder ; Kato Kiyomasa,
the general who led the army of invasion in Korea and
was the persecutor of the Christians ; and Shichimen—
a word which means seven points of the compass or
seven faces. This Shichimen is the being that ap
peared to Nichiren as a beautiful woman, but disap
peared from his sight in the form of a snake, twenty
feet long, covered with golden scales and armed with
iron teeth. It is now deified under the name meaning

THE BUDDHISM OF THE JAPANESE 279
the Great God of the Seven Faces, and is identified
with the Hindoo deity Siva.
Another idol usually seen in the Nichiren temples is
Mioken. Under this name the pole star is worshipped,
usually in the form of a Buddha with a wheel of a
Buddha elect. Standing on a tortoise, with a sword in
his right hand, and with the left hand half open — a
gesture which symbolizes the male and female princi
ples in the physical world, and the intelligence and the
law in the spiritual world — Mioken is a striking figure.
Indeed, the Ust of glorified animals reminds us some
what of the ancient beast-worship of Egypt. In the
Nichiren hierology, it is as though the symbolical fig
ures in the Book of Eevelation had been deified and
worshipped. It is evident that all the creatures
in that Buddhist chamber of imagery, the Hokke Kio,
that could possibly be made into gods have received
apotheosis. The very book itself is also wor
shipped, for the Nichirenites are extreme believers in
verbal inspiration, and pay divine honors to each jot
and tittle of the sutra, which to them is a god. They
adore also the triad of the three precious ones, the
Buddha, the Eule or Discipline, and the Organization ;
or. Being, Law, and Church. The hideous idol, Fudo,
"Eleven-faced," "Horse-headed," " Thousand-handed,"
or girt in a robe of fiery flame, is beUeved by Buddhists
to represent Avalokitesvara ; but, in recent times he
has been recognized, detected and recaptured by the
Shintoists as Kotohira. The goddess Kishi, and that
miscellaneous assortment or group known as the
Seven Patrons of Happiness, which form a sort of en
cyclopaedia or museum of curiosities derived from the
cults of India, China and Japan, are also components

280 • THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
of the amazing menagerie and pantheon of this sect,
in which scholasticism run mad, and emotional kind
ness to animals become maudlin, join hands.
The Ultra-realism of Northern Buddhism.
Like most of the other Japanese sects, the Nichiren
ites claim that their principles are contained in the
Hok-ke-kio, Avhicli is considered the consummate white
flower of Buddhist doctrine and literature. This is the
Japanese name for that famous sutra, the Saddharma
Pundarika, so often mentioned in these chapters but
a thousand - fold more so in Japanese literature.
The Ten-dai and the Nichiren sects are allied, in that
both lay supreme emphasis upon this sutra ; but the
former interprets it with an intellectual, and the latter
with an emotional emphasis. PhUosophically, the
two bodies have much in common. Outwardly they
are very far apart. One has but to read their favorite
scripture, to see the norm upon which the gorgeous art
of Japan has been developed. Probably no single
book in the voluminous canon of the Greater Vehicle
gives one so masterful a key to Japanese Buddhism.
Its pages are crowded with sensuous descriptions of
all that is attractive to both the reason and the under
standing. Its descriptions of Paradise are those which
Avould suit also the realistic Mussulman. Its rhetoric
and visions seem to be those of some oriental De
Quincey, Avho, out of the dreams of an opium-eater, has
made tlie law-book of a religion. Translated into mat
ter-of-fact Chinese, none better than Nichu-en knew
how to present its realism to his people.
In its ethical standards, which are tAvo, this sect, like

THE BUDDHISM OF TIIE JAPANESE 2S1
most others, prescribes one course of life for the monk,
Avhich is difficult, and another for the laity, Avhich is
easy. The central dogma is that every part of the
universe, including not only gods and men, but animals,
plants and the very mud itself, is capable, by successive
transmigrations, of attaining to Buddhaship. In one
sense, Nichirenism is the transfiguration of atheistic
evolution. In its teachings there are also two forms :
the one, largely in symbol, is intended to attract fol
lowers ; the other, the pure truth, is employed to con
vert the obstinately ignorant, against their wills. As
in the history of the papal organization in Europe, a
materialistic interpretation has been given to the can
ons of dogma and discipline.
Contrary to the doctrine of those sects which teach
the attainment of salA^ation solely through the aid of
Amida, or Another, the Nichirenites insist that it is
necessary for man to Avork out his own salvation, by
observing the law, by self-examination, by reflecting on
the blessings vouchsafed to the members of this elect
and orthodox sect and by constant prayer. They con
sider themselves as in the only true church, and their
succession to the priesthood, the only valid one. The
strict Nichiren churchmen Avill not have the Shinto gods
in their household shrines, nor will they intermarry
among the sects. The Nichirenites are also very fond
of controversy, and their language in speaking of
other creeds and sects is not that characteristic of
the gentle Buddha. The people of this sect are much
given to the belief in demoniacal possession, and a
considerable part of the duty and revenue-yielding
business of the Nichiren priests consists in exorcising
the foxes, badgers and other demons, which have pos-

282 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
sessed subjects who are generally women at certain
stages of illness or convalescence. The phenomena
and pathology of these disorders seem to be allied to
those of hysteria and hypnotism.
This popular sect also makes greatest use of charms,
spells and amulets, lays great store on pilgrimages, and
is very fond of noise -making instruments whether
prayer-books or the wooden bells or drums which are
prominent features in their temples and revival meet
ings. In one sense it is the Salvation Army of Bud
dhism, being especially powerful in what strikes the
eye and ear. The Nichirenites have been well called
the Eanters of Buddhism. Their revival meetings
make Bedlam seem silent, and reduce to gentle mur
murs the camp-meeting excesses with which we are
familiar in our own country. They are the most sec
tarian of all sects. Their vocabulary of Billingsgate
and the ribaldry employed by them eveu against their
Buddhist brethren, cast into the shade those of Christian
sectarians in their fiercest controversies. " A thou
sand years in the lowest of the hells is the atonement
prescribed by tbe Nichirenites for the priests of all
other sects." When the Parliament of Eeligions was
called in Chicago, the successors of Nichiren, with
their characteristic high-church modesty, promptly
sent letters to America, warning the world against all
other Japanese Buddhists, and denouncing especially
those coming to speak in the Parliament, as misrepre
senting the true doctrines of Buddha.
Doctrinal Culmination.
When the work of Nichiren had been completed,
and his realistic pantheism had been able to include

THE BUDDHISM OF THE JAPANESE 2S.S
Avithin its great receiver and processes of Buddha-
making, everything from gods to mud, the circle
of doctrine was complete. Kobo's leaven had now
every possible lump in which to do its Avork. All
grades of men in Japan, from the most devout and in
tellectual to the most- ranting and fanatical, could
choose their sect. Yet it may be that Buddhism iu
Nichiren's day Avas in danger of stagnation and formal
ism, and needed the revival Avliich this fiery bonze gave
it ; for, undoubtedly, along Avith zeal even to bigotry,
came fresh life and power to the religion. This in-
vigoration was followed by the mighty missionary
labors of the last half of the thirteenth century, Avhich
carried Buddhism out to the northei-n frontier and into
Yezo. Although, from time to time minor sects Avere
formed either limiting or developing further the prin
ciples of the larger parent sects, and although, even as
late as the seventeenth century, a new subsect, the Oba-
ku of Zen Shu, was imported from China, yet no fur
ther doctrinal developments of importance took place ;
not even in presence of or after sixteenth century
Christianity and seventeenth century Confucianism.
The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries form the
golden age of Japanese Buddhism.
In the sixteenth century, the feudal system had split
into fragments and the normal state of the country
was that of cIa-U war. Sect was arrayed against sect,
and the Shin bonzes, especially, formed a great military
body in fortified monasteries.
In the first half of the sixteenth century, came the
tremendous onslaught of Portuguese Christianity.
Then followed the militarism and bloody persecutions
of Nobunaga.

284 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
In clashing Avith the new Confucianism of the seven
teenth century. Buddhism utterly weakened as au in
tellectual power. Though through the favor of the
Yedo shoguns it recovered lands and wealth, gu-ded
itself anew as the spy, persecutor and professed extu--
pator of Christianity, and maintained its popularity
with the common people, it was, during the eighteenth
century, among the educated Japanese, as good as
dead. Modern Confucianism and the revival of Chi
nese learning, resulted in eighteenth century scepti
cism and in nineteenth century agnosticism.
The New Buddhism.
In our day and time, Japanese Buddhism, in the
presence of aggressive Christianity, is out of harmony
with the times, and the needs of forty-one millions of
awakened and inquiring people; and there are deep
searchings of heart. Politically disestabUshed and its
landed possessions sequestrated by the government, it
has had, since 1868, a history, first of depression and
then of temporary revival. Now, amid much mechan
ical and external activity, the employment of the press,
the organization of charity, of summer schools of " the
ology," and of young men's and other associations
copied from the Christians, it is endeavoring to keep
NeAv Japan within its pale and to dictate the future.
It seeks to utilize the old bottles for the new vintage.
There is, however, a movement discernible which
may be called the New Buddhism, and has not only
new wine but new wineskins. It is democratic, opti
mistic, empirical or practical ; it welcomes women and
children ; it is hospitable to science and every form of

THE BUDDHISM OF THE JAPANESE 285
truth. It is catholic in spirit and has little U" any of
the venom of the old Buddhist controvertists. It is
represented by earnest writers who look to natural and
spiritual means, rather than to external aud mechani
cal methods. As a whole, Ave may say that Japanese
Buddhism is still strong to-day in its grip upon the
people. Though unquestionably moribund, its death
wUl be delayed. Despite its apparent interest in, and
harmony Avith, contemporaneous statements of science,
it does not hold the men of thought, or those Avho
long for the spiritual puriflcation and moral elevation
of Japan.
Are the Japanese eager for reform ? Do they pos
sess that quality of emotion in which a tormenting
sense of sin, and a burning desire for self-surrender to
holiness, are ever manifest ?
Frankly and modestlj-, Ave give our opinion. We
think not. The average Japanese man has not come
to that self-consciousness, that searching of heart, that
self-seeing of sin in the light of a Holy God's counte
nance which the gospel compels. Yet this is exactly
what the Japanese need. Only Christ's gospel can
give it.
The average man of culture in Dai Nippon has to
day no religion. He is Avaiting for one. What shall
be the issue, in the contest between a faith that knoAVS
no personal God, no Creator, no atonement, no gospel
of salvation from sin, and the gospel which bids man
seek and knoAv the great First Cause, as Father and
Friend, and proclaims that this Inflnite Friend seeks
man to bless him, to bestow upon him pardon and holi
ness and to give him earthly happiness and endless
life ? BetAveen one religion Avliich teaches personality

286 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
in God and in man, and another which offers only a
quagmire of impersonaUty wherein a personal god and
an individual soul exist only as the jack-lights of the
marsh, mere phosphorescent gleams of decay, who can
fail to choose? Of the two faiths, Avhich shall ]6e
victor ?

JAPANESE BUDDHISM IN ITS MISSIONAEY
DEVELOPMENT

" The heart of my country, the power of my country, the light of my
country, is Buddhism," — Yatsubuchi, of Japan,
" Buddhism was the teacher under whose instruction the Japanese na
tion grew up. " — Chamberlain,
" Buddhism was the civilizer. It came with the freshness of religious
zeal, and religious zeal was a novelty. It came as the bearer of civilization
and enlightenment, "
" Buddhism has had a fair field in Japan, and its outcome has not been
elevating. Its influence has been esthetic and not ethical. It added cult
ure and art to Japan, as it brought with itself the civilization of continen
tal Asia, It gave the arts, and more, it added the artistic atmosphere.
. Reality disappears, ' This fleeting borrowed world ' is all mys
terious, a dream ; moonlight is in place of the clear hot sun. ... It
has so fitted itself to its surroundings that it seems indigenous." — George
William Knox.
"The Japanese . , , are indebted to Buddhism for their present
civilization and culture, their great susceptibility to the beauties of nature,
and the high perfection of several branches of artistic industry." — Rein,
"We speak of God, and the Japanese mind is filled with idols. We
mention sin, and he thinks of eating flesh or the killing of insects. The
word holiness reminds him of crowds of pilgrims flocking to some famous
shrine, or"bf some anchorite sitting lost in religious abstraction till his legs
rot off. He has much error to unlearn before he can take in the truth," —
R. B. McAlpine. " There in a life of study, prayer, and thought,
Kenshin became a saintly priest — not wide
In intellect nor broad in sympathies,
For such things come not from the ascetic life ;
But narrow, strong, and deep, and like the stream.
That rushes fervid through the narrow path
Between the rocks at Nikko — so he grasped.
Heart, soul, and strength, the holy Buddha's Law
With no room left for doubt, or sympathy
For other views." — Kenshin's Vision,
" For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same,
my name is great among the Gentiles ; and in every place incense is offered
unto my name, and a pure offering, for my name is great among the Gen
tiles, saith the LoKD of hosts," — Malachi,

CHAPTEE X.
JAPANESE BUDDHISM IN ITS MISSIONARY DEVELOPMENT
Missionary Buddhism the Pleasure of Japan's Civiliza
tion
Broadly speaking, the history of Japanese Buddh
ism in its missionary development is the history of
Japan. Before Buddhism came, Japan was pre-historic.
AVe know the country and people through very scanty
notices in the Chinese annals, by pale reflections cast
by myths, legends and poems, and from the relics cast
up by the spade and plough. Chinese civilization had
filtered in, though how much or how Uttle we cannot
tell definitely; but since the coming of the Buddhist
missionaries in the sixth century, the landscape and
the drama of human life lie before us in clear detail.
Speaking broadly again, it may be said that almost
from the time of its arrival. Buddhism became on its
active side the real religion of Japan — at least, if the
word "religion" be used in a higher sense than that
connoted by either Shinto or Confucianism. Though
as a nation the Japanese of the Meiji era are grossly
forgetful of this fact, yet, as Professor Chamberlain
says,' "AU education was for centuries in Buddhist
hands. Buddhism introduced art; introduced medi
cine ; created the folk-lore of the country ; created its
dramatic poetry ; deeply influenced politics, and every
19

290 TIIE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
sphere of social and intellectual activity; in a word.
Buddhism was the teacher under whose instruction
the Japanese nation grew up."
For many centuries all Japanese, except here and
there a stern Shintoist, or an exceptionally dogmatic
Confucian, have acknoAvledged these patent facts, and
from the emperor to the eta, glorified in them. It
Avas not until modern Confucian philosophy entered
the Mikado's empire in the seventeenth century, that
hostile criticism and polemic tenets denounced Buddh
ism, and declared it only fit for savages. This bitter
denunciation of Buddhism at the lips and hands of
Japanese Avho had become Chinese in mind, was all the
more inappropriate, because Buddhism had for over a
thousand years acted as the real purveyor and dis-
perser of the Confucian ethics and culture in Japan.
Such denunciation came Avith no better grace from the
Yedo Confucianists than from the Shinto revivalists,
like Motoori, who, while execrating everything Chin
ese, failed to remember or impress upon his countrj--
men the fact, that almost aU Avhich constituted Japan
ese civilization had been imported from the Middle
Kingdom. Buddhism, in its purely doctrinal development, seems
to be rather a system of metaphysics than a true re
ligion, being a conglomeration, or rather perhaps an
agglomeration, of all sorts of theories relating to the
universe and its contents. Its doctrinal and metaphys
ical side, hoAvever, is to be carefully distinguished from
its popular and external features, for in its mission
ary development Buddhism may be called a system of
national improvement. The history of its propagation,
in the land farthest oast from its cradle, is not onlv the

DEVELOPMENT OF JAPANESE BUDDHISM 291
outline of the history of Japanese civilization, but is
nearly the Avhole of it.
Pre-Biiddhistic Japan.
It is not perhaps difficult to reconstruct in imagina
tion the landscape of Japan in pre-Buddhistic days.
Certainly we may, Avith some accuracy, draw a con
trast between the appearance of the face of the earth
then and now. Supposing that there were as many as
a miUiou or two of souls in the Japanese Archipelago
of the sixth century — the same area Avhich in the nine
teenth century contains over forty-one miUions — we
can imagine only here aud there patches of cultivated
fields, or terraced guUies. There were no roads ex
cept paths or trails. The horse Avas probably yet a
curiosity to the aborigines, though well knoAvn to the
sons of the gods. Sheep and goats then, as now, Avere
unknown. The cow and the ox were in the land, but
not numerous.^ In architectm-e there Avas probably
little but the primeval hut. Tools Avere of the iTidest
description ; yet it is evident that the primitive Japan
ese were able to work iron and apply it to many uses.
There Avere other metals, though the tell-tale etymol
ogy of their names in Japanese metallurgy, as in so
many other lines of industry and articles of daily use,
points to a Chinese origin. It is the almost incredi
ble fact that the Japanese man or woman wore on the
person neither gold nor sih-er jewelry. In later times,
decoration Avas added to the sword hilt and pins Avere
thrust in the hair.
Possibly a prejudice against metal touching the skin,
such as exists in Korea, may account for this absence
of jewelry, though silver was not discovered until A, d.

292 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
675, or gold until a.d. 749. The primitive Japanese,
hoAvever, did Avear ornaments of ground and polished
stone, and these so numerously as to compel contrast
with the severer tastes of later ages. Some ot these
magatama — curved jewels or perforated cylinders —
were made of very hard stone which requires skUl to
drill, cut and polish. Among the substances used was
jade, a mineral found only in Cathay.' Indeed, we
cannot follow the lines of industry and manufactures,
of personal adornment and household decoration, of
scientific terms and expressions, of literary, intellectual
and religious experiment, without continually finding
that the Japanese borrowed from Chinese storehouses.
Possibly their debt began at the time of the alleged
conquest of Korea * iu the third centm-y.
In Japanese life, as it existed before the introduction
of Buddhism, there was, with barbaric simplicity, a
measure of culture somewhat indeed above the level of
savagery, but probably very little that could be ap
praised beyond that of the Iroquois Indians in the
days of their Confederacy. For though granting that
there were many interesting features of art, industry,
erudition and civilization Avhich have been lost to the
historic memory, and that the research of scholars may
hereafter discover many things now in oblivion ; yet,
on the other hand, it is certain that much of Avhat has
long been supposed to be of primitive Japanese origin,
and existent before the eighth century, has been more
or less infused or enriched with Chinese elements, or
has been imported directly from India, or Persia,' or
has crystallized into shape from the mixture of things
Buddhistic and primitive Japanese.
Apart from all speculation, we know that in the train

DEVELOPMENT OF JAPANESE BUDDHISM 293
of the first missionaries came artisans, and instructors
in every line of human industry and achievement, and
that the importation of the inventions and appliances
of " the West " — the West then being Korea and
China, and the "Far West," India — Avas proportion
ately as general, as far-reaching, as sensational, as elec
tric in its effects upon the Japanese minds, as, in our
day, has been the introduction of the modern civiliza
tion of Europe and the United States.'

6

The Purveyors of Civilization.
The Buddhist missionaries, in their first "enthusi
asm of humanity," were not satisfied to bring in their
train, art, medicine, science and improvements of all
sorts, but they themselves, being often learned and
practical men, became personal leaders in the Avork of
civiUzing the country. In traveUing up and down the
empire to propagate their tenets, they found out the
necessity of better roads, and accordingly, they Avere
largely instrumental in haAing them made. They dug
wells, estabUshed ferries and built bridges.' They
opened lines of communication ; they stimulated traffic
and the exchange of merchandise ; they created the com
merce between Japan and China ; and they acted as
peacemakers and mediators in the wars between the
Japanese and Koreans. For centuries they had the
monopoly of high learning. In the dark middle ages
when civil war ruled, they were the only scholars,
clerks, diplomatists, mediators and peacemakers.
Japanese diet became something new under the di
rection of the priests. The bonzes taught the wicked
ness of slaughtering domestic animals, and indeed.

294 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
the wrong of putting any living thing to death, so that
kindness to animals has become a natioual trait. To
this day it may be said that Japanese boys and men
are, at least within the limits of their light, more tender
and careful with all living creatures than are those of
Christendom.' The bonzes improved the daily fare of
the people, by introducing from Korea and China ar
ticles of food hitherto unknown. They brought over
new seeds and varieties of vegetables and trees.
Furthermore, necessity being the mother of invention,
not a few of the shorn brethren made up for the pro
hibition of fish and flesh, by becoming expert cooks.
They so exercised their talents in the culinary art that
their results on the table are proverbial. Especially
did they cultivate mushrooms, which in taste and
nourishment are good substitutes for flsh.
The bonzes were lovers of beauty and of symbolism.
They planted the lotus, and the monastery ponds be
came seats of splendor, and delights to the eye. Their
teachings, metaphysical and mystical, poetical and
historical, scientific and literary, created, it may be
said, the Japanese garden, which to the refined imagi
nation contains far more than meets the eye of the
alien.' Indeed, the oriental imitations in earth, stone,
water and verdure, have a language and suggestion far
beyond what the usual parterres and walks, borders
and lines, fountains and statuary of a western garden
teach. It may be said that our " language of flowers "
is more luxuriant and eloquent than theirs ; yet theirs
is very rich also, besides being more subtle in sugges
tion. The bonzes instiUed doctrine, not only by ser
mons, books and the emblems and furniture of the
temples, but they also taught dogma and ethics by the

DEVELOPMENT OF JAPANESE BUDDHISM 295
flower-ponds and plots, by the artificial landscape, and
by outdoor symbolism of all kinds. To Buddhism our
thanks are due, for the innumerable miniature conti
nents, ranges of mountains, geographical outlines and
other horticultural allusions to their holy lands and
spiritual history, seen beside so many houses, temples
and monasteries in Japan. In their floral art, no peo
ple excels the Japanese in making leaf and bloom teach
history, reUgion, philosophy, aesthetics and patrio
tism. Not only around the human habitation,'" but Avithiu
it, the new religion brought a marvellous change. In
stead of the hut, the dwelling-house grew to spacious
and comfortable proportions, every part of the Japan
ese house to-day showing to the cultured student,
especially to one famUiar with the ancient poetry, the
Unes of its origin and development, and in the larger
dwellings expressing a wealth of suggestion and mean
ing. The oratory and the kami-dana or shelf holding
the gods, became features in the humblest dwelling.
Among the Avell-to-do there were of course the gilded
ancestral tablets and the worship of progenitors, in
special rooms, with imposing ritual and equipment,
with Avhich Buddhism did not interfere ; but on the
shelf over the door of nearly CA^ery house in the land,
along with the emblems of the kami, stood images
representing the avatars of Buddha." There, the light
ever burned, and there, offerings of food and drink Avere
thrice daily made. Though the family worship might
vary in its length and variety of ceremony, yet even in
the home w-here no regular system Avas foUoAved, the
burning lights and the stated offering made, called the
mind up to thoughts higher than the mere level of pro-

296 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
viding for daily wants. The visitation of the priests
in time of sorrow, or of joy, or for friendly converse,
made religion sweetly human. '^
OutAvardly the Buddhist architecture made a pro
found change iu the landscape. With a settled relig
ion requiring gorgeous ceremonial, the chanting of
litm-gies by large bodies of priests and the formation
of monasteries as centres of literary and religious ac
tivity, there Avere required stabiUty and permanence
in the imperial court itself. AVhile, therefore, the
humble vUlage temples arose aU over the country,
there were early erected, in the place w^here the court
and emperor dwelt, impressive religious edifices.'"
The custom of migration ceased, and a fixed spot se
lected as the capital, remained such for a number of
generations, until finally Heian-jo or the place of peace,
later called Kioto, became the "Blossom Capital " and
the Sacred City for a thousand years. At Nara, where
flourished the first six sects introduced from Korea,
were built vast monasteries, temples and images, and
thence the infiuence of civilization and art radiated.
From the first, forgetting its primitive democracy
and purely moral claims. Buddhism lusted for power
in the State. As early as a,d. 624, various grades
Avere assigned to the priesthood by the government.'''
The sects eagerly sought and laid great stress upon
imperial favor. To this day they keenly enjoy the
canonization of their great teachers by letters patent
from the Throne. Ministers of Art.
On the establishment of the imperial capital, at
Kioto, toward the end of the eighth century, we find

DEVELOPMENT OF JAPANESE BUDDHISM 297
still further development and enlargement of those
latent artistic impulses with which the. Heavenly
Father endowed his Japanese child. That capacity
for beauty, both in appreciation and expression, which
in our day makes the land df dainty decoration the re
sort of all those who Avould study oriental art in unique
fulness and decotative art in its only living school — a
school founded on the harmonious marriage of the
people and the nature of the country — is discernible
from quite early ages. The people seem to have re
sponded gladly to the calls for gifts and labor. The
du-ection from which it is supposed all evils are likely
to come is the northeast ; this special point of the
compass being in pan-Asian spiritual geography the
focus of aU malign influences. Accordingly, the Mika
do Kwammu, in a.d. 788, built ou the highest moun
tain called Hiyei a superb temple and monastery, giv
ing it in charge of the Ten-dai sect, that there should
ever be a bulwark against the evil that might other-
Avise SAvoop upon the city. Here, as on castellated
walls, should stand the watchman, who, by the recita
tion of the sacred liturgies, would keep watch and
ward. Iu course of time this great mountain became
a city of three thousand edifices and ten thousand
monks, from Avhich the droning of litanies and the
chanting of prayers ascended daily, and where the
chief industries were, the counting of beads on rosa
ries and the burning of incense before the altars. This
was in the long bright day of a prosperity Avliich has
been nourished by vast sums obtained from the gov
ernment and nobles. One notes the contrast at the
end of our century, when " disestablished " as a reli
gion and its bonzes reduced to beggary, Hiyei-san

298 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
is used as the site of a Summer School of Christian
Theology. <»(
Along with the blossoming of the lotus in every part
of the empire, bloomed the grander flowers of sculpt
ure, of painting and of temple architecture. It Avas
because of the carpenter's craft in building temples
that he won his name of Dai-ku, or the great workman.
The artificers of the sunny islands cultivated an ambi
tion, not only to equal but to excel, their continental
brethren of the saw and hammer. Yet the carpenter
was only the leader of great hosts of artisans that
were encouraged, of craftsmen that were educated and
of industries that were called into being by the spread
of Buddhism." It Avas not enough that village temples
and town monasteries should be built, under an impulse
that meant volumes for the development of the country.
The ambitious leaders chose sightly spots on moun
tains whence were lovely vistas of scenery, on which
to erect temples and monasteries, while it seemed to
be their further ambition to allow uo mountain peak
to be inaccessible. AVith armies of workmen, sup
ported by the contributions of the faithful who had
been aroused to enthusiasm by the preaching of the
bonzes, great swaths were cut in the forest ; abundant
timber Avas felled ; rocky plateaus were levelled ; and
elegant monastic edifices were reared, soon to be fUled
with eager students, and young men in training for the
priesthood. Whether the pilgrimage '^ be of Shinto or of Buddh
ist origin, or simply a contrivance of human nature to
break the monotony of life, we need not discuss. It is
certain that if the custom be indigenous, the imported
faith adopted, absorbed and enlarged it. The pere-

DEVELOPMENT OF JAPANESE BUDDHISM 299
grinations made to the great temples and to the moun
tain tops, being meritorious performances, soon filled
the roads -with more or less devout travellers. In thus
finding vent for their piety, the pilgrims mingled sanc-
tification with recreation, enjoying healthful holidays,
and creating trade Avith varied business, commercial
and commissariat activities, while enlarging also their
ideas and learning something of geography. Thus, in
the course of time, it has come to pass that Japan is a
country of which almost every square mile is known,
while it is well threaded with paths, banded with roads,
aud supplied to a remarkable extent with handy vol
umes of description and of local history.'' Her people
being A\'eU educated in their oavu lore and local tradi
tions, possessed also a voluminous literature of guide
books and cyclopedias of information. The devotees
were, withal, weU instructed and versed in a code of
politeness and courtesy, as pilgrimage aud travel be
came settled habits of a life. As a further result,
the national tongue became remarkably homogeneous.
Broadly speaking, it may be said that the Japanese
language, unlike the Chinese in this as it is iu almost
every other point, has very little dialectic variation,'*
Except in some few remote eddies lying outside the
general currents, there is a uniform national speech.
This is largely owing to that annual movement of pil
grims in the summer months especiaUy, habitual dur
ing many centuries.
Buddhism coming to Japan by means of the Great
Vehicle, or with the features of the Northern develop
ment, was the fertile mother of art. In the exterior
equipment of the temple, instead of the Shinto thatch,
the tera or Buddhist edifice called for tiles on its

oUO THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
sweeping roof, with ornamental terra-cotta at the end
of its imposing roof-ridge, or for sheets of copper soon
to be made verdant, then sombre and then sable by
age and atmosphere. Outwardly the edifice required
the application of paint and lacquer in rich tints, its
recurved roof-edges gladly welcoming the crest and
monogram of the feudal prince, and its railing's and
stairways accepting wUlingly the bronze caps and
ornaments. In front of its main edifice was the im
posing gateway with proportions almost as massive as
the temple itself, with prodigal wealth of cuj-iously
fitted and richly carved, painted and gilded supports
and morticings, with all the fancies and adornments
of the carpenter's art, and having as its frontlet and
blazon the splendidly gilt name, style or title. Often
these were impressive to eye and mind, to an extent
AA'hich the terse Chinese or curt monosyllables could
scarcely suggest to an aUen." The number, forms and
positions of the various parts of the temple easily lent
themselves to the expression of the elaborate symbol
ism of the India faith.
Reserriblances betioeen Buddhism and Cliristianity.
Within the sacred edifice everything to strike the
senses was lavishly displayed. The passion of the
East, as opposed to Greek simplicity, is for decoration ;
yet in Japan, decorative art, though sometimes bursting
out in Avild profusion or running to unbridled lengths,
was in the main a regulated mass of splendor in which
harmony ruled. Differing though the Buddhist sects
do in their temple furniture and altar decorations, they
are, most of them, so elaborately full in their equip-

DEVELOPMENT OF JAPANESE BUDDHISM 301
ment as to suggest repeatedly the similarity between
the Eoman Catholic organization, altars, vestments and
ritual, and those of Buddhism, and remarks on this
point seem almost commonplace. Almost everything
in Eoman Catholicism is found in Buddhism,^" and one
may even say, vice versa, at least in things exterior.
We take the liberty of transcribing here a passage
from the chapter entitled " Christianity and Foreign
ers " in The Mikado's Empire, written twenty years
ago. " E'arthermoi'e, the transition from the religion of India to
that of Borne was extremely easy. The veiy idols of Buddha
served, after a little alteration with the chisel, for images of
Christ. The Buddhist saints were easily transformed into the
Twelve Apostles. The Cross took the place of the torii. It
was emblazoned oTn the helmets and banners of the warriors, and
embi'oidered on their breasts. The Japanese soldiers went forth
to battle like Christian crusaders. In the roadside shrine
Kuanon, the Goddess of Mercy, made way for the Virgin, the
mother of God. Buddhism was beaten with its own weajjons.
Its own artillery was turned against it. Nearly all the Christian
churches were native temples, sprinkled and purified. The
same bell, whose boom had so often quivered the air announcing
the orisons and matins of paganism, was again blessed and
sprinkled, and called the same hearers to mass and confession ;
the same lavatory that fronted the temple served for holy water
or baptismal font ; the same censer that swung before Amida
could be refilled to waft Christian incense ; the new convert
could use unchanged his old beads, bells, candles, incense, and
all the paraphernalia of his old faith in celebration of the new.
"Almost everything that is distinctive in the Roman form
of Christianity is to be found in Buddhism : images, pict
ures, lights, altars, incense, vestments, masses, beads, wayside
shrines, monasteries, nunneries, celibacy, fastings, vigils, re
treats, pilgrimages, mendicant vows, shorn heads, orders,
habits, uniforms, nuns, convents, purgatory, saintly and priest-

302 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
ly intercession, indulgences, works of supererogation, pope,
archbishops, abbots, abbesses, monks, neophytes, relics and
relic-worship, exclusive burial-ground, etc., etc., etc.""
Nevertheless, these resemblances are almost whoUy
superficial, and have little or nothing to do with genu
ine religion. Such matters are of aesthetic and of com
mercial, rather than of spiritual, interest. They concern
priestcraft and vulgar superstition rather than truth
aud righteousness. " In point of dogma a whole world
of thought separates Buddhism from every form of
Christianity. Knowledge, enlightenment, is the condi
tion of Buddhistic grace, not faith. SeK-perfectionment
is the means of salvation, not the Aicarious sufferings of
a Eedeemer. Not eternal life is the end and active
participation in unceasing prayer and praise, but
absorption into Nirvana (Jap. Nehan)," practical anni
hilation." ^^ At certain points, the metaphysic of
Buddhism is so closely like that of Christian theology,
that a connection on reciprocal exchange of ideas is
not only possible but probable. In their highest think
ing,^ the sincere Christian and Buddhist approach each
other in their search after truth.
The key-Avord of Buddhism is Ingwa, Avhich means
laAV or fate, the chain of cause and effect in which man
is found, atheistic "evolution appUed to ethics," the
grinding machinery of a universe in Avhich is no Crea
tor-Father, no love, pity or heart. If the cry of the
human spirit has compeUed the makers of Buddliist
theology to fm-nish a goddess of mercy, it is but one
subordinate being among many. If a boundlessly
compassionate Amida is thought out, it is an imagin
ary being. The sj-mbol of Buddhism is the wheel of
the law, Avhich revolves as mercilessly as ceaselessW,^'

DEVELOPMENT OF JAPANESE BUDDHISM 303
The key-Avord of Christianity is love, aud its message
is grace. Its symbol is the cross, and its sacrament
the supper, in token of the infinite love of the Father
who wrote his revelation in a human life. The resem
blances betAveen the religions of Gautama and of Jesus,
are purely superficial. They appear to the outAvard
man. The inward man cannot, even from Darien
peaks of observation or in his scrutiny de profundis,
discover any vital or historical connection between the
two faiths, Christianity and Buddhism. In his theol
ogy the Christian says God is all ; but the Buddhist
says AU is god. Buddhism says destroy the passions :
Christianity says control them. The Buddhist's
watchword is Nir\-ana. The Christian's is Eternal
Life in Christ Jesus.^
Tlie Temples and Their Symbolism.
In the vast airy halls of a Buddhist temple one Avill
often see columns made of Avliole tree-trunks, sheeted
Avith gold and supporting massive ceilings Avhich are
empanelled and gorgeous Avith every hue and tint
known to the palette. Besides the coloring, carving
and gilding, the rich symbolism strikes the eye and
touches the imagination. It is a pleasing study for
one familiar Avith the background and world of Buddh
ism, to note their revelation and expression in art, as
well as to discei-n what the varying sects accept or re
ject. There is the lotus, in leaf, bud, flower and
calyx ; ^ the diamond in every form, real and imagi
nary, Avith the vagra or emblem of conquest ; while on
the altars, beside the central image, be it that of Shaka
or of Amida, are Bodhisattvas or Buddhas by brevet.

304 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
beings in every state of existence, as Avell as deities of
many names and forms. Abstract ideas and attributes
are expressed in the art language not only of Japan,
Korea and China, but also in that of India and even
of Persia and Greece,^ untU one wonders how an Aryan
religion, like Buddhism, could have so conquered and
unifled the many nations of Chinese Asia. He won
ders, indeed, until he remembers how it has itself
been transformed and changed in popular substance,
from lofty metaphysics and ethics into pantheism for
the shorn, and into polytheism for the unshorn.
Looking at early Japanese pictures Avith the eye of
the historian, as AveU as of the connoisseur of art, one
will see that the first real school of Japanese art was
Buddhistic. The modern school of pictorial art, named
from the monkish phrase, Ukioye — pictures of the Pas
sing World — is indeed very interesting to the western
student, because it seems to be more in touch with the
human nature of the Avhole world, as distinct from what ¦
is local, Chinese, or sectarian. Yet, casting a glance
back of the mediseval Kano, Chinese and Yamato-Tosa
styles, he finds that Buddhism gave Japan her first ex
amples of and stimulus to pictorial art.^ He sees fur
ther that instead of the monochrome of Chinese exotic
art, or the first rude attempts of the native pencil.
Buddhism began Japanese sculpture, carAdng and
nearly every other form of plastic or pictorial repre
sentation, in which are all the elements of Northem
Buddhism, as so lavishly represented, for example, in
that great sutra which is the book, par excellence, of
Japanese Buddhism, the Saddharma Pundarika.
Turning from text to art, we behold the golden lakes
of joy, the mountain of gems, the floating female an-

DEVELOPMENT OF JAPANESE BUDDHISM 305
gels with their mai-A'ellous drapery and lovely faces,
the gentle benignity of the goddesses of mercy, the
rays of light and the glory streaming from face and
head of the holy ones, the splendors of costume, the
varied beauties of the lotus, the hosts of ministering
intelligences, the luxuriant symboUsm, the purple
clouds, the wheel of the law, the swastika ^ or double
cross, and the vagra,* or diamond trefoil. All that
color, perfume, sensuous delights, art and luxury can
suggest, are here, together with all the various orders
of beings that inhabit the Buddhist universe ; and
these are set forth in their fulness and detail. In the
six conditions of sentient existence are devas or gods,
men, asuras or monsters, pretas or demons, beasts,
and beings in hell. In portraying these, the artists
and sculptors do not always slavishly foUoAv tradition
or uniformity. The critical eye notes nearly as much
genius, Avit and variety as in the medieval cathedral
architecture of Europe. Probably the most popular
groups of idols are those of the seven or the thirtj'-
three Kuannon, of the six Jizo ^' or compassionate
helpers, and of the sixteen or the five hundi-ed
Eakan'^ or circles of primitive disciples of Gautama.
The angelic beings and sweetly singing birds of Para
dise are also faA^orite subjects of the artists.
One who has lived alongside the great temples ; who
knows the daily routine and sees Avhat powerful en
gines of popular instruction they are ; Avho has been
present at the great festivals and looked upon the
mighty kitchens and refectories iu operation ; and who
has gone in and out among their monasteries and ex
amined their records, their genealogies and their relics,
can see how powerfully Buddhism has moulded the

306 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
whole life of the people through long ages. The vU
lage temple is often the epitome and repository of the
social life of the people noAv living, and of the story of
their ancestors for generations upon generations past.
It is the historico-genealogical society, the museum,
the repository of documents and trophies, the place of
national thanksgiving and praise, of public sorrow and
farcAvell, a place of rendezvous and separation, the
starting-point of procession, and the centre of festival
and joy ; and thus it is linked with the life of the peo
ple. In other respects, also, the temple is like the old vil
lage cathedral of mediaeval Europe. It is in many sects
the centre of popular pleasure of all sorts, both reputa
ble and disreputable. Not only shops and bazaars,
fairs and markets, games aud sports, cluster around it,
but also curiosities and Avorks of popular art, the relics
of Avar, and the trophies of travel and adventure. Ex
cept that Buddhism — outside of India — never had the
unity of European Christianity, the Buddhist temple
is the mirror and encyclopaedia both of history and of
contemporary life. As fame and renown are necessary
for the glory of the place or the structure, favorite gods,
or rather their idols, are frequently carried about on
"starring" tours. At the opening to public A'ieAv of
some famous image or relic, a great festival or revival
called Kai-cho is held, which becomes a scene of trade
and merry-making like that of the mediseval fair or ker
mis in Europe. The far-oriental is able as skilfully
as his Avestern confrere, to mix business and religion
and to suppose that gain is godliness. Further, the
manufacture of legend becomes a thriving industry ;
Avhilo the not-infrequent sensation of a popular miracle

DEVELOPMENT OF JAPANESE BUDDHISM 307
is manipulated by the bonzes — for priestcraft in all
ages and climes is akin throughout the Avoiid. It is no
Avonder that some honest Japanese, incensed at the
shams utilized by the religious, has struck out Uke
coin the proverb that rings true — " Good doctrine
needs no miracle." Tlie Bell and the Cemetery.
The Buddhist missionaries, and especially the found
ers of temples, thoroughly understood the power of
natural beauty to humble, inspire and soothe the soul
of man. The instinctive love of the Japanese people
for fine scenery, Avas made an ally of faith. The sites
for temples were chosen Avith reference to their impos
ing surroundings or impressive vistas. Whether as
spark-arresters and protectives against fire, or to com
pel reverent aAve, the loftiest evergreen trees are
planted around the sacred structure. These "trees of
Jehovah " are compeUers to reverence. The alien's
hat comes off instinctively — though it may be less con
venient to shed boots than sandals — as he enters the
sacred structure.
The great tongueless bell is another striking acces
sory to the temple services. Near at hand stands the
belfry out of which boom forth tidings of the hours.
In the flow of time and years, the note of the bell be
comes more significant, and in old age solemn, making
in the lapse of centuries an educating power in serious
ness. " As sad as a temple bell " is the coinage of
popular speech. Many of the inscriptions, though
with less of sunny hope and joy than even Christian
gi-ave-stones bear, are yet mournfully beautiful.''^ They
preach Buddhism in its reality. Whereas, the general

308 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
associations of the Christian spire and belfry, apart
from the note of time, are those of joy, invitation and
good ncAvs, those of the tongueless and log-struck beUs
of Buddhism are sombre and saddening. " As merry
as a marriage bell," could never be said of the boom
from a Buddhist temple, even though it pour waves of
sound through sunny leagues. There is a vast difl'er-
ence between the peal and play of the chimes of Europe
and the liquid melody which floods the landscape of
Chinese Asia. The one music, high in air, seems ever
to tell of faith, triumph and aspiration ; the other in
minor notes, from bells hung Ioav on yokes, perpetu
ally echoes the pessimism of despair, the folly of living
and the joy that anticipates its eud.
Above all, the temple holds and governs the ceme
tery,'" as well as the cradle ; while from it emanate in
fluences that enwrap and surround the villager, from
birth to death. Since the outlaAvi-y of Christianity, and
especially since the division of the empii-e into Buddh
ist parishes, the bonzes have had the oversight of birth,
death, marriage and divorce. Particularly tenacious,
iu commou Avitli priestcraft aU over the world, is their
clutch upon Avhat they call " consecrated ground." In
a large sense Japan is still, what China has always
been, a country governed by the graveyard. These
cities of the dead are usually kept in attractive order
and made beautiful Avith flowers in memoriam. The
study of epitaphs and mortuary architecture, though
not Avithout elements bordering on the ludicrous, is
enjoyed by the thoughtful student.^
In every community the inhabitants are enrolled at birth
at the local temple, whose priests are the authorized religious
teachers, and are always exi>ected lo take charge of the funerals

DEVELOPMENT OF JAPANESE BUDDHISM 309
of those whose names are thus enrolled. So long as an indi
vidual remains in the region of the family temple, the tie
which binds him to it is exceedingly difficult to break ; but if
he moves aAvay he is no longer bound by this tie. This ex
plains the fact, so often observed by missionaries, that the
membership of Christian churches is made up almost entirely
of people who have come from other localities. In the city of
Osaka, for instance, it is a very rare thing to flnd a native
Osakan in any of the churches. The same is true in all parts
of the country. So long as a Japanese remains in the neigh
borhood of his family temple it is almost impossible to get him
to break the temple tie and join a Christian church ; but when
he moves to another place he is free to do as he likes.'"
This statement of a resident in modern Japan will
long remain true for a large part of the empire.

Political and Military Influences.
A volume might be written and deA-oted to Japanese
Buddhism as a political power ; for, having quickly
obtained intellectual possession of the court and em
peror, it dictated the policies of the rulers. In a.d.
624, it was recognized as a state religion, and the hi
erarchy of priests Avas oflicially established. At this
date there were 46 temples and monasteries, Avith 816
monks and 569 nuns. As early as the eighth century,
beginning with Shomu, who reigned a.d. 724-728, and
who with his daughter, afterward the female Mikado,
became a disciple of Shaka, the habit of the emperors
becoming monks, shaving their heads and retiring from
public life, came in vogue and lasted until near the
nineteenth century. By this means the bonzes were
soon enabled to call Buddhism " the people's religion,"
and to secure the resom-ces of the national treasury as

310 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
an aid to their temple and monastery building, and
for the erection of those images and Avayside shrines
on which so many millions of doUars have been lav
ished. In addition to this subsidized propaganda, the
Buddhist confessor Avas too often able, by means of
the wife, concubine, or other female member of the
household, imperial or noble, to dictate the imperial
policy in accordance with monkish or priestly ideas.
Ugeno Do-kio, a monk, is believed to have aspired to
the throne. Being made premier by the Empress Ko-
ken, whose passion for him is the scandal of history,
he made no scruple of extending- the poAver as well as
the infiuence of the Buddhist hierarchy.
Buddhism had also a distinct infiuence on the mili
tary history of the country,^^ and this Avas greatest
during the- civil wars of the rival Mikados (1886-
1392), when the whole country Avas a camp and Iavo
lines of nominees claimed to be descendants of the
sun-goddess. Japan's only foreign wars have been
in the neighboring peninsula of Korea, and thither
the bonzes went with the armies in the expeditions
of the early centuries, and in that great invasion of
1592-1597, which has left a scar even to this day
on the Korean mind. At home, Buddhist priests
only too gladly accompanied the imperial armies of
conquest and occupation. During centuries of ac
tivity in the southwest and in the far east and ex
treme north, the miUtary brought the outlying por
tions of the empire, throughout the Avhole archipelago,
under the sway of the Yamato tribe and the Mikado's
dominion. The shorn clerks not only lived in camp,
ministered to the sick and shrived the dying soldier,
but Avrote texts for the banners, furnished the amu-

DEVELOPMENT OF JAPANESE BUDDHISM 311
lets and Avar cries, and were ever assistant and val
uable in keeping up the temper and morals of the ar
mies.^ No sooner was the campaign over and peace
had become the order of the day, than the enthusiastic
missionaries began to preach and to teach in the paci
fied region. They set up the shrines, anon started the
school and built the temple ; usuaUy, indeed, with the
aid of the law and the government, acting as agents of
a politico-ecclesiastical establishment, yet with energy
and consecration.
In later feudal days, when the soldier classes ob
tained the upper hand, overaAved the court and Mi
kado and gradually supplanted the civil authority-,
introducing feudalism and martial laAv, the bonzes
often represented the popular and democratic side.
Protesting against arbitrary government, they came
into collision with the Avarrior rulers, so as to be ex
posed to imprisonment and the sword. Yet even as
refugees and as men to Avliom the old seats of activity
no longer offered success or comfort, they went off into
the distant and outlying provinces, preaching the old
tenets and the ncAv fashions in theology. Thus again
they won hosts of converts, built monasteries, opened
fresh paths and were purveyors of civilization.
The feudal ages in Japan bred the same type of
militant priest known in Europe — the military bishop
and the soldier monk. So far from Japan's being the
" Land of Great Peace," and Buddhism's being neces
sarily gentle and non-resistant, we find in the cheq
uered history of the island empire many a bloody bat
tle between the monks on horseback and iu armor.'®
Eival sectarians kept the country disquieted for years.
Between themselves and their favored laymen, and the

312 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
enemy, consisting of the rival forces, lay and clerical,
in like array, many a bloody battle was fought.
The writer lived for one year in Echizen, which, in
the fifteenth century, was the battle-ground for over
fifty years, of Avarring monks. The abbot of the Mon
astery of the Original Voav, of the Shin sect in Kioto,
had built before the main edifice a two-storied gate,
A\'hich was expected to throw into the shade every
other gateway in Japan, and especially to humble the
pride of the monks of the Tendai sect, in Hiyeizan.
The monks of the mountain, SAvarming doAvn into the
capital city, attacked the gate and monastery of the
Shin sect and burned the former to ashes. The abbot
thus driven off by fire, fled nortliAvard, aud, joined by a
poAverful body of adherents, made himself possessor of
the rich provinces of Kaga and Echizen, holding this
region for half a century, until able to rebuild the
mighty fortress-monasteries near Kioto and at Osaka.
These strongholds of the flghting Shin priests had
become so powerful as arsenals and military headquar
ters, that in 1570, Nobunaga, skilful general as he was,
and backed by sixty thousand men, Avas unsuccessful
in his attempt to reduce them. For ten years, the Avar
between Nobunaga and the Shin sectarians kept the
country in disorder. It finaUy ended in the confiagra-
tion pf the great religious fortress at Osaka, and the re
treat of the monks to another part of the country. By
their treachery and incendiarism, the shavelings pre
vented the soldiers from enjoying the prizes.
To detail the whole history of the fighting monks
Avould be tedious. They have had a foothold for many
centuries and even to the present time, in every pro-v-
ince except that of Satsuma. There, because they

DEVELOPMENT OF JAPANESE BUDDHISM 313
treacherously aided the great Hideyoshi to subdue the
province, the fiery clansmen, iieA'er during Tokugawa
days, permitted a Buddhist priest to come.""
Litercdure and Education.
In its literary and scholastic development, Japanese
Buddhism on its popular educational side deserves
great praise. Although the Buddhist canon '" Avas
never translated into the vernacular,"''^ and while the
library of native Buddhism, in the Avay of commentary
or general Uterature, reflects no special credit upon
the priests, yet the historian must aAvard them high
honor, because of the part taken by them as educa
tors and schoolmasters."*^ Education in ancient and
mediaeval times was, among the laymen, confined al
most wholly to the imperial court, and was considered
chiefly to be, either as an adjunct to polite accomplish
ments, or as valuable especially in preparing young-
men for political oflice.*' From the first introduction
of letters until weU into the nineteenth century, there
Avas' no special provision for education made by the
government, except that, in modern and recent times in
the castle towns of the Daimios, there were schools of
Chinese learning for the Samurai. Private schools
and school-masters'*^ were also creditably numerous.
In original literature, poetry, fiction and history, as well
as in the humbler Avorks of compilation, in the making
of text-books and in descriptive lore, the pens of many
priests have been busy."^ The earliest biography writ
ten in Japan was of Shotoku, the great lay patron of
Buddhism. In the ages of war the monastery was
the ark of preservation amid a flood of desolation.

314 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
The temple schools Avere early established, and in the
course of centuries became at times almost coextensive
Avith the empire. Besides the training of the neo
phytes in the Chinese language and the vernacular, there
Avere connected Avith thousands of temples, schools in
Avhicli the children, not only of the well-to-do, but
largely of the people, Avere taught the rudiments of
education, chiefiy reading and writing. Most of the
libraries of the country Avere those in monasteries.
Although it is not probable that Kobo invented the
Kana or common scri]ot, yet it is reasonably certain
that the bonzes "" were the chief instrument in the dif
fusion and popularization of that simple system of
Avriting, Avhich made it possible to carry literature doAvn
into the homes of the merchant and peasant, and en
abled even Avomen and children to beguile the tedium
of then" lives. Thus the people expanded their
thoughts through the medium of the written, and later
of the printed, page."^ Until modern centuries, Avhen
the school of painters, which culminated in Hokiisai
and his contemporaries, brought a love of art down to
the loAvest classes of the people, the only teacher of
pictorial and sculptural art for the multitude, was
Buddhism. So strong is this popular delight in things
artistic that probably, to this passion as much as to
the religious instinct, Ave oaa'c many of the wayside
shrines and images, the symbolical and beautifully
prepared landscapes, and those stone stairways Avhich
slope upward toward the shrines on the hill -tops.
In Japan, art is not a foreign language ; it is vernac
ular. Thus, while Ave gladly point out hoAV Buddhism, along
the paths of exploration, commerce, invention, sociol-

DEVELOPMENT OF JAPANESE BUDDHISM 315
Ogy, mUitary and political influence, education and
literature, not only propagated religion, but civilized
Japan,**^ it is but in the interest of fairness and truth
that we point out that wherein the great system was
deficient. If we make comparison with Christendom
and the religion of Jesus, it is less with the purpose
of the polemic Avho must perhaps necessarily dispar
age, and more with the idea of making contrast between
what we have seen in Japan and what we have enjoyed
as commonplace in the United States and Europe.
Things Which Buddhism Left Undone.
In the thirteen hundred years of the life of Buddh
ism in Japan, Avhat are the fruits, and Avhat are the
failures ? Despite its incessant and multifarious
activities, one looks in vain for the hospital, the or
phan asylum, the home for elderly men or Avomen
or aged couples, or the asylum for the insane, and
much less, for that vast and complicated system of
organized charities, which, even amid our material
greed of gain, make cities like New York, or London,
or Chicago, so beautiful from the point of vIcav of
humanity. Buddhism did indeed teach kindness to
animals, making even the dog, though ownerless and
outcast, in a sense sacred. Because of his faith in the
doctrine of the transmigration of souls, the toiling lab
orer will keep his Avheels or his feet from harming the
cat or dog or chicken in the road, even though it be
at risk and trouble and with added labor to himself.
The pious will buy the live birds or eels from the
old Avoman A\'ho sits on the bridge, in order to give
them life and liberty again in air or water. The sa-

316 TUE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
ered rice is for sale at the temples, not only to feed but
to fatten the holy pigeons.
Yet, while all this care is lavished on animals, the
human being suffers.* Buddhism is kind to the brute,
and cruel to man. Until the influx of western ideas
in recent years, the hospital and the orphanage did not
exist in Japan, despite the gentleness and tenderness of
Shaka, who, with all his merits, deserted his Avife and
babe in order to enlighten mankind.^' If Buddhism is
not directly responsible for the existence of that class of
Japanese pariahs called hi-nin, or not-human, the name
and the idea are borrowed from the sutras ; while the
execration of aU Avho prepare or sell the flesh of ani
mals is persistently taught in the sacred books. These
unfortunate bearers of the human image, during twelve
hundred years and until the fiat of the present illustrious
emperor made them citizens, Avere not reckoned in the
census, nor was the land on Avhich they dAvelt meas
ured. The imperial edict which finally elevated the
Eta to citizenship, Avas suggested by one whose life,
though known to men as that cf a Confucian, was prob
ably hid Avith Christ, Yokoi Heishiro.^' The emperor
Mutsuhito, 128d of the line of Japan, born on the clay
when Perry was on the Mississippi and ready to sail,
placed over these outcast people in 1871, the pro
tecting gegis of the law."^ Until that time, the peo
ple in this unfortunate class, numbering probably a
milUon, or, as some say, three miUions, Avere compelled
to live outside of the limits of human habitation, hav
ing no rights Avhich society oi- the laAv was bound to
respect. They were given food or drink only Avhen
benevolence might be roused ; but the donor Avould
never again touch the vessel in which the offering was

DEVELOPMENT OF JAPANESE BUDDHISM 317
made. The Eta,^' though in individual cases becom
ing measurably rich, rotted and starved, and Avere made
the filth and off-scouring of the earth, because they
were the butchers, the skinners, the leather workers,
and thus handled dead animals, being made also the
executioners and buriers of the dead. After a quarter
of a century the citizens, whose ancestry is not forgot
ten, suffer social ostracism even more than do the freed
slaves of om- country, though between them and the
other Japanese there is no color line, but only the streak
of difference which Buddhism created and has main
tained. Nevertheless, let it be said to the eternal honor
of Shin Shu and of some of the minor sects, that they
Avere always kind and helpful to the Eta.
Furthermore it avouIcI be hard to discover Buddhist
missionary activities among the Ainos, or benefits con
ferred upon them by the disciples of Gautama. One
would suppose that the Buddhists, professing to be
believers in spiritual democracy, would be equally ac
tive among all sorts and conditions of men ; but they
have not been so. Even in the days Avhen the regions
of the Ebisu or barbarians (Yezo) extended far south
ward upon the main island, the missionary bonze
was conspicucfus by his absence among these people.
It would seem as though the popular notion that the
Ainos are the offspring of dogs, had been fed by pre
judices inculcated by Buddhism. It has been reserved
for Christian aliens to reduce the language of these
simple savages to Avriting, and to express in it for their
spiritual benefit the ideas and literature of a religion
higher than their own, as Avell as to erect church edi
fices and build hospitals.

318 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN

The Attitude Toward Woman.
In its attitude toward woman, which is perhaps one
of the crucial tests of a religion as well as of a civiliza
tion, Buddhism has somewhat to be praised and much
to be blamed for. It is probable that the Japanese
woman o-wes more to Buddhism than to Confucian
ism, though relatively her position was highest under
Shinto. In Japan the Avomen are the freest in Asia,
and probably the best treated among any Asiatic na
tion, but this is not because of Gautama's teaching. '=
Very early in its history Japanese Buddhism Avelcomed
womanhood to its fraternity and order,''* yet the Japan
ese ama, bikuni, or nun, never became a sister of mer
cy, or reached, even within a measurable distance, the
dignity of the Christian lady in the nunnery. In Eu
ropean history the abbess is a notable figure. She is
hardly heard of beyond the Japanese nunnery, even by
the native scholar — except in fiction.
So far as we can see, the religion founded by one
Avho deserted his wife and babe did nothing to check
concubinage or polygamy. It simply alloAved these
things, or ameliorated their ancient barbaric conditions
through the laAv of kindness. Nevertheless, it brought
education and culture within the family as well as
within the court. It Avould be au interesting question
to discuss how far the age of classic vernacular prose
or the early mediseval literature of romance, Avhich is
almost wholly the creation of woman, ^' is due to
Buddhism, or how far the credit belongs, by induction
or reaction, to the Chinese movement in favor of learn
ing. Certainly, the faith of India touches and feeds

DEVELOPMENT OF JAPANESE BUDDHISM 319
the imagination far more than does that of China. Cer
tainly also, the animating spirit of most of the popular
literature is due to Buddhistic culture. The Shin sect,
which permits the marriage of the priests and preaches
the salvation of Avoman, probably leads all others in
according honor to her as well as in elevating her
social position.
Buddhism, like Eoman CathoUcism, and as com
pared to Confucianism Avhich is protestant and mascu-
Une, is feminine in its type. In Japan the place of
the holy Virgin Mary is taken by Kuannon, the god
dess of mercy ; and her shrine is one of the most popu
lar of aU. Much the same may be said of Benten, the
queen of the heaven and mistress of the seas. The
angels of Buddhism are ahvays feminine, and, as in
the unscriptural and pagan conception of Christian
angels, have Avings.'* So also in the legends of Gau
tama, in the Buddhist lives of the saints, and in leg
endary lore as well as in glyptic and pictorial art, the
female being transfigured in loveUness is a striking fig
ure. Nevertheless, after all is summed up that can
possibly be said in favor of Buddhism, the position it
accords to Avoman is not only immeasurably beneath
that given by Christianity, but is beloAV that conceded
by Shinto, which knows not only goddesses and hero
ines, but also priestesses and empresses.^"
According to the popular ethical view as photo
graphed in language, literature and art, jealousy is al
ways represented by a female demon. Indeed, most
of the tempters, devils, and transformations of human
ity into malign beings, whether pretas, asuras, oni,
foxes, badgers, or cats, are females. As the Chinese
ideographs associate all things weak or vile with wom-

320 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN.
en, so the tell-tale words of Japanese daUy speech are
but reflections of the dogmas coined in the Buddh
ist mint. In Japanese, chastity means not moral
cleanliness without regard to sex, but only womanly
duties. For, while the man is alloAved a loose foot,
the Avoman is expected not only to be absolutely spot
less, but also never to show any jealousy, however wide
the husband may roam, or however numerous may be
the concubines in his family. In a word, there is the
double standard of morals, not only of priest and laity,
but of man and woman. The position of the Japanese
Avoman even of to-day, despite that eagerness once
shown to educate her — an eagerness Avhich soon cooled
iu the government schools, but Avhicli keeps an even
pulse in the Christian home and college — is still rela
tively one of degradation as compared Avith that of her
sister in Christendom. For this, the mid-Asian relig
ion is not wholly responsible, yet it is largely so.
Influence on the Japanese Character.
In regard to the influence of Buddhism upon the
morals and character of the Japanese, there is much to
be said in praise, and much also in criticism. It has
aided powerfully to educate the people in habits of
gentleness and courtesy, but instead of aspiration and
expectancy of improvement, it has given to them that
spirit of hopeless resignation which is so characteristic
of the Japanese masses. Buddhism has so dominated
common popular literature, daily life and speech, that
all their mental procedure and their utterance is cast
in the moulds of Buddhist doctrine. The fataUsm of
the Moslem world exjjressed in the idea of Kismet,

DEVELOPMENT OF JAPANESE BUDDHISM 321
has its analogue in the Japanese IngAva, or "cause
and effect," — the notion of an evolution Avhich is athe
istic, but viewed from the ethical side. This idea of
Ingwa is the key to most Japanese novels as Avell as
di-amas of real Ufe.*" While Buddhism continually
preaches this doctrine of Karma or Ingwa,*' the law of
cause and effect, as being sufficient to explain all
things, it shows its insufficiency and emptiness by
leaving out the great First Cause of aU. In a Avord,
Buddhism is law, but not gospel. It deals much with
man, but not with man's relations with his Creator,
whom it utterly ignores. Christianity comes not to
destroy its ethics, beautiful as they are, nor to ignore
its metaphysics ; but to fulfil, to give a higher truth,
and to reveal a larger Universe and One who fills it
all — ^not only law, but a Law-giver.
21

A CENTUEY OF EOMAN CHEISTIANITY

" Sicut cadaver."
" Et fiet unum ovile et unus pastor." — Vulgate, John x, 16,
"He (Xavier) has been the moon of that ' Society of Jesus' of which
Ignatius Loyola was the guiding sun," — S, W, DufBeld.
" My God I love Thee ; not because I hope for Heaven thereby,
Nor yet because, who love Thee not, must die eternally.
So would I love Thee, dearest Lord, and in Thy praise will sing ;
Solely because thou art my God, and my eternal King."
— Hymn attributed to Francis Xavier.
" Half hidden, stretching in a lengthened line
In front of China, which its guide shall be,
Japan abounds in mines of silver fine.
And shall enlighten'd be by holy faith divine." — Camoens.
" The people of this Hand of lapon are good of nature, curteous aboue
measure, and valiant in warre ; their iustice is seuerely executed without
any partialitie vpon transgressors of the law. They are gouerned in great
ciuilitie, I meane, not a land better gouerned in the world by ciuill
policie. The people be verie superstitious in their religion, and are of
diners opinions," — Will Adams, October 23, 1611,
" A critical history of Japan remains to be written . . We should
know next to nothing of what may be termed the Catholic episode
of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, had we access to none but the
official Japanese sources. How can we trust those sources when they deal
with times yet more remote ? " — Chamberlain,
"The annals of the primitive Church furnish no instances of sacrifice
or heroic constancy, in the Coliseum or the Roman arenas, that were not
paralleled on the dry river-beds or execution-grounds of Japan,"
" They , . , rest from their labors ; and their works do foUow
them, " — Revelation,

CHAPTEE XI
A CENTUEY OP EOMAN CHEISTIANITY
Darkest Japan
The story of the first introduction and propagation
of Eoman Christianity in Japan, during the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, has been told by many
writers, both old and new, and in many languages.
Eecent research upon the soil,' both natives and for
eigners making contributions, has illustrated the sub
ject afresh. Eelics and memorials found in various
chm-ches, monasteries and palaces, on both sides of
the Pacific and the Atlantic, have cast new light upon
the fascinating theme. Both Christian and non-
Christian Japanese of to-day, in their travels in the
PhUippines, China, Formosa, Mexico, Spain, Portugal
and Italy, being keenly alert for memorials of their
countrymen, have met with interesting trovers. The
descendants of the Japanese martyrs and confessors
noAv recognize their own ancestors, in the picture gal
leries of Italian nobles, and in Christian churches see
lettered tombs bearing famUiar names, or in western
museums discern far-eastern works of art brought over
as presents or curiosities, centuries ago.
Eoughly speaking, Japanese Christianity lasted
phenomenally nearly a century, or more exactly from
1542 to 1637. During this time, embassies or mis-

326 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
sions crossed the seas not only of Chinese and Penin
sular Asia, circumnavigating Africa and thus reaching
Europe, but also sailed across the Pacific, and visited
papal Christendom by way of Mexico and the Atlan
tic Ocean.
This century of Southern Christianity and of com
merce with Europe enabled Japan, which had pre
viously been almost unheard of, except through the
vague accounts of Marco Polo and the semi-mythical
stories by way of China, to leave a conspicuous mark,
first upon the countries of southern Europe, and later
upon HoUand and England. As in European litera
tm-e Cathay became China, and Zipango or Xipangu
was recognized as Japan, so also the curiosities, the
artistic fabrics, the strange things from the ends of the
earth, soon became familiar in Europe. Besides the
traffic in mercantUe commodities, there were exchanges
of words. The languages of Europe Avere enriched
by Japanese terms, such as soy, moxa, goban, japan
(lacquer or varnish), etc., while the tongue of Nippon
received an infusion of new terms," and a notable list
of inventions was imported from Europe.
We shall merely outline, with critical commentary,
the facts of history which have been so often told, but
which in our day have receiA'ed luminous illustration.
We shall endeavor to treat the general phenomena,
causes and results of Christianity in Japan in the same
judicial spirit with which we have considered Buddh
ism. Whatever be the theological or political opinions of
the observer who looks iuto the history of Japan at
about the year 1540, he will acknowledge that this
point of time was a very dark moment in her known

A CENTURY OF ROMAN CHRISTIANITY 327
history. Columbus, who was familiar with the de
scriptions of Marco Polo, steered his caravels westward
Avith the idea of finding Xipangu, with its abundance
of gold and precious gems ; but the Genoese did not
and could not know the real state of affairs existing in
Dai Nippon at this time. Let us glance at this.
The duarchy of Throne and Camp, with the Mikado
in Kioto and the Shogun at Kamakura, with the elab
orate feudalism under it, had fallen into decay. The
whole country was split up into a thousand warring
fragments. To these convulsions of society, in which
only the priest and the soldier were in comfort, while
the mass of the people were little better than serfs,
must be added the frequent violent earthquakes,
drought and failure of crops, with famine and pesti
lence. There was little in religion to uplift and cheer.
Shinto had sunk into the shadow of a myth. Buddh
ism had become outwardly a system of political gam
bling rather than the ordered expression of faith.
Large numbers of the priests were like the mercen
aries of Italy, Avho sold their infiuence and even their
swords or those of their followers, to the highest bid
der. Besides being themselves luxurious and disso
lute, their monasteries were fortresses, in which only
the great political gamblers, and not the oppressed
people, found comfort and help. MiUions of once fertile
acres had been abandoned or left Avaste. The destruc
tion of libraries, books and records is something awful
to contemplate ; and " the times of Ashikaga " make
a wilderness for the scapegoat of chronology. Kioto,
the sacred capital, had been again and again plundered
and burnt. Those who might be tempted to live in
the city amid the ruins, ran the risk of fire, murder, or

328 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
starvation. Kamakura, once the Sho-gun's seat of au
thority, was a level Avaste of ashes.
Even China, Annam and Korea suffered from the
practical dissolution of society in the island empire ;
for Japanese pirates ravaged their coasts to steal, bum
and kill. Even as for centuries in Europe, Christian
churches echoed with that prayer in the litanies : " From
the fury of the Norsemen, good Lord, deliver us," so,
along large parts of the deserted coasts of Chinese
Asia, the wretched inhabitants besought their gods to
avenge them against the " Wojen." To this day in
parts of Honan in China, mothers frighten their chil
dren and warn them to sleep by the fearful words
" The Japanese are coming."
First Coming of Europeans.
This time, then, was that of darkest Japan. Yet the
people Avho lived in darkness saw great light, and to
them that dwelt in the shadow of death, light sprang
up. When Pope Alexander VI. bisected the knoAvn world,
assigning the western half, including America to
Spain, and the eastern half, including Asia and its out
lying archipelagos to the Portuguese, the latter sailed
aud fought their Avay around Africa to India, and past
the golden Chersonese. In 1542, exactly fifty years
after the discovery of America, Dai Nippon was
reached. Mendez Pinto, on a Chinese pirate junk
which had been driven by a storm aAvay from her com
panions, set foot upon an island called Tanegashima.
This name among the country folks is still synonymous
with guns and pistols, for Pinto introduced fire-arms
and powder.^

A CENTURY OF ROMAN CHRISTIANITY 329
During six months spent by the "mendacious"
Pinto on the island, the imitative people made no fewer
than six hundred match-locks or arquebuses. Clear
ing twelve hundred per cent, on their cargo, the three
Portuguese loaded with presents, returned to China.
Their cormtrymen quickly flocked to this new market,
and soon the beginnings of regular trade with Portugal
were inaugurated. On the other hand, Japanese began
to be found as far west as India. To Malacca, while
Francis Xavier was laboring there, came a refugee Jap
anese, named Anjiro. The disciple of Loyola, and this
chUd of the Land of the Eising Sun met. Xavier, ever
restless and ready for a new field, was fired with the
idea of converting Japan. Anjiro, after learning Portu
guese and becoming a Christian, Avas baptized with
the name of Paul. The heroic missionary of the cross
and keys then sailed Avith his Japanese companion, and
in 1549 lauded at Kagoshima,* the capital of Satsuma.
As there was uo central government then existing in
Japan, the entrance of the foreigners, both lay and
clerical, was unnoticed.
Having no skill in the learning of languages, and
never able to master one foreign tongue completely,
Xavier began work Avith the aid of an interpreter.
The jealousy of the daimio, because his rivals had been
supplied with flre-arms by the Portuguese merchants,
and the plots and warnings of those Buddhist priests
(who were later crushed by the Satsuma clansmen as
traitors), compelled Xavier to leave this province. He
went flrst to Hirado,^ next to Nagato, and then to
Bungo, where he was well received. Preaching and
teaching through his Japanese interpreter, he formed
Christian congregations, especially at Yaraaguchi.*

330 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
Thus, within a year, the great apostle to the Indies
had seen the quick sprouting of the seed which he had
planted. His ambition was now to go to the imperial
capital, Kioto, and there advocate the claims of Christ,
of Mary and of the Pope.
• Thus far, however, Xavier had seen only a few sea
ports of comparatively successful daimios. Though
he had heard of the unsettled state of the country
because of the long-continued intestine strife, he evi
dently expected to find the capital a splendid city.
Despite the armed bands of roving robbers and sol
diers, he reached Kioto safely, only to find streets cov
ered with ruins, rubbish and unburied corpses, and a
general situation of wretchedness. He was unable to
obtain audience of either the Shog-un er the Mikado.
Even in those parts of the city where he tried to
preach, he could obtain no hearers in this time of war
and confusion. So after Iavo weeks he turned his face
again soutliAvard to Bungo, where he labored for a few
months ; but in less than two years from his landing in
Japan, this noble but restless missionary left the coun
try, to attempt the spiritual conquest of China. One
year later, December 2, 1551, he died on the island
of Shanshan, or Sancian, in the Canton Eiver, a few
miles west of Macao. Christianity Flourishes.
Nevertheless, Xavier's inspiring example was like
a shining star that attracted scores of missionaries.
There being iu this time of political anarchy and re
ligious paralysis none to oppose them, their zeal,
within five years, bore surprising fruits. They wrote

A CENTURY OF ROMAN CHRISTIANITY 331
home that there were seven churches in the region
around Kioto, Avhile a score or more of Christian con
gregations had been gathered in the southAvest. In
1581 there Avere two hundred churches and one hun
dred and fifty thousand native Christians. Two dai
mios had confessed their faith, and in the Mikado's
minister, Nobunaga (1584^1582), the foreign priests
found a powerful supporter.' This hater and scourge
of the Buddhist priesthood openly welcomed and pat
ronized the Christians, and gave them eligible sites
on which to buUd dwellings and chm-ches. In every
possible way he employed the ncAv force, Avhich he
found pliantly political, as Avell as intellectually and
morally a choice Aveapon for humbUng the bonzes,
whom he hated as serpents. The Buddhist church
militant had become an army with banners and for
tresses. Nobunaga made it the aim of his life to de
stroy the miUtary power of the hierarchy, and to hum
ble the priests for all time. He hoped at least to
extract the fangs of Avhat he believed to be a politico-
religious monster, Avhich menaced the life of the na
tion. Unfortunately, he was assassinated in 1582. To
this day the memory of Nobunaga is execrated by the
Buddhists. They have deified Kato Kiyomasa and
lyeyasii, the persecutors of the Christians. To No
bunaga they give the title of Bakadono, or Lord Fool.
In 1588, an embassy of four young noblemen was
despatched by the Christian daimios of Kiushiu, the
second largest island in the empire, to the Pope to de
clare themselves spiritual — though as some of their
countrymen suspected, political — vassals of the Holy
See. It was in the three provinces of Bungo, Omura
and Arima, that Christianity was most firmly rooted.

332 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
After an absence of eight years, in 1590, the envoys
from the oriental to the occidental ends of the earth,
returned to Nagasaki, accompanied by seventeen more
Jesuit fathers — an important addition to the many
Portuguese " religious " of that order already in Japan.
Yet, although there was to be still much missionary
activity, though printing presses had been brought
from Europe for the proper diffusion of Christian lit
erature in the Eomanized colloquial,^ though there
were yet to be bmlt more church edifices and monas
teries, and Christian schools to be established, a sad
change was nigh. Much seed which Avas yet to grow
in secret had been planted, — like the exotic flowers
which even yet blossom and shed their perfume in cer
tain districts of Japan, and which the traveller from
Christendom instantly recognizes, though the Portu
guese Christian church or monastery centuries ago dis
appeared in flre, or fell to the earth and disappeared.
Though there were to be yet Avonderful flashes of
Christian success, and the missionaries Avere to travel
over Japan even up to the end of the main island and
accompany the Japanese army to Korea ; yet it may be
said that with the death of Nobunaga at the hands of
the traitor Akechi, we see the high-Avater mark of the
flood-tide of Japanese Christianity. " Akechi reigned
three days," but after him were to arise a ruler and cen
tral government jealous and hostile. After this flood
was to come slowly but surely the ebb-tide, until it
should leave, outwardly at least, all things as before.
The Jesuit fathers, Avith instant sensitiveness, felt
the loss of their champion and protector, Nobunaga.
The rebel and assassin, Akechi, ambitious to imitate
and excel his master, promised the Christians to do

A CENTURY OF ROMAN CHRISTIANITY 333
more for them even than Nobunaga had done, provided
they would induce the daimio Takayama to join forces
Avith his. It is the record of their own friendly his
torian, and not of an enemy, that they, led by the Jes
uit father Organtin, attempted this persuasion. To the
honor of the Christian Japanese Takayama, he refused.'
On the contrary, he marched his little army of a thou
sand men to Kioto, and, though opposed to a force of
eight thousand, held the capital city until Hideyoshi,
the loyal general of the Mikado, reached the court city
and dispersed the assassin's band. Hideyoshi soon
made himself familiar with the whole story, and his
keen eye took in the situation.
This "man on horseback," master of the situation
and moulder of the destinies of Japan, Hideyoshi
(1536-1598), was afterward known as the Taiko, or
Eetired Eegent. The rarity of the title makes it ap
plicable in common speech to this one person. Greater
than his dead master, Nobunaga, and ingenious in the
arts of war and peace, Hidej^oshi compelled the warring
daimios, even the proud lord of Satsuma,'" to yield to
his power, untU the civU minister of the emperor, rev
erently bowing, could say : " All under Heaven, Peace."
Now, Japan had once more a central government, in
tensely jealous and despotic, and Avith it the new re
ligion must sooner or later reckon. EeUgion apart
from poUtics was unknown in the Land of the Gods.
Yet, in order to employ the vast bodies of armed
men hitherto accustomed to the trade of war, and
withal jealous of China and hostile to Korea, Hideyo
shi planned the invasion of the little peninsular king
dom by these veterans whose swords were restless in
their scabbards. After months of preparation, he de-

334 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
spatched an army in two great divisions, one under
the Christian general Konishi, aud one under the
Buddhist general Kato. After a brilliant campaign
of eighteen days, the rivals, taking different routes,
met in the Korean capital. In the masterly campaign
which foUoAved, the Japanese armies penetrated almost
to the extreme northern boundary of the kingdom.
Then China came to the rescue and the Japanese were
driven southward.
During the six or seven years of war, while the in
vaders crossed swords with the natives and their Chi
nese allies, and devastated Korea to an extent from
which she has never recovered, there were Jesuit mis
sionaries attending the Japanese armies. It is not
possible or even probable, however, that any seeds of
Christianity were at this time left in the peninsula.
Korean Christianity sprang up nearly two centuries
later, Avind-wafted from China."
During the war there was ahvays more or less of
jealousy, mostly military and personal, between Koni
shi and Kato, Avhich however was aggravated by the
priests on either side. Kato, being then and afterward
a flerce champion of the Buddhists, glorified in his
orthodoxy, which was that of the Nichiren sect. He
went into battle Avith a banneret full of texts, stuck in
his back and flying behind him. His example was
copied by hundreds of his officers and soldiers. On
their flags and guidons was inscribed the famous apos
trophe of the Nichiren sect, so often heard in their ser
vices and rcAavals to-day (Namu miyo ho ren ge kio),
and borrowed from the Saddharma Pundarika : " Glory
be to the salvation-bringing Lotus of the True Law."

A CENTURY OF ROMAN CHRISTIANITY 335

The Hostility of Hideyoshi.
Konishi, on the other hand, was less numerously
and perhaps less influentially backed by, and made the
champion of, the European brethren ; and as all the
negotiations between the invaders and the allied Kor
eans and Chinese had to be conducted in the Chinese
script, the alien fathers were, as secretaries and inter
preters, less useful than the native Japanese bonzes.
Yet this jealousy and hostility in the camps of the
invaders proved to be only correlative to the state of
things in Japan. Even supposing the statistics in
round numbers, reported at that time, to be exagger
ated, and that there were not as many as the alleged
two hundred thousand Christians, yet there were,
besides scores of thousands of confessing believers
among the common people, daimios, military leaders,
court officers and many persons of culture and influ
ence. Nevertheless, the predominating influence at
the Kioto court was that of Buddhism ; and as the cult
that Avinks at polygamy was less opposed to Hideyo-
shi's sensualism and amazing vanity, the illustrious up
start was easUy made hostile to the alien faith. Ac
cording to the accounts of the Jesuits, he took umbrage
because a Portuguese captain would not please him by
risking his ship in coming out of deep water and near
er land, and because there were Christian maidens of
Arima who scorned to yield to his degrading proposals.
Some time after these episodes, an edict appeared,
commanding every Jesuit to quit the country within
twenty days. There were at this time sixty -five foreign
missionaries in the country.

336 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
Then began a series of persecutions, which, how
ever, were carried on spasmodicaUy and locally, but not
universally or with system. Bitter in some places,
they were neutralized or the law became a dead letter,
in other parts of the realm. It is estimated that ten
thousand new converts were made in the single year,
1589, that is, the second year after the issue of the
edict, and again in the next year, 1590. It might even
be reasonable to suppose that, had the work been con
ducted Avisely and without the too open defiance of the
letter of the laAv, the aAvful sequel which history knows,
might not have been.
Let us remember that the Duke of Alva, the tool of
Philip IL, failing to crush the Dutch Eepublic had
conquered Portugal for his master. The two kingdoms
of the Iberian peninsula were now united under one
crown. Spain longed for trade with Japan, and while
her merchants hoped to displace their Portuguese
rivals, the Spanish Franciscans not scrapUng to wear
a political cloak and thus override the Pope's bull of
world-partition, determined to get a foothold along
side of the Jesuits. So, in 1593 a Spanish envoy of
the governor of the Philippine Islands came to Kioto,
bringing four Spanish Franciscan priests, who were
allowed to build houses in Kioto, but only on the ex
press understanding that this Avas because of their
coming as envoys of a friendly power, and Avith the
explicitly specified condition that they were not to
preach, either publicly or privately. Almost imme
diately violating their pledge and the hospitaUty
granted them, these Spaniards, wearing the vestments
of their order, openly preached iu the streets. Be
sides exciting discord among the Christian congrega-

A CENTURY OF ROMAN CHRISTIANITY 337
tions founded by the Jesuits, they Avere violent in their
language. Hideyoshi, to gratify his own mood and test his pow
er as the actual ruler for a shadoAvy emperor, seized
nine preachers while they were building churches at
Kioto and Osaka. They Avere led to the execution-
ground in exactly the same fashion as felons, and ex
ecuted by crucifixion, at Nagasaki, February 5, 1597.
Three Portuguese Jesuits, six Spanish Franciscans and
seventeen native Christians were stretched on bamboo
crosses, and their bodies from thigh to shoulder Avere
transfixed with spears. They met their doom uncom
plainingly. In the eye of the Japanese law, these men Avere put
to death, not as Christians, but as laAV-breakers and as
dangerous poUtical conspirators. The suspicions of
Hideyoshi Avere further confirmed by a |banish sea-
captain, who showed him a map of the wJM on which
were marked the vast dominions of the King of Spain ;
the Spaniard informing the Japanese, in answer to his
shrewd question, that these great conquests had been
made by the king's soldiers following up the priests,
the work being finished by the native and foreign al
lies. The PoUtical Character of Roman Christianity.
The Eoman Catholic "Histoire del' Eglise Chreti-
enne " shows the political character of the missionary
movement in Japan, a character almost inextricably as
sociated Avith the papal and other political Chistianity
of the times, when State and Church Avere united in all
the countries of Europe, both Catholic and Protestant.
Even republican Holland, leader of toleration and
32

338 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
forerunner of the modem Christian spirit, permitted,
indeed, the Eoman CathoUcs to worship in private
houses or in sacred edifices not outwardly resembling
churches, but prohibited all public processions and
ceremonies, because reUgion and politics at that time
Avere as Siamese twins. Only the Anabaptists held
the primitive Christian and the American doctrine of
the separation of poUtics from ecclesiasticism. Except
in the country ruled by WiUiam the SUent, all magis
trates meddled Avith men's consciences.'^
In 1597, Hideyoshi died, and the missionaries took
heart again. The Christian soldiers returning by
thousands from Korea, declared themselves in favor of
Hideyori, son of the dead Taiko. Encouraged by
those in power, and by the rising star lyeyasii (1542-
1616), the fathers renewed their work and the number
of converts increased.
Though peace reigned, the poUtical situation was
one of the greatest uncertainty, and with two hundred
thousand soldiers gathered around Kioto, under scores
of ambitious leaders, it was hard to keep the sword
in the sheath. Soon the line of cleavage found lye
yasii and his northern captains on one side, and most
of the Christian leaders and southern daimios on the
other. In October, 1600, Avith seventy-five thousand
men, the future unifier of Japan stood on the ever-
memorable fleld of Sekigahara. The opposing army,
led largely by Christian commanders, left their fortress
to meet the one whom they considered a usurper, in
the open field. In the battle which ensued, probably
the most decisive ever fought on the soil of Japan, ten
thousand men lost their lives. The leading Christian
generals, beaten, but refusing out of principle because

A CENTURY OF ROMAN CHRISTIANITY 339
they were Christians, to take their own lives by hara-
kiri, knelt wUlingly at the common blood-pit and had
their heads stricken off by the executioner.
Then began a new era in the history of the empire,
and then were laid by lyeyasii the foundation-Unes
upon which the Japan best known to Europe has ex
isted for nearly three centuries. The creation of a cen
tral executive government strong enough to rule the
whole empire, and hold down even the southern and
southwestern daimios, made it stUl worse for the con
verts of the European teachers, because in the Land of
the Gods government is ever intensely pagan.
In adjusting the feudal relations of his vassals in
Kiushiu, lyeyasii made great changes, and thus the
poUtical status of the Christians was profoundly al
tered. The new daimios, carrying out the policy bf
their predecessors who had been taught by the Jes
uits, but reversing its direction, began to persecute
their Christian subjects, and to compel them to re
nounce their faith. One of the leading opposers of the
Christians and their most cruel persecutor, was Kato,
the zealous Nichirenite. Like Brandt, the famous
Iroquois Indian, who, in the Mohawk Valley is exe
crated as a bloodthirsty brute, and on the Canadian
side is honored Avith a marble statue and considered
not only as the translator of the prayer-book but also
as a saint ; even also as Claverhouse, who, in Scotland is
looked upon as a murderous demon, but in England as
a conscientious and loyal patriot ; so Kato, the vir ter
execrandus of the Jesuits, is worshipped in his shrine at
the Nichiren temple at Ikegami, near Tokio," and is
praised by native historians as learned, brave and true.
The Christians of Kiushiu, in a few cases, actually

340 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
took up arms against their new rulers and oppressors,
though it was a new thing under the Japanese sun for
peasantry to oppose not only civil servants of the law,
but veterans in armor. lyeyasii, now having time to
give his attention whoUy to matters of government and
to examine the new forces that had entered Japanese
life, followed Hideyoshi in the suspicion that, under
the cover of the western religion, there lurked poUtical
designs. He thought he saw confirmation of his theo
ries, because the foreigners stiU secretly or openly paid
court to Hideyori, and at the same time freely disbursed
gifts and gold as weU as comfort to the persecuted.
Eesolving to crush the spuit of independence in the
converts and to intimidate the foreign emissaries, lye
yasii with steel and blood put down every outbreak, and
at last, in 1606, issued his edict '"* prohibiting Chris
tianity. The Quarrels of the Christians.
About the same time, Protestant infiuences began to
work against the papal emissaries. The new forces
from the triumphant Dutch republic, which having
successfully defied Spain for a Avhole generation had
reached Japan even before the Great Truce, were op
posed to the Spaniards and to the influence of both
Jesuits and Franciscans. Hollanders at Lisbon, ob
taining from the Spanish archives charts and geograph
ical information, had boldly sailed out into the Eastern
seas, and carried the orange white and blue flag to the
ends of the earth, even to Nippon. Between Prince
Maurice, son of WiUiam the Silent, and the envoys of
lyeyasii, there was made a league of commerce as weU
as of peace and friendship. Will Adams, '^ the English

A CENTURY OF ROMAN CHRISTIANITY 341
pilot of the Dutch ships, by his information given to
lyeyasii, also helped much to destroy the Jesuits influ
ence and to hurt their cause, whUe both the Dutch and
English were ever busy in disseminating both correct
information and polemic exaggeration, forging letters
and delivering up to death by flre the padres when cap
tured at sea.
In general, however, it may be said that while Chris
tian converts and the priests were roughly handled in
the South, yet there was considerable missionary ac-
tiAity and success in the North. Converts Avere made
and Christian congregations Avere gathered in regions
remote from Kioto and Yedo, which latter place, Uke
St. Petersburg in the West, was being made into a
large city. Even outlying islands, such as Sado, had
their churches and congregations.
The Anti- Christian Policy of the Tokugawas.
The quarrels betAveen the Franciscans and Jesuits,'*
however, were probably more harmful to Christianity
than were the whispers of the Protestant EngUshmen or
HoUanders. In 1610, the wrath of the government was
especially aroused against the bateren, as the people
called the padres, by their open and persistent viola
tion of Japanese law. In 1611, from Sado, to Avliich
island thousands of Christian exiles had been sent to
work the mines, lyeyasii believed he had obtained
documentary proof in the Japanese language, of what
he had long suspected — the existence of a^ plot on the
part of the native converts and the- foreign emissaries
to reduce Japan to the position of a subject state.''
Putting forth strenuous measures to root out utterly

342 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
what he believed to be a pestilential breeder of sedition
and war, the Yedo Shogun advanced step by step to
that great proclamation of January 27, 1614,'^ in which
the foreign priests were branded as triple enemies — of
the country, of the Kami, and of the Buddhas. This
proclamation wound up with the charge that the Chris
tian band had come to Japan to change the govern
ment of the country, and to usurp possession of it.
Whether or not he really had sufficient written proof
of conspiracy against the nation's sovereignty, it is
certain that in this state paper, lyeyasu shrewdly
touched the springs of Japanese patriotism. Not de
siring, however, to shed blood or provoke war, he
tried transportation. Three hundred persons, namely,
twenty-two Franciscans, Dominicans and Augustines,
one hundred and seventeen foreign Jesuits, and nearly
two hundred native priests and catechists, were ar
rested, sent to Nagasaki, and thence shipped Uke
bundles of combustibles to Macao.
Yet, as many of the foreign and native Christian
teachers hid themselves in the country and as others
who had been banished returned secretly and con
tinued the work of propaganda, the crisis had not yet
come. Some of the Jesuit priests, even, were still hop
ing that Hideyori would mount to power ; but in 1615,
lyeyasii, fluding a pretext for war,'^ caUed out a power
ful army and laid siege to the great castle of Osaka,
the most imposing fortress in the country. In the
brief war which ensued, it is said by the Jesuit
fathers, that one hundred thousand men perished. On
June 9, 1615, the castle was captured and the citadel
burned. After thousands of Hideyori's followers had
committed hara-kiri, and his own body had been

A CENTURY OF ROMAN CHRISTIANITY 343
burned into ashes, the Christian cause was irretriev
ably ruined.
Hidetada, the successor of lyeyasu in Yedo, who ruled
from 1605 to 1622, seeing that his father's peaceful
methods had failed in extirpating the alien poUtico-re-
ligious doctrine, noAv pronounced sentence of death on
every foreigner, priest, or catechist found in the coun
try. The story of the persecutions and horrible suffer
ings that ensued is told in the voluminous literature
which may be gathered from every country in Europe ;^
though from the Japanese side " The CathoUc martyr
ology of Japan is still an untouched field fora [native]
historian." ^' All the church edifices which the last
storm had left standing were demoUshed, and temples
and pagodas were erected upon their ruins. In 1617,
foreign commerce was restricted to Hirado and Naga
saki. In 1621, Japanese were forbidden ever to leave
the country. In 1624, aU ships having a capacity of
over twenty -five hundred bushels were burned, and no
craft, except those of the size of ordinary junks, were
aUowed to be built.
The Books of the Inferno Opened.
For years, at intervals and in places, the books of
the Inferno were opened, and the tortures devised by
the native pagans and Buddhists equalled in their
horror those which Dante imagines, until finally, in
1636, even Japanese human nature, accustomed for
ages to subordination and submission, could stand it
no longer. Then a man named Nirado Shiro raised
the banner of the Virgin and called on all Christians
and others to follow him. Probably as many as thirty

344 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
thousand men, women and children, but without a
single foreigner, lay or clerical, among them, gathered
from parts of Kiushiu. After burning Shinto aud
Buddhist temples, they fortified an old abandoned
castle at Shimabara, resoMug to die rather than sub
mit. Against an army of veterans, led by skiUed com
manders, the fortress held out duiing four months.
At last, after a bloody assault, it Avas taken, and men,
women and children were slaughtered.^^ Thousands
suffered death at the point of the spear and sword;
many Avere throAvn into the sea; and others Avere cast
into boiling hot springs, emblems of the eight Buddh
ist Hells.
All efforts Avere now put forth to uproot not only
Christianity but also everything of foreign planting.
The Portuguese were banished and the death penalty
declared against all who should return. The ai no ko,
or half-breed children, were collected aud shipped by
hundreds to Macao. All persons adopting or harbor
ing Eurasians were to be banished, and their relatives
punished. The Christian cause uoav became Uke the
doomed city of Babylon or like the site of Nineveh,
Avhich, buried in the sand and covered Avith the deso
lation and silence of centuries, became lost to the
memory of the world, so that even the very record of
scripture Avas the jest of the infidel, until the spade of
Layard brought them again to resurrection. So, Jap
anese Christianity, ha-ving vanished in blood, Avas
supposed to have no existence, thus furnishing Mr.
Lecky with arguments to prove the extirpative power
of persecution.^^
Yet in 1859, on the opening of the country by treaty,
the Eoman CathoUc fathers at Nagasaki found to their

A CENTURY OF ROMAN CHRISTIANITY 345
surprise that they Avere re-opening the old mines, and
that their work Avas in historic continuity with that of
their predecessors. The blood of the martyrs had been
the seed of the church. Amid much ignorance and
darkness, there were thousands of people who, through
the Virgin, worshipped God ; who talked of Jesus, and
of the Holy Spirit ; and who refused to worship at the
pagan shrines.*'
Summary of Roman Christianity in Japan.
Let us now strive impartially to appraise the Chris-
tiamty of this era, and inquire Avhat it found, what it
attempted to do, what it did not strive to attain, what
was the character of its propagators, Avhat was the
mark it made upon the country and upon the mind of
the people, and whether it left any permanent influ
ence. The gospel net which had gathered aU sorts of flsh
in Europe brought a varied quality of spoil to Japan.
Among the Portuguese missionaries, beginning AA-ith
Xavier, there. are many noble and beautiful characters,
who exempUfied in their motives, acts, lives and suffer
ings some of the noblest traits of both natural and re
deemed humanity. In their praise, both the pagan and
the Christian, as well as critics biased by their pre
possessions in favor either of the Eeformed or the Eo
man phase of the faith, can unite.
The character of the native converts is, in many in
stances, to be commended, and shows the direct truth
of Christianity in fields of Ufe and endeavor, in ethics
and in conceptions, far superior to those which the Jap
anese religious systems have produced. In the teach-

346 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
ing that there should be but one standard of morality
for man and woman, and that the male as weU as the
female should be pure ; in the condemnation of polyg
amy and Ucentiousness ; in the branding of suicide as
both Avicked and cowardly ; in the condemnation of
slavery ; and in the training of men and women to lofty
ideals of character, the Christian teachers far exceUed
their Buddhist or Confucian rivals.
The benefits Avhich Japan received through the com
ing of the Christian missionaries, as distinct and sep
arate from those brought by commerce and the mer
chants, are not to be ignored. While many things of
value and influence for material improvement, and
many beneflcent details and elements of civUization
were undoubtedly imported by traders, yet it was
the priests and itinerant missionaries who diffused the
knowledge of the importance of these things and
taught their use throughout the country. Although in
the reaction of hatred and bitterness, and in the minute,
universal and long-continued suppression by the gov
ernment, most of this advantage was destroyed, yet
some things remained to influence thought and speech,
and to leave a mark not only on the language, but
also on the procedure of daily life. One can trace
notable modifications of Japanese life from this pe
riod, lasting through the centuries and even untU the
present time.
Christianity, iu the sixteenth century, came to Japan
only in its papal or Eoman CathoUc form. While in
it was infused much of the poAver and spirit of Loyola
and Xavier, yet the impartial critic must confess that
this form was military, oppressive and political.^
Nevertheless, though it was impure and saturated with

A CENTURY OF ROMAN CHRISTIANITY 347
the false principles, the vices and the embodied super
stitious of corrupt southern Europe, yet, such as it
was, Portuguese Christianity confronted the worst
condition of affairs, moraUy, intellectually and materi
ally, which Japan has known in historic times. De
fective as the critic must pronounce the system of re
ligion imported from Europe, it was immeasurably
superior to anything that the Japanese had hitherto
known. It must be said, also, that Portuguese Christianity
in Japan tried to do something more than the mere
obtaining of adherents or the nominal conversion of
the people.^* It attempted to purify and exalt their
Ufe, to make society better, to improve the relations
between rulers and ruled ; but it did not attempt to do
what it ought to have done. It ignored great duties
and problems, while it imitated too fuUy, not only
the example of the kings of this world in Em-ope
but also of the rulers in Japan. In the presence
of soldier-like Buddhist priests, who had made war
their caUing, it would have been better if the Christian
missionaries had avoided their bad example, and fol
lowed only in the footsteps of the Prince of Peace ; but
they did not. On the contrary, they brought with
them the spirit of the Inquisition then in full blast in
Spain and Portugal, and the machinery with which
they had been famUiar for the reclamation of native
and Dutch " heretics." Xavier, while at Goa, had even
invoked the secular arm to set up the Inquisition in
India, and doubtless he and his followers would have
put up this infernal enginery in Japan if they could
have done so. They had stamped and crushed out
" heresy " in their ovm country, by a system of hellish

348 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
tortures which in its horrible details is almost inde
scribable. The rusty relics now in the museums of
Europe, but once used in church discipline, can be
fully appreciated only by a physician or an anatomist.
In Japan, with the spirit of Alva and Philip II., these
believers in the righteousness of the Inquisition at
tacked violently the character of native bonzes, and in
cited their converts to insult the gods, destroy the
Buddhist images, and burn or desecrate the old shrines.
They persuaded the daimios, Avhen these lords had be
come Christians, to compel their subjects to embrace
their religion on pain of exUe or banishment. Whole
districts were ordered to become Christian. The bonzes
Avere exiled or kUled, and fire and sword as well as
preaching, were employed as means of conversion. In
ready imitation of the Buddhists, fictitious miracles
were frequently got up to utilize the credulity of the
superstitious in furthering the faith — all of which
is related not by hostile critics, but by admiring his
torians and by sympathizing eye-witnesses.^
The most prominent feature of the Eoman CathoU
cism of Japan, was its political animus and complexion.
In writings of this era, Japanese historians treat of the
Christian missionary movement less as something re
ligious, and more as that which infiuenced government
and politics, rather than society on its moral side. So
also, the impartial historian must consider that on the
Avhole, despite the individual instances of holy lives
and unselfish purposes, the work of the Portuguese
and Spanish friars and "fathers " was, in the main, an
attempt to bring Japan more or less directly within
the power of the Pope or of those rulers called
Most Catholic Majesties, Christian Kings, etc., even as

A CENTURY OF ROMAN CHRISTIANITY 349
they had already brought Mexico, South America and
large portions of India under the same control. The
words of Jesus before the Eoman procurator had not
been apprehended : — " My kingdom is not of this
world."

TWO CENTUEIES OF SILENCE

" The frog in the well knows not the great ocean,"
— Sanskrit and Japanese Proverb.
" When the blind lead the blind, both fall into the ditch,"
— Japanese Proverb.
" The little island of Deshima, well and prophetically signifying Pore-
Island, was Japan's window, through which she looked at the whole Occi
dent , We are under obligation to Holland for the arts of engineer
ing, mining, pharmacy, astronomy, and medicine . . . * Rangaku' (i.e.,
Dutch learning) passed almost as a synonym for medicine." [1615-1868]. —
Inazo Nitobe.
" The great peace, of which we are so proud, was more like the stillness
of stagnant pools than the calm surface of a clear lake." — Mitsukuri.
" The ancestral policy of self -contentment must be done away with. If
it was adopted by your forefathers, because it was wise in their time, why
not adopt a new policy if it is sure to prove vrise in your time," — Sakuma
Shozan, wrote in 1841, assassinated 1864.
" And slowly floating onward go
Those Black Ships, wave-tossed to and fro. "
— Japanese Ballad of the Black Ship, 1845,
" The next day was Sunday (July 10th), and, as usual, divine service
was held on board the ships, and, in accordance with proper reverence for
the day, no communication was held with the Japanese authorities."
— Perry's Narrative, " Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him, all creatures here below,
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host,
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,"
—Sung on U, S, S. S. Mississippi, in Yedo Bay, July 10, 1853.
"I refuse to see anyone on Sunday, I am resolved to set an example of
a proper observance of the Sabbath , . I will try to make it what I
believe it was intended to be— a day of rest." — Townsend Harris's Diary,
Sunday, August '61, 1856.
"I have called thee by thy name. I have surnamed thee, though thou
hast not known me. I am the LoKD, and there is none else ; besides me
there is no God." — Isaiah.
"I saw underneath the altar the souls of them that had been slain for
the word of God, and for the testimony whioh they held," — John,
" That they should seek God, if haply they might feel after him, though
he is not fax from each one of us." — Paul.
"Other sheep have I which are not of this fold: them also I must
bring, and they shall hear my voice ; and they shall becorae one flock, one
shepherd. " — Jesus.

CHAPTEE XII
TWO CENTUEIES OF SILENCE
The Japanese Shut In
SmcEEELY regretting that Ave cannot pass more fav
orable judgments upon the Christianity of the seven
teenth century in Japan, let us look into the two cen
turies of silence, and see what Avas the story between
the paling of the Christian record in 1687, and the
gloAving of the palimpsest in 1859, when the new era
begins. The policy of the Japanese rulers, after the sup
posed utter extirpation of Christianity, was the double
one of exclusion and inclusion, A deliberate attempt,
long persisted in and for centuries apparently success
ful, was made to insulate Japan from the shock of
change. The purpose Avas to draw a whole nation aud
people away from the currents and movements of hu
manity, and to stereotype national thought and cus
tom. This was carried out in two Avays: first,. .by ex
clusion, and then by inclusion. All foreign infiuences
were shut off, or reduced to a minimum. The whole
western world, especially Christendom, was put under
ban. Even the apparent exception made iu favor of the
Dutch was Avith the motive of making isolation more
complete, and of securing the perfect safety which that
23

354 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
isolation was expected to bring. For, having built,
not indeed Avith brick and mortar, but by means of
edict and laAv, both open and secret, a great w-all of
exclusion more poAverful than that of China's, it Avas
necessary that there should be a jDort-hole, for both
sally and exit, and a ¦ slit for a igilant scrutiny of any
attempt to force seclusion or violate the frontier.
Hence, the Hollanders were alloAved to have a small
place of residence in front of a large city and at the
head of a land-locked harbor. There, the foreigners
being isolated and under strict guard, the goA^ernment
could haA'e, as it Avere, a nerve Avhich touched the dis
tant nations, and could also, as with a telescope, sweep
the horizon for signs of danger.
So, in 1640, the Hollanders w-ere ordered to evacu
ate Hirado, and occupy the little " outer island "
called Deshima, in front of the city of Nagasaki, and
connected thercAvith by a bridge. Any ships enter
ing this hill-girdled harbor, it Avas believed, could be
easily managed by the military resources possessed by
the government. Vessels Avere alloAved yearly to bring
the news from abroad and exchange the products of
Japan for those of Europe. The English, Avho had in
1617 opened a trade and conducted a factory for some
years,' Avere unable to compete Avith the Dutch, and
about 1624, after having lost in the venture forty thou
sand pounds sterling, withdrew entirely from the Jap
anese trade. The Dutch Avere thus left Avithout a rival
from Christendom.
Japan ceased her former trade and communications
Avith the Philippine Islands, Annam, Siam, the Spice
Islands and India,- and began to restrict trade and
communication Avitli Korea and China. The Koreans,

TWO CENTURIES OF SILENCE 355
Avho were considered as vassals, or semi-vassals, came
to Japan to present their congratulations on the acces
sion of each new Shogun ; and some small trade Avas
done at Fusan under the superintendence of the da
imio of Tsushima. Even this relation Avith Korea Avas
rather one of watchfulness. It sprang from the pride
of a victor rather than from any desire to maintain re
lations Avith the rest of the world. As for China, the
commimication Avith her Avas astonishingly little, only
a few junks crossing yearly betAveen Nankin and Nag
asaki ; so that, with the exception of one slit in their
tower of observation, the Japanese became Avell isolat
ed from the human family.
This system of exclusion was accompanied by an
equally vigorous policy of inclusiveness. It was de
Uberately determined to keep the people from going
abroad, either in their bodies or minds. All seaworthy
ships were destroyed. Under pain of imprisonment
and death, all natives were forbidden to go to a foreign
coimtry, except in the rare cases of urgent government
service. By settled precedents it was soon made to be
understood that those who were blown out to sea or
carried aAvay in stress of weather, need not come back ;
if they did, they must return only on Chinese and
Korean vessels, and even then would be grudgingly
aUowed to land. It was given out, both at home and
to the world, that no shipwrecked sailors or Avaifs
would be welcomed when brought on foreign vessels.
This inclusive policy directed against physical ex
portation, was stUl more stringently carried out when
applied to imports affecting the minds of the Japanese.
The " government deliberately attempted to establish
a society impervious to foreign ideas from Avithout,

356 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
and fostered within by all sorts of artificial legislation.
This isolation affected every department of private
and pubUc life. Methods of education were cast in a
definite mould ; even matters of dress and household
architecture were strictly regulated by the State, and
industries Avere restricted or forced into specified chan
nels, thus retarding economic developments." ^
Starving of the Mind.
In the science of keeping life Avithin stunted limits
and artificial boundaries, the Japanese genius excels.
It has been AveU said that " the Japanese mind is great
in little things and little in great things." To cut the
tap-root of a pine-shoot, and, by regulating the aUow
ance of earth and water, to raise a pine-tree which
when fifty years old shall be no higher than a sUver
dollar, has been the proud ambition of many an artist
in botany. In like manner, the Tokugawa Shogims
(1604-1868) determined to so limit the supply of men
tal food, that the mind of Japan should be of those
correctly dwarfed proportions of puniness, so admired
by lovers of artificiality and unconscious caricatm-e.
Philosophy was selected as a chief tool among the
engines of oppression, and as the main influence in
stunting the inteUect. All thought must be orthodox
according to the standards of Confucianism, as ex
pounded by Chu Hi. Anything like originaUty in po
etry, learning or philosophy must be hooted down.
Art must foUoAv Chinese, Buddhist and Japanese tra
ditions. Any violation of this order would mean ostra
cism. All learning must be in the Chinese and Japan
ese languages — the former mis - pronounced and in

TWO CENTURIES OF SILENCE 357
sound bearing as much resemblance to Pekingise speech
as "Pennsylvania Dutch " does to the language of Ber
Un. Everything Uke thinking- and study must be with
a view of sustaining and maintaining the established
order of things. The tree of education, instead of
being a lofty or Avide-spreading cryptomeria, must be
the measured nursling of the teacup. If that trio of
emblems, so admired by the natives, the bamboo, pine
and plum, could produce glossy leaves, ever-green
needles and fragrant blooms within a space of four
cubic inches, so the law, the literature and the art of
Japan must display their normal Umit of fresh fra
grance, of youthful vigor and of venerable age, endm--
ing for aye, within the vessel of Japanese inclusion so
carefully limited by the Yedo authorities.
Such a poUcy, reminds one of the Amherst agricul
tural experiment in which bands of iron were strapped
around a much-afflicted squash, in order to test vital
potency. It recalls the pretty little story of Picciola,
in which a tender plant must grow between the inter
stices of the bricks in a prison yard. Besides the
potent bonds of the only orthodox Confucian philos
ophy which was allowed and the legally recognized re
ligions, there was gradually formed a marvellous sys
tem of legislation, that turned the whole nation into a
secret society in which spies and hypocrites flourished
like fungus on a dead log. Besides the unwritten code
of private law,"* that is, the local and general customs
founded on immemorial usage, there Avas that pecuUar
legal system framed by lyeyasu, bequeathed as a
legacy and for over two hundred years practically the
supreme law of the land.
What this law was, it was exceedingly difficult, if not

35S THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
utterly impossible, for the aUens dwelUng in the coun
try at Nagasaki ever to find out. Keenly inteUectual,
as many of the physicians, superintendents and elect
members of the Dutch trading company were, they
seem never to have been able to get hold of Avhat has
been called " The Testament of lyeyasii." =* This con
sisted of one hundred laAvs or regulations, based on a
home-spun sort of Confucianism, intended to be ortho
doxy "unbroken for ages eternal."
To a man of western mode of thinking, the most as
tonishing thing is that this law Avas esoteric* The
]5eople kncAv of it only by its irresistible force, and by
the constant pressure or the rare easing of its iron
hand. Those who executed the laAV were drilled in its
routine from childhood, and this routine became second
nature. Only a few copies of the original instrument
were known, and these were kept with a secrecy which
to the people became a sacred mystery guarded by a
long avenue of awe.
The Dutchmen at Deshima.
The Dutchmen Avho lived at Deshima for two cen
turies and a haU, and the foreigners Avho first landed at
the treaty ports in 1859, on inquiring about the methods
of the Japanese Government, the laws and their ad
ministration, found that everything Avas veiled behind
a vague embodiment of something which was called
"the Law." What that laAv was, by whom enacted,
and under what sanctions enforced, no one could tell ;
though all seemed to stand in awe of it as something
of superhuman efficiency. Its mysteriousness was
only equalled by the abject submissiou which it re-

TWO CENTURIES OF SILENCE 359
ceived. Foreign diplomatists, on trying to deal with
the seat and som-ce of authority, instead of seeing the
real head of poAver, played, as it were, a game of chess
against a mysterious hand stretched out from behind
a curtain. Morally, the Avhole tendency of such a dual
system of exclusion and of inclusion Avas to make a
nation of liars, foster confirmed habits of deceit, and
create a code of politeness vitiated by insincerity.
With such repression of the natural powers of hu
manity, it was but in accordance with the nature of
things that licentiousness should run riot, that on the
fringes of society there should be the outcast and the
pariah, and that the social A\aste of humanity by prosti
tution, by murdei-, by crimiual execution under a code
that prescribed the death penalty for hundreds of of
fences, should be enormous. It is natural also that in
such a state of society population ' should be kept
down within necessary limits, not only by famine, by
the restraints of feudalism, by legalized murder in the
form of vendetta, by a system of prostitution that
made and stiU makes Japan infamous, by child mur
der, by lack of encouragement giA^eu to feeble or mal
formed children to live, and by various devices known
to those who were ingenious in keeping up so artiflcial
a state of society.
That there Avere many Avho tried to break through
this wall, from both the inside and the outside, and to
force the frontiers of exclusion and inclusion, is not to
be wondered at. Externally, there were bold spirits
from Christendom who burned to knoAv the secrets of
the mysterious land. Some even yearned to AAear the
ruby crown. The wonderful story of past Christian
triumphs deeply stirred the heart of more thau one

360 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
fiery spirit, and so Ave find various attempts made by
the clerical brethren of southern Europe to enter the
country. Bound by their promises, the Dutch captains
could not introduce these emissaries of a banned re
ligion within the borders ; yet there are several not
able instances of Eoman Catholic " religious " ^ getting
themselves left by shipmasters on the shores of Japan.
The lion's den of reality was Yedo. Like the lion's
den of fable, the footprints all led one way, and where
these led the bones of the victims soon lay.
Besides these men Avith religious motives, the ships
of the West came Avith offers of trade and threats of
invasion. These were EngUsh, French, Eussian and
Americau, and the story of the frequent episodes has
been told by Hildreth, Aston,' Nitobe, and others.
There is also a considerable body of native literature
which gives the inside view of these efforts to force the
seclusion of the hermit nation, and coax or compel the
Japanese to be more sociable and more human. All
Avere in vain until the peaceful armada, under the flag
of thirty-one stars, led by Matthew Calbraith Perry,'"
broke the long seclusion of this Thorn-rose of the
Paciflc, and the unarmed diplomacy of ToAvnsend Har
ris," brought Japan into the brotherhood of commer
cial and Christian nations.
Within the isolating AvaUs and the barred gates the
story of the seekers after God is a thrilling one. The
intellect of choice spirits, beating like caged eagles the
bars of their prisons, yearned for more light and life.
" Though an eagle be starving," says the Japanese prov
erb, " it will not eat grain ; " and so, while the mass
of the people and even the erudite, were content with
ground food — even the chopped straw and husks of

TWO CENTURIES OF SILENCE 361
materialistic Confucianism and decayed Buddhism —
there Avere noble souls who soared upAvard to exercise
their God-given poAvers, and to seek nourishment fitted
for that human spirit Avhich goeth upward and not
doAvnward, and which, ever in restless discontent, seeks
the Infinite. Protests of Inquiring Spirits.
There is no stronger proof of the true humanity and
the innate god-likeness of the Japanese, of their wor
thiness to hold and their inherent poAver to Avin a high
place among the nations of the earth, than this longing
of a few elect ones for the best that earth could give
and Heaven bestow. We find, men in travail of spirit,
groping after God if haply they might find Him, fol
lowing the ways of the Spirit along lines different, and
in pathways remote, from those laid down by Confucius
and his materialistic commentators, or by Buddha and
his parodists or caricaturists. The story of the phi
losophers, who mutinied against the iron clamps and
governmentally nourished system of the Seido College
expounders, is yet to be fully told.'^ It behooves some
Japanese scholar to tell it.
How earnest truth-seeking Japanese protested and
rebeUed against the economic fallacies, against the po
litical despotism, against the abominable usurpations,
against the false strategies and against the inherent
immoralities of the Tokugawa system, has of late years
been set forth with tantalizing suggestiveness, but
only in fragments, by the native historians. Heart
rending is the narrative of these men who studied,
Avho taught, who examined, avIio sifted the mountains
of chaff in the native literature and writings, Avho made

362 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
long journeys on foot aU over the country, who fur
tively travelled in Korea and China, who boarded
Dutch and Eussian vessels, who secretly read forbid
den books, Avho tried to improve their country and
their people. These men saAV that their country vvas
falling behind not only the nations of the West, but, as
it seemed to them, eveu the nations of the East. They
felt that radical changes Avere necessary in order to re
form the aAvful poverty, disease, licentiousness, national
Aveakness, decay of bodily poAvers, and the creeping pa
ralysis of the Samurai intellect and spirit. Hoav they
were ostracized, persecuted, put under ban, hound
ed by the spies, throAvn into prison; hoAv they died
of starvation or of disease ; how they were behead
ed, crucified, or compelled to commit hara-kiri ; how
their books Avere purged by the censors, or put under
ban or destroyed,'^ and their' maps, Avritings and plates
burned, has not yet been told. It is a story that, when
fully narrated, will make a volume of extraordinary in
terest. It is a story Avhich both Christian and human
interests challenge some native author to tell.
During all this time, but especially during the first
half of the nineteenth century, there was one steady
goal to Avhicli the aspiring student ever kept his faith,
and to which his feet tended. There was one place of
pilgrimage, toward Avhich the sons of the morning
moved, and Avhicli, despite the spy and the informer
aud the vigilance of governors, fed their spirits, and
Avhence they carried the sacred fire, or bore the seed
Avhose liarA-est Ave uoav see. That goal of the pilgrim
band was Nagasaki, and the place Avliere the light
burned and the sacred fiames Avere kindled Avas Desh
ima. The men Avho helped to make true patriots, dar-

TWO CENTURIES OF SILENCE 363
ing thinkers, inquirers after truth, bringers in of a bet
ter time, yes, and even Christians and preachers of the
good news of God, were these Dutchmen of Deshima.
A Handful of Salt in a Stagnant Mass.
The Nagasaki Hollanders Avere not immaculate
saints, neither Avere they sooty devils. They did not
profess to be Christian missionaries. On the other
hand, they were men not devoid of conscience nor of
sympathy with aspiring and struggling men in a her
mit nation, eager for light and truth. The Dutchman
during the time of hermit Japan, as we see him in the
literature of men who were hostile in faith and covet
ous rivals in trade, is a repulsive figm-e. He seems to
be a brutal Avretch, seeking only gain, and Avilling to
sell conscience, humanity and his religion, for pelf. In
reality, he was an ordinary European, probably no bet
ter, certainly no worse, than his age or the average
man of his country or of his continent. Further,
among this average dozen of exiles in the interest of
commerce, science or culture, there were frequently
honorable men far above the average European, and
shining examples of Christianity and humanity. Even
in his submission to the laws of the country, the
Dutchman did no more, no less, but exactly as the
daimios, '-* who like himself were subject to the humili
ations imposed by the rulers in Yedo.
It was the Dutch, Avho, for two hundred years sup
plied the culture of Europe to Japan, introduced
Westei-n science, furnished almost the only intellect
ual stimulant, and were the sole teachers of medicine
and science. '5 They trained up hundreds of Japanese

364 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
to be physicians who practised rational medicine and
surgery. They filled with needed courage the hearts
of men, who, secretly practising dissection of the bodies
of criminals, demonstrated the falsity of Chinese ideas
of anatomy. It was Dutch science which exploded
and drove out of Japan that Chinese system of med
icine, by means of Avhich so many millions have, dur
ing the long ages, been slowly tortured to death.
The Deshima Dutchman was a kindly adviser,
helper, guide and friend, the one means of communi
cation Avith the Avoiid, a handful of salt in the stag
nant mass. Long before the United States, or Com
modore Perry, the Hollanders advised the Yedo gov
ernment in favor of international intercourse. The
Dutch language, nearest in structure and vocabulary
to the English, even richer in the descriptive ener
gy of its terms, and saturated Avithal with Christian
truth, was studied by eager young men. These speak
ers of an impersonal language which in psychological
development was scarcely above the grade of child
hood, were exercised in a tongue that stands second
to none in Europe for purity, vigor, personality and
philosophical power. The Japanese students of Dutch
held a golden key which opened the treasures of
modern thought and of the world's literature. The
minds of thinking Japanese were thus made plastic
for the reception of the ideas of Christianity. Best of
all, though forbidden by their contracts to import
Bibles into Japan, the Dutchmen, by means of works
of reference, pointed more than one inquiring spirit to
the information by which the historic Christ became
known. The books Avhich they imported, the infor
mation Avhich they gave, the stimulus which they im-

TWO CENTURIES OF SILENCE 365
parted, were as seeds planted within masonry-covered
earth, that were to upheave and overthrow the fabric
of exclusion and inclusion reared by the Tokugawa
Shoguns. Time and space fail us to tell how eager spirits not
only groped after God, but sought the living Christ —
though often this meant to them imprisonment, suicide
enforced by the law, or decapitation. Yet over all
Japan, long before the broad pennant of Perry was
mirrored on the waters of Yedo Bay, there were
here and there masses of leavened opinion, spots of
kindled Ught, and fields upon Avhich the tender green
sprouts of new ideas could be detected. To-day, as
inquiry among the oldest of the Christian leaders and
scores of volumes of modern biography shows, the most
earnest and faithful among the preachers, teachers and
soldiers in the Christian army, were led into their
new world of ideas through Dutch culture. The fact
is revealed in repeated instances, that, through father,
grandfather, uncle, or other relative — some pilgrim to
the Dutch at Nagasaki— came their first knowledge,
their initial promptings, the environment or atmos
phere, which made them all sensitive and ready to re
ceive the Christian truth when it came in its full form
from the living missionary and the vital word of God.
Some one has well said that the languages of modern
Europe are nothing more than Christianity expressed
with differing pronunciation and vocabulary. To him
who Avill receive it, the mastery of any one of the lan
guages of Christendom, is, in a large sense, a revelation
of God in Christ Jesus.

366 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN

Seekers after God.
Pathetic, even to the compulsion of tears, is the
story of these seekers after God. We, who to-day are
surrounded by every motive and inducement to Chris
tian living and by every means and appliance for the
practice of the Christian life, may well consider for a
moment the struggle of earnest souls to find out God.
Think of this one who finds a Latin Bible cast up on
the shore from some broken ship, and bearing it secret
ly in his bosom to the Hollander, gains light as to
the meaning of its message. Think of the nobleman,
Watanabe Oboru,'* Avho, by means of the Japanese in
terpreter, of Dutch, Takano Choyei, is thrilled with the
story of Jesus of Nazareth who helped and healed
and spake as no other man spake, teaching with an
authority above that of the masters Confucius or
Buddha. Think of the daimio of Mito," who, proud in
lineage, learned and scholarly, and surrounded by a
host of educated men, is yet unsatisfied Avitli Avhat the
wise of his own country could give him, and gathers
around him the relics unearthed from the old perse
cutions. From a picture of the Virgin, a fragment of
a litany, or it may be a part of a breviary, he tries to
make out what Christianity is.
Think of Yokoi Heishiro,'^ learned in Confucius and
his commentators, who seeks better light, sends to
China for a Chinese translation of the New Testament,
and in his lectures on the Confucian ethics, to the de
light and 3'et to the surprise of his hearers who hear
grander truth than they are able to find in text or com
mentary, really preaches Christ, and prophesies that

TWO CENTURIES OF SILENCE 367
the time wiU come Avhen the Avails of isolation being
levelled, the brightest intellects of Japan will welcome
this same Jesus and His doctrine. Think of him again,
Avhen unable to purify the Augean stables of Yedo's
moral corruption, because the time Avas at hand for
other cleansing- agencies, he retires to his home, con
tent awhile Avith his books and flowers. Again, see
him summoned to the capital, to sit at Kioto — like
aged FraukUn among the young statesmen of the Con
stitution in Philadelphia — Avith the Mikado's youthful
advisers in the new government of 1868. Think of
him pleading for the elevation of the pariah Eta, ac
cursed and outcast through Buddhism, to humanity
and citizenship. Theu hear him urge eloquently the
right of personal belief, and argue for toleration under
the law, of opinions, Avhich the Japanese then stigma
tized as " evil " and devilish, but Avhicli Ave, and many
of them now, call sound and Christian. Finally, be
hold him at night in the public streets, assaulted by
assassins, and given quick death by their bullet and
blades. See his gray head lying severed from his
body and in its own gore, the wretched murderers
thinking they have stayed the advancing tide of Chris
tianity ; but at home there dwells a little son destined
in God's providence to become an earnest Christian
and one of the brilliant leaders of the native Christi
anity of Japan in our day.
The Buddhist Inquisitors.
During the nation's period of Thorn-rose-like seclu
sion, the three religions recognized by the laAv Avere
Buddhism, Shinto and Confucianism. Christianity

368 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
was the outlawed sect. All over the country, on the
high-roads, at the bridges, and iu the villages, toAvns
and cities, the fundamental laAvs of the country Avere
Avritten on wooden tablets caUed kosatsti. These,
framed and roofed for protection from the weather, but
easily before the eyes of every man, woman and child,
and written in a style and language understood of all,
denounced the Christian religion as an accursed " sect,"
and offered gold to the spy and informer ; " while once
a year every Samurai was required to swear on the true
faith of a gentleman that he had nothing to do Avith
Christianity. From the seventeenth century, the coun
try having been divided into parishes, the inquisition
was under the charge of the Buddhist priests who
penetrated into the house and family and guarded the
graveyards, so that neither earth nor flre should em
brace the carcass of a Christian, nor his dust or ashes
defile the ancestral graveyards. TavIcc — in 1686 and
in 1711 — Avere the rewards increased and the Buddhist
bloodhounds of Japan's Inquisition set on fresh trails.
On one occasion, at Osaka, in 1839,*' a rebellion broke
out which was believed, though Avithout evidence, to
have been instigated in some way by men A^ith Chxis
tian ideas, and Avas certainly led by Oshio, the bitter
opponent of Buddhism, of Tokugawa, and of the preva
lent Confucianism. Possibly, the uprising was aided
by refugees from Korea. Those implicated were, after
speedy trial, crucified or beheaded. In the southern
part of the country the ceremony of Ebumi or tramp
ling on the cross,'' was long performed. Thousands of
people were made to pass thi-ough a Avicket, beneath
Avhich and on the ground lay a copper plate engraved
Avith the image of the Christ and the cross. In this

TWO CENTURIES OF SILENCE 369
way it was hoped to utterly eradicate the very memory
of Christianity, which, to the common people, had be
come the synonym for sorcery.
But besides the seeking after God by earnest souls
and the protest of philosophers, there was, amid the
prevailing immorality and the ag"nosticism and scep
ticism bred by decayed Buddhism and the materialis
tic philosophy based on Confucius, some earnest strug
gles for the purification of morals and the spiritual
improvement of the people.
The Shingaku Movement.
One of the most remarkable of the movements to
this end Avas that of the Shingaku or New Learning.
A class of practical moralists, to offset the prevailing
tendency of the age to much speculation and because
Buddhism did so little for the people, tried to make
the doctrines of Confucius a living force among the
great mass of people. This movement, though Confu
cian in its chief tone and color, was eclectic and in
tended to combine all that Avas best in the Chinese
system Avith what could be utilized from Shinto and
Buddhism. With the preaching was combined a good
deal of active benevolence. Especially in the time of
famine, was care for humanity shown. The effect upon
the people was noticeable, followers multiplied rapidly,
and it is said that even the government in many in
stances made them, the Shingaku preachers, the dis
tributors of rice and alms for the needy. Some of the
preachers became famous and counted among their
followers many men of influence. The literary side
of the movement ^- has been brought to the attention
24

370 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
of English readers through Mr. Mitford's translation
of three sermons from the volume entitled Shingaku
Dowa. Other discourses have been from time to time
rendered into English, those by Shibata, entitled The
Sermons of the Dove-like Venerable Master, being es
pecially famous.
This movement, interesting as it was, came to an
end when the country began to be convulsed by the
approaching entrance of foreigners, through the Perry
treaty ; but it serves to show, what we beUeve to be
the truth, that the moral rottenness as AveU as the
physical decay of the Japanese people reached their
acme just previous to the apparition of the American
fleet in 1853.
The story of nineteenth century Eeformed Chris
tianity in Japan does not begin with Perry, or with
Harris, or with the arrival of Christian missionaries in
1859 ; for it has a subterranean and interior history,
as we have hinted ; while that of the Eoman form and
order is a story of unbroken continuity, though the
life of the tunnel is uoav that of the sunny road. The
parable of the leaven is first illustrated and then that
of the mustard - seed. Before Christianity was phe
nomenal, it was potent. Let us uoav look from the in
terior to the outside.
On Perry's flag-ship, the Mississippi, the Bible lay
open, a sermon was preached, and the hymn " Before
Jehovah's Awful Throne " was sung, waking the echoes
of the Japan hills. The Christian day of rest Avas hon
ored on this American squadron. In the treaty signed
in 1854, though it Avas made, indeed, with use of the
name of God and terms of Christian chronology, there
Avas nothing upon Avhich to base, either by right or priv-

TWO CENTURIES OF SILENCE 371
Uege, the residence of missionaries in the country.
Townsend Harris, the American Oonsul-General, Avho
hoisted his flag and began his hermit Ufe at Shimoda,
in September, 1855, had as his only companion a
Dutch secretary, Mr. Heusken, who was later, in Ye
do, to be assassinated by ronins.
Without ship or soldier, overcoming craft and guile,
and winning his way by simple honesty and persever-
ence, Mr. Harris obtained audience ^ of " the Tycoon"
in Yedo, and later from the Shogun's daring minister
Ii, the signature to a treaty which guaranteed to
Americans the rights of residence, trade and com
merce. Thus Americans were enabled to land as cit
izens, and pursue their avocation as religious teachers.
As the government of the United States of America
knows nothing of the reUgion of American citizens
abroad, it protects aU missionaries who are law-abid
ing citizens, Avithout regard to creed.^
Japan Once More Missionary Soil.
The first missionaries were on the ground as soon as
the ports were open. Though surrounded by spies and
always in danger of assassination and incendiarism,
they began their work of mastering the language. To
do this without trained teachers or apparatus of dic
tionary and grammar, was then an appalling task.
The medical missionary began healing the swarms of
human sufferers, syphilitic, consumptive, and those
scourged by small -pox, cholera and hereditary and
acute diseases of all sorts. The patience, kindness
and persistency of these Christian men literally turned
the edge of the sword, disarmed the assassin, made the

372 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
spies' occupation useless, shamed aAvay the suspicious,
and conquered the nearly invincible prejudices of the
government. Despite the awful under-tow in the im
morality of the sailor, the adventurer and the gain-
greedy foreigner, the tide of Christianity began stead
ily to rise. Notwithstanding the outbursts of the
fiames of persecution, the torture and imprisonment of
Christian captives and exiles, and the slow worrying
to death of the missionary's native teachers, inquirers
came and converts were made. In 1868, after revolu
tion and restoration, the old order changed, and du
archy and feudalism passed away. Quick to seize the
opportunity. Dr. J. C. Hepburn, healer of bodies and
souls of men, presented a Bible to the Emperor, and
the gift was accepted.
No sooner had the new government been established
in safety, and the name of Yedo, the city of the Bay-
door, been changed into that of Tokio, the Eastern
Capital, than an embassy ^ of seventy persons started
on its course round the world. At its head were three
cabinet ministers of the new government and the court
noble, Iwakura, of immemorial lineage, in Avhose veins
ran the blood of the men called gods. Across the
Pacific to the United States they went, having their
initial audience of the President of the Eepublic that
knows no state church, and whose Christianity had
compelled both the return of the shipwrecked Jap
anese and the freedom of the slave.
This embassy had been suggested and its course
planned by a Christian missionar}', who found that of
the seventy persons, one-half had been his pupils.^*

TWO CENTURIES OF SILENCE 373

The Imperial Embassy Round ihe World.
The purpose of these envoys was, first of all, to ask
of the nations of Christendom equal rights, to get re
moved the odious extra-territoriality clause in the
treaties, to have the right to govern aliens on their soil,
and to regulate their own tariff.^' Secondarily, its
members went to study the secrets of power and the
resources of civilization in the West, to initiate the lib
eral education of their women by leaving in American
schools a little company of maidens, to enlarge the
system of education for their own country, and to send
abroad with approval others of their young men who,
for a decade past had, in spite of every ban and ob
stacle, been furtively leaving the country for study be
yond the seas.
In the lands of Christendom, the eyes of ambassa
dors, ministers, secretaries and students Avere opened.
They saAv themselves as others saw them. They com
pared their oavu land and nation, mediseval in spirit
and backward in resources, and their people untrained
as children, with the modern power, the restless ambi
tion, the stern purpose, the intense life of the western
nations, Avith their mighty fleets and armaments, their
inventions and machinery, their economic and social
theories and forces, their provision for the poor, the
sick, and the aged, the peerless family life in the Chris
tian home. They found, further yet, free churches di
vorced from politics and independent of the state ; that
the leading force of the world was Christianity, that
persecution was barbarous, and that toleration was the
law of the future, and largely the condition of the pres-

374 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
ent. It took but a few whispers over the telegraphic
wire, and the anti-Christian edicts disappeared from
public view like snow-flakes meltmg on the river. The
right arm of persecution was broken.^
The story of the Book of Acts of the modem apos
tles in Japan is told, first in the teaching of inquirers,
preaching to handfuls, the gathering of tiny companies,
the translation of the Gospel, and then prayer and
waiting for the descent of the Holy Spirit. A study
of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, followed in
order to find out how the Christian Church began.
On the 10th day of March, in the year of our Lord and
of the era of Meiji (Enlightened Peace) the fifth, 1872,
at Yokohama, in the little stone chapel built on part of
Commodore Perry's treaty ground, was formed the first
Eeformed or Protestant Christian Church in Japan.^'
At this point our task is ended. We cannot even
glance at the native Christian churches of the Eo
man, Eeformed, or Greek order, or attempt to ap
praise the work of the foreign missionaries. He has
read these pages in vain, however, who does not see
how well, under Providence, the Japanese have been
trained for higher forms of faith.
The armies of Japan are upon Chinese soil, while we
pen our closing Unes. The last chains of purely local
and ethnic dogma are being snapped asunder. May
the sons of Dai Nippon, as they win new horizons of
truth, see more clearly and welcome more loyally that
Prince of Peace whose kingdom is not of this AA-orld.
May the age of political conquest end, and the era
of the self-reformation of the Asian nations, through
the gospel of Jesus Christ, be ushered in.

NOTES, AUTHOEITIES, AND ILLUSTEA-
TIONS

NOTES, AUTHOEITIES, AND ILLUSTEA-
TIONS
The fcAv abbreviations used in these pages stand for
well-known AVorks : T. A. S. J., for Transactions of
the Asiatic Society of Japan ; Kojiki, for Supple
ment to Volume X., T. A. S. J., Introduction, Trans
lation, Notes, Map, etc., by Professor Basil Hall Cham
berlain ; T. J., for Things Japanese (2d ed.), by
Professor B. H. Chamberlain; S. and H., for Satow
and HaAves's Hand-book for Japan, now continued in
ncAv editions (4th, 1894), by Professor B. H. Chamber
lain ; C. E. M., for Mayers's Chinese Eeader's Man
ual; M. E., The Mikado's Empire (7th ed.) ; B. N.,
for Mr. Bunyiu Nanjio's A. Short History of the
Twelve Japanese Buddhist Sects, Tokio, 1887.

CHAPTEE I
PEIMITIVE FAITH : EELIGION BEFORE BOOKS
' The late Professor Samuel Finley Breese Morse,
LL. D., who applied the principles of electro-magnet
ism to telegraphy, was the son of the Eev. Jedediah
Morse, D.D., the celebrated theologian, geographer,
and gazetteer. In memory of his father. Professor
Morse founded this lectureship in Union Theological
Seminary, Ncav York, on " The Eelation of the Bible

378 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
to the Sciences," May 20, 1865, by the gift of ten thou
sand doUars.
^ An American Missionary in Japan, p. 209, by Eev.
M. L. Gordon, M.D., Boston, 1892.
3 Lucretia Coffin Mott.
* " 1 remember once making a calculation in Hong
Kong, and making out my baptisms to have amounted
to about six hundred. ... I beUeve with you that
the study of comparative reUgion is important for all
missionaries. Still more important, it seems to me, is
it that missionaries should make themselves thoroughly
proficient in the languages and literature of the peo
ple to whom they are sent." — Dr. Legge's Letter to the
Author, November 27, 1893.
^ The Eeligions of China, p. 240, by James Legge,
New York, 1881.
* The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, p. 22, Boston
editions of 1859 and 1879.
' One of the many names of Japan is that of the
Country Euled by a Slender Sword, in allusion to the
clumsy weapons employed by the Chinese and Ko
reans. See, for the shortening and lightening of the
modem Japanese sword ikatana) as compared Avith
the long and heavy (ken) of the " Divine " (kami) or
imcivilized age, "The Sword of Japan; Its History
and Traditions," T. A. S. J., Vol. IL, p. 58.
^ The course of lectures on The Eeligions of Chinese
Asia (which included most of the matter in this book),
given by the author in Bangor Theological Seminary,
Bangor, Me., in April, 1894, Avas upon the Bond foun
dation, founded by alumni and named after the chief
donor, Eev. Elias Bond, D.D., of Kohala, long an ac
tive missionary in Hawaii.

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 379
' This is the contention of Professor Kumi, late of
the Imperial University of Japan ; see chapter on
Shinto. '" In illustration, comical or pitiful, the common peo
ple in Satsuma believe that the spirit of the great
Saigo Takamoii, leader of the rebellion of 1877, " has
taken up its abode in the planet Mars," while the
spirits of his followers entered into a new race of frogs
that attack man and fight until kiUed. — Mounsey's The
Satsuma EebelUon, p. 217. So, also, the Heike-gani,
or crabs at Shimonoseki, represent the transmigration
of the souls of the Heike clan, nearly exterminated in
1184 A.D., while the " Hojo bugs " are the avatars of
the execrated rulers of Kamakura (1219-1333 a.d.).
— Japan in History, Folk-lore, and Art, Boston, 1892,
pp. 115, 138.
" The Future of Eeligion in Japan. A paper read
at the ParUament of Eeligions by Nobuta Kishimoto.
12 « rpjjg Ainos, though they deify all the chief ob
jects of nature, such as the sun, the sea, fire, wild
beasts, etc., often talk of a Creator, Kotan kara kamui,
UteraUy the God Avho made the World. At the fact
of creation they stop short. . . . One gathers
that the creative act was performed not directly, but
through intermediaries, who were apparently animals."
— Chamberlain's Aino Studies, p. 12. See also on the
Aino term " Kamui," by Professor B. H. Chamberlain
and Eev. J. Batchelor, T. A. S. J., Vol. XVI.
'^ See Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, by Isabella Bird
(Bishop), Vol. II. ; The Ainu of Japan, by Eev. John
Batchelor; B. Douglas Howard's Life With Trans-
Siberian Savages ; Eipley Hitchcock's Eeport, Smith
sonian Institute, Washington. Professor B, H. Cham-

380 TUB RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
beiiain's invaluable "Aino Studies," Tokio, 1887,
makes scholarly comparison of the Japanese and Aino
language, mythology, and geographical nomenclature.
" M. E,, The Mythical Zoology of Japan, pp. 477-
488. G.'S^.M.., passim.
'5 See the valuable article entitled Demoniacal Pos
session, T. J., p. 106, and the author's Japanese Fox
Myths, Lippincott's Magazine, 1878.
'^ See the Aino animal stories and evidences of beast
worship in Chamberlain's Aino Studies. For this ele
ment in Japanese life, see the Kojiki, and the author's
Japanese Fairy World.
" The proprietor of a paper-miU in Massachusetts,
who had bought a cargo of rags, consisting mostly of
farmers' cast off clothes, brought to the author a bun
dle of scraps of paper Avhicli he had found iu this
cheap blue -dyed cotton wearing apparel. Besides
money accounts and personal matters, there were nu
merous temple amulets and priests' certificates. See
also B. H. Chamberlain's Notes on Some Minor Japan
ese Eeligions Practices, Journal of the Anthropological
Institute, May, 1893.
'« M. E,, p. 440.
'^ See the Lecture on Buddhism in its Doctrinal De
velopment. — The Nichiren Sect.
^ The phallus was formerly a common emblem in
all parts of Japan, Hondo, Kiushiu, Shikoku, and the
other islands. Bayard Taylor noticed it in the Eiu
Kiu (Loo Choo) Islands ; Perry's Expedition to Japan,
p. 196 ; Bayard Taylor's Expedition in Lew CheAv ;
M. E., p. 33, note; Eein's Japan, p. 482; Diary of
Eichard Cocks, Vol. I., p. 288. The native guide-books
and gazetteers do not allude to the subject.

NOTES. AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 381
Although the author of this volume has collected
considerable data from personal observations and the
testimony of personal friends concerning the vanishing
nature-Avorship of the Japanese, he has, in the text,
scarcely more than glanced at the subject. In a work
of this sort, intended both for the general reader as
well as for the scientific student of religion, it has been
thought best to be content Avith a few simple references
to Avliat Avas once Avidely prevalent in the Japanese
archipelago. Probably the most thorough study of Japanese phal
licism yet made by any foreign scholar is that of Ed
mund Buckley, A.M., Ph.D., of the Chicago University,
Lecturer on Shinto, the Ethnic Faith of Japan, and on
the Science of Eeligion. Dr. Buckley spent six years
in central and southw-estern Japan, most of the time
as instructor in the Doshisha University, Kioto. He
will publish the results of his personal observations
and studies in a monograph on phaUicism, Avhich will
be on sale at Chicago University, in which the Buck
ley coUection illustrating Shinto-worship has been de
posited. ^'Mr. Takahashi Goro, in his Shinto Shin-ron, or
New Discussion of Shinto, accepts the derivation of the
word kami from kabe, mould, mildew, Avhich, on its ap
pearance, excites wonder. For Hirata's discussion, see
T. A. S. J., Vol. IIL, Appendix, p. 48. In a striking
paper on the Early Gods of Japan, in a recent number
of the Philosophical Magazine, published in Tokio, a
Japanese Avriter, Mr. Kenjiro Hirade, states also that
the term kami does not necessarily denote a spiritual
being, but is only a relative term meaning above or
high, but this respect toward something high or above

382 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
has created many imaginary deities as weU as those
having a human history. See also T. A. S. J., Vol.
XXIL, Part I., p. 55, note.
''''^" There remains something of the Shinto heart
after twelve hundred years of foreign creeds and dress.
The worship of the marvellous continues. . . . Ex
aggerated force is most impressive. ... So the
ancient gods, heroes, and wonders are worshipped
stiU. The simple countryfolk clap their hands, bow
their heads, mumble their prayers, and offer thQ frac
tion of a cent to the first European-buUt house they
see." — Philosophy in Japan, Past and Present, by Dr.
George Wm. Knox.
^M. E., p. 474. Honda the Samurai, pp. 256-
267. ^Kojiki, pp. 127, 186, 213, 217.
^ See S. and H., pp. 39, 76.
" The appearance of anything unusual at a particular
spot is held to be a sure sign of the presence of divin
ity. Near the spot where I live in Ko-ishi-kawa, Tokio,
is a small Miya, built at the foot of a very old tree,
that stands isolated on the edge of a rice-fieldf The
spot looks somewhat insignificant, but upon inquiring
why a shrine has been placed there, I was told that a
white snake had been found at the foot of the old
tree." . . .
" As it is, the religion of the Japanese consists in
the belief that the productive ethereal spirit, being ex
panded through the whole universe, every part is in
some degree impregnated with it ; and therefore, every
part is in some measure the seat of the Deity."
— Legendre's Progressive Japan, p. 258.
^ De Verflauwing der Grenzen, by Dr. Abraham

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 383
Kuyper, Amsterdam, 1892 ; translated by Eev. T.
Hendrik de Vries, in the Methodist Eeview, New
York, July-Sept., 1898.

CHAPTEE II
SHINTO: MYTHS AND EITUAL
' The scholar who has made profound researches in
aU departments of Japanese learning, but especially in
the literature of Shinto, is Mr. Ernest Satow, now the
British Minister at Tangier. He received the degree
of B.A. from the London University. After several
years' study and experience in China, Mr. Satow came
to Japan in 1861 as student-interpreter to the British
Legation, receiving his first driU under Eev. S. E.
BroAvn, D.D., author of A Grammar of Colloquial Jap
anese. To ceaseless industry, this scholar, to whom
the world is so much indebted for knowledge of Japan,
has added philosophic insight. Besides unearthing
documents whose existence was unsuspected, he has
cleared the way for investigators and comparative
students by practically removing the barriers reared
by archaic speech and writing. His papers in the
T. A. S. J., on The Shinto Shrines at Ise, the Eevival
of Pure Shinto, and Ancient Japanese Eituals, together
Avith his Hand-book for Japan, form the best collection
of materials for the study of the original and later
forms of Shinto.
^The scholar who above aU others has, with rare
acumen united to laborious and prolonged toil, illumi
nated the subject of Japan's chronology and early his-

384 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
tory is Mr. W. G. Aston of the British Civil Service. He
studied at the Queen's University, Ireland, receiving
the degree of M.A. He was appointed student-inter
preter in Japan, August 6, 1864. He is the author of
a Grammar of the Written Japanese Language, and has
been a student of the comparative history and speech
and writing of China, Korea, and Japan, during the
past thirty years. See his valuable papers in the
T. A. S. J., and the learned societies in Great Britain.
In his paper on Early Japanese History, T. A. S. J.,
Vol. XVI., pp. 39-75, he recapitulates the result of his
researches, in Avhich he is, in the main, supported by
critical native scholars, and by the late WiUiam Bram
sen, in his Japanese Chronological Tables, Tokio,
1880. He considers a.d. 461 as the first trustworthy
date in the Japanese annals. We quote from his paper.
Early Japanese History, T. A. S. J., Vol. XVI., p. 73.
1. The earliest date of the accepted Japanese Chro
nology, the accuracy of which is confirmed by external
evidence, is a.d. 461.
2. Japanese History, properly so called, can hardly
be said to exist previous to a.d. 500. (A cursory ex
amination leads me to think that the annals of the sixth
century must also be received with caution.)
8. Korean History and Chroliology are more trust
worthy than those of Japan during the period previous
to that date.
4. While there Avas an Empress of Japan in the
third century a.d., the statement that she conquered
Korea is highly improbable.
5. Chinese learning was introduced into Japan from
Korea 120 years later than, the date given in Japanese
Historj-.

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 385
6. The main fact of Japan having a predominant in
fiuence in some parts of Korea during the fifth century
is confirmed by the Korean and Chinese chronicles,
which, however, show that the Japanese accounts are
very inaccurate in matters of detaU.
^ BasU HaU Chamberlain, who has done the world of
learning such sig-nal service by his works on the Jap
anese language, and especially by his translation, with
critical introduction and commentary, of the Kojiki, is
an English gentleman, born at Southsea, Hampshire,
England, on the 18th day of October, 1830. His
mother was a daughter of the well-known traveUer and
author. Captain Basil Hall, E.N., and his father an
Admiral in the British Navy. He was educated for
Oxford, but instead of entering, for reasons of health,
he spent a number of years in western and southern
Europe, acquiring a knowledge of various languages
and literatures. His coming to Japan (in May, 1873)
Avas rather the result of an accident — a long sea voy
age and a trial of the Japanese climate having been
recommended. The country and the field of study
suited the invalid well. After teaching for a time in
the Naval College the Japanese honored themselves
and this scholar by making him, in April, 1886, Pro
fessor of Philology at the Imperial University. His
Avorks, The Classical Poetry of the Japanese, his
various grammars and hand-books for the acquisition
of the language, his Hand-book for Japan, his Aino
Studies, Things Japanese, papers in the T. A. S. J.
and his translation of the Kojiki are all of a high order
of value. They are marked by candor, fairness, in
sight, and a mastery of difficult themes that makes his
readers his constant debtors.
2.5

386 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
* " If the term ' Altaic ' be held to include Korean and
Japanese, then Japanese assumes prime importance as
being by far the oldest living representative of that
great linguistic group, its literature antedating by
many centuries the most ancient productions of the
Manchus, Mongols, Turks, Hungarians, or Finns."
— Chamberlain, Simplified Grammar, Introd., p. vi.
^ Corea, the Hermit Nation, pp. 13-14 ; Mr. Pom K.
Sob's paper on Education in Korea ; Eeport of U. S.
Commissioner of Education, 1890-91.
«T. A. S. J., Vol. XVI,,p. 74; Bramsen's Chrono
logical Tables, Introd., p. 34 ; T. J., p. 82.
' The Middle Kingdom, Vol. I., p. 581.
^ "The frog in the weU knows not the great ocean."
This proverb, so freely quoted throughout Chinese
Asia, and in recent years so much applied to them
selves by the Japanese, is of Hindu origin and is
found in the Sanskrit.
' This is shown Avith literary skill and power in a
modern popular Avork, the title of which, Dai Nippon
Kai-biyaku Yurai-iki, which, very freely indeed, may
be translated Instances of Divine Interposition in Be
half of Great Japan. A copy of this work was pre
sented to the Avriter by the late daimio of Echizen, and
Avas read with interest as containing the common peo
ple's ideas about their country and history. It was
published in Yedo in 1856, while Japan was still ex
cited over the visits of the American and European
fleets. On the basis of the information furnished in
this work General Le Gendre Avrote his influential book,
Progressive Japan, in Avhich a number of quotations
from the Kai-biyaku may be read.
'"In the Kojiki, pp. 101-104, Ave have the poetical

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 387
account of the abdication of the lord of Idzumo in
favor of the Yamato conqueror, on condition that the
latter should build a temple and have him honored
among the gods. One of the rituals contains the con
gratulatory address of the chieftains of Idzumo, on
their surrender to "the flrst Mikado, Jimmu Tenno."
See also T. J., p. 206.
" " The praying for Harvest, or Toshigoi no Mat-
suri, was celebrated on the 4th day of the 2d month of
each year, at the capital in the Jin-Gi-Kuan or office
for the Worship of the Shinto gods, and in the prov
inces by the chiefs of the local administrations. At
the Jin-Gi-Kuan there were assembled the ministers
of state, the functionaries of that office, the priests and
priestesses of 573 temples, containing 737 shrines,
Avhich were kept up at the expense of the Mikado's
treasury, while the governors of the provinces super
intended in the districts under their administration
the performance of rites in honor of 2,395 other
shrines. It would not be easy to state the exact num
ber of deities to Avhom these 8,182 shrines were dedi
cated. A glance over the list in the 9th and 10th
books of the Yengishiki shows at once that there were
many gods who were worshipped in more than half-a-
dozen different localities at the same time ; but exact
calculation is impossible, because in many cases only
the names of the temples are given, and we are left
quite in the dark as to the individuality of the gods
to whom they were sacred. Besides these 3,132
shrines, Avhich are distinguished as Shikidai, that is
contained in the catalogue of the Yengishiki, there
were a large number of enumerated shrines in temples
scattered all over the country, in every viUage or ham-

388 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
let, of which it was impossible to take any account,
just as at the present day there are temples of Hachi
man, Kompira, Tenjin sama, San-no sama- and Sen-
gen sama, as they are popularly called, wherever
tAventy or thirty houses are coUected together. The
shrines are classed as great and smaU, the respective
numbers being 492 and 2,640, the distinction being
tAvof old, firstly in the proportionately larger quantity
of offerings made at the great shrines, and secondly
that the offerings in the one case were an-anged upon
tables or altars, while in the other they were placed
on mats spread upon the earth. In the Yengishiki the
amounts and nature of the offerings are stated with
great minuteness, but it will be sufficient if the kinds
of articles offered are alone mentioned here. It will
be seen, by comparison with the text of the norito,
that they had varied somewhat since the date when
the ritual was composed. The offerings to a greater
shrine consisted of coarse woven silk (ashiginu), thin
silk of five different colors, a kind of stuff caUed slii-
dori or sliidzu, which is supposed by some to have
been a striped silk, cloth of broussonetia bark or
hemp, and a small quantity of the raw materials of
which the cloth was made, models of SAvords, a pair of
tables or altars (called yo-kura-oki and ya-kura-oki), a
shield or mantlet, a spear-head, a bow, a quiver, a
pair of stag's horns, a hoe, a fcAv measures of sake or
rice-beer, some haliotis and bonito, two measures of
kitcdi (supposed to be salt roe), various kinds of edi
ble seaAveed, a measure of salt, a sake jar, and a fcAv
feet of matting for packing. To each of the temples
of Watarai in Ise Avas presented in addition a horse ;
to the temple of the Harvest god Mitoshi no kami, a

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 389
white horse, cock, and pig, and a horse to each of nine
teen others.
" During the fortnight which preceded the celebra
tion of the service, two smiths and their journeymen,
and two carpenters, together with eight inbe [or he
reditary priests] were employed in preparing the appa
ratus and getting ready the offerings. It Avas usual
to employ for the Praying for Harvest members of
this tribe Avho held office in the Jin-Gi-Kuan, but if
the number could not be made up in that office, it was
supplied from other departments of state. To the
tribe of quiver-makers Avas intrusted the special duty
of weaving the quivers of wistaria tendrils. The ser
vice began at twenty minutes to seven in the morning,
by our reckoning of time. Aiter the governor of the
province of Yamashiro had ascertained that every
thing was in readiness, the officials of the Jin-Gi-Kuan
arranged the offerings ou the tables and below them,
according to the rank of the shrines for Avhich they
were intended. The large court of the Jin-Gi-Kuan
where the ser-Aice was held, called the Sai-in, measured
230 feet by 870. At one end were the offices and on
the west side were the shrines of the eight Protective
Deities in a row, surrounded by a fence, to the interior
of which three sacred archways (torii) gave access.
In the centre of the court a temporary shed Avas
erected for the occasion, in Avhich the tables or altars
Avere placed. The final preparations being uoav com
plete, the ministers of state, the virgin priestesses and
priests of the temples to which offerings Avere sent by
the Mikado, entered in succession, and took the places
severally assigned to them. The horses which formed
a part of the offerings were next brought in from the

390 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
Mikado's stable, and aU the congregation drew near,
while the reader recited or read the norito. This
reader Avas a member of the priestly family or tribe of
Nakatomi,. who traced their descent back to Ameno-
koyane, one of the principal advisers attached to the
sun-goddess's grandchild when he first descended on
earth. It is a remarkable evidence of the persistence
of certain ideas, that up to the year 1868 the nominal
prime-minister of the Mikado, after he came of age,
and the regent during his minority, if he had succeeded
young to the throne, always belonged to this tribe,
which changed its name from Nakatomi to FujiA\-ara in
the seventh century, aud was subsequently split up into
the Five Setsuke or governing families. At the end
of each section the priests all responded ' 0 ! ' which
Avas no doubt the equivalent of ' Yes ' in use in those
days. As soon as he had finished, the Nakatomi re
tired, and the offerings Avere distributed to the priests
for conveyance and presentation to the gods to whose
service they were attached. But a special messenger
was despatched with the offerings destined to the tem^
pies at Watarai. This formality ha-ving been com
pleted, the President of the Jin-Gi-Kuan gave the sig
nal for breaking up the assembly." — Ancient Japanese
Eituals, T, A. S. J., Vol. VIL, pp. 104-107.
'2 S. and H., p. 461
'^ Consult Chamberlain's literal translations of the
name in the Kojiki, and p. Ixv. of his Introduction.
'*The parallel betAveen the Hebrew and Japanese
accounts of light and darkness, day and night, before
the sun, has been noticed by several Aviriters. See the
comments of Hirata, a modern Shinto expounder. —
T. A. S, J., Vol. IIL, Appendix, p. 72.
" Westminster EevieAA', July, 1878, p, 19.

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 391
CHAPTEE III
"THE KOJIKI" AND ITS TEACHINGS
1 Kojiki, pp. 9-18 ; T. A. S. J,, Vol. IIL, Appendix,
p. 20.
2 M. E,, p. 43 ; McCUntock and Strong's Cyclopedia,
Art. Shinto ; in T. A. S. J., Vol. III., Appendix, is to be
found Mr. Satow's digest of the commentaries of the
modern Shinto revivalists ; in Mr. Chamberlain's trans
lation of the Kojiki, the text with abundant notes. See
also Mr. Twan-Lin's Account of Japan up to a.d. 1200,
by E. H. Parker. T. A. S. J., Vol. XXIL, Part I.
' " The various abstractions which figure at the
commencement of the ' Eecords ' (Kojiki) and of the
' Chronicles ' (Nihongi) were probably later groAvths,
and perhaps indeed Avere inventions of individual
priests." — Kojiki, Introd., p. Ixv. See also T. A. S. J.,
Vol. XXIL, Part I, p. 56. " Thus, not only is this part
of the Kojiki pure twaddle, but it is not even consist
ent twaddle."
' Kojiki, Section IX.
^ Dr. Joseph Edkins, D.D., author, of Chinese
Buddhism, who believes that the primeval religious
history of men is recoverable, says in Early Spread
of Eeligions Ideas, EspeciaUy in the Far East, p. 29,
" In Japan Amaterasu, ... in fact, as I sup
pose, Mithras written in Japanese, though the Japan
ese themselves are not aware of this etymology." Com
pare Kojiki, Introduction, pp. Ixv.-lxvii.
* Kojiki, p. xiii.

392 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
¦' T. A. S. J., Vol. IIL, Appendix, p. 67.
" E. Satow, Eevival of Pure Shinto, pp. 67-68.
' This curious agreement between the Japanese and
other ethnic traditions in locating " Paradise," the
origin of the human family and of civilization, at the
North Pole, has not escaped the attention of Dr. W.
F. Warren, President of Boston University, who makes
extended reference to it in his interesting- and sugges
tive book. Paradise Found : The Cradle of the Human
Eace at the North Pole ; A Study of the Prehistoric
Worid, Boston, 1885.
'° The pure Japanese numerals equal in number the
fingers ; with the borroAved Chinese terms vast amounts
can be expressed.
" This custom was later revived, T. A. S. J., pp. 28, 31.
Mitford's Tales of Old Japan, Vol. IL, p. 57 ; M. E., pp.
156, 238.
'^ See in Japanese Fairy World, " How the Sun-
Goddess was enticed out of her Cave." For the nar
rative see Kojiki, pp. 54-59 ; T. A. S. J., VoL IL, 128-
138. '3 See Chomei and Wordsworth, A Literary Par
aUel, by J. M. Dixon, T. A. S. J., Vol. XX., pp. 193-
205 ; Anthologie JajDonaise, by Leon de Eosny ;
Chamberlain's Classical Poetry of the Japanese ;
Suyematsti's Genji Monogatari, London, 1882.
'* Oftentimes in studying the ancient rituals, those
who imagine that the word Kami should be in all
cases translated gods, will be surprised to see what
puerility, bathos, or grandiloquence, comes out of an
attempt to express a very simple, it may be humiliating,
experience. '^ Mythology and Eeligions Worship of the Japan-

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 393
ese, Westminster Eeview, July, 1878 ; Ancient Japan
ese Eituals, T. A. S. J., Vols. VIL, IX. ; Esoteric Shinto,
by Percival LoweU, T. A. S. J., Vol. XXI.
"'Compare Sections IX. and. XXIII. of the Kojiki.
'' This indeed seems to be the substance of the mod
ern official expositions of Shinto and the recent Ee-
scripts of the Emperor, as Avell as of much popular
literature, including the manifestoes or confessions
found on the persons of men who'have " consecrated "
themselves as " the instruments of Heaven for punish
ing the wicked," i.e., assassinating obnoxious states
men. See The Ancient Eeligion, M. E., pp. 96-100 ;
The Japan Mail, passim.
'^ Eevival of Pure Shinto, pp. 25-88.
'3 Japanese Homes, by E. S. Morse, pp. 228-238,
note, p. 832.
* Chamberlain's Aino Studies, p. 12.
*' Geological Survey of Japan, by Benj. S. Lyman,
1878-9. ^The SheU Mounds of Omori ; and The Tokio
Times, Jan. 18, 1879, by Edward S. Morse ; Japanese
Fairy World, pp. 178, 191, 196.
*^ Kojiki, pp. 60-68.
«S. andH., pp. 58, 387, etc.
^'This study in comparative religion by a Japanese,
which cost the learned author his professorship in the
Tei-Koku Dai Gaku or Imperial University (lit. Theo
cratic Country Great Learning Place), has had a ten
dency to chill the ardor of native investigators. His
paper was first published in the Historical Magazine
of the University, but the wide publicity and popular
excitement followed only after republication, with com
ments by Mr. Taguchi, in the Keizai Zasshi (Econo-

394 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
mical Journal). The Shintoists denounced Professor
Kumi for "making our ancient religion a branch of
Christianity," and demanded and secured his " retire
ment " by the Government. See Japan Mail, April 2,
1892, p. 440.
28 T. A. S. J., Vol. XXL, p. 282.
^Kojiki, p. xxviii.
^ For the use of salt in modem " Esoteric " Shinto,
both in purification and for employment as of sala-
mandrine, see T. A. S. J., pp. 125, 128.
^ In the official census of 1893, nine Shinto sects are
named, each of which has its own Kwancho or Presid
ing Head, recognized by the government. The sec
tarian peculiarities of Shinto have been made the sub
ject of study by very few foreigners. Mr. Satow names
the following :
The Yui-itsu sect was founded by Yoshida Kane-
tomo. His signature appears as the end of a ten-vol
ume edition, issued a.d. 1503, of the Uturgies ex
tracted from the Yengishiki or Book of Ceremonial
Law, first published in the era of Yengi (or En-gi),
a.d. 901-922. He is supposed to be the one who
added the kana, or common vernacular script letters,
to the Chinese text and thus made the norito accessible
to the people. The little pocket prayer-books, folded
in an accordeon-like manner, «,re very cheap and popu
lar. The sect is regarded as heretical by strict Shin
toists, as the system Yuwiitsu consists "mainly of a
Buddhist superstructure on a Shinto foundation."
Yoshida applied the tenets of the Shingon or True
Word sect of Buddhists to the understanding and prac
tice of the ancient god- way.
The Suiga sect teaches a system which is a combina-

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 395
tion of Yuwiitsu and of the modem phUosophical
form of Confucianism as elaborated by Chu Hi, and
known in Japan as the Tei-shu philosophy. The
founder was Yamazaki Ansai, who Avas born in 1618
and died in 1682. By combining the forms of the
Yoshida sect, Avhich is based on the Buddhism of the
Shingon sect, Avith the materialistic philosophy of
Chu Hi, he adapted the old god-way to Avhat he
deemed modern needs.
In the Deguchi sect, the ancient belief is explained
by the Chinese Book of Changes (or Divination).
Deguchi Nobuyoshi, the founder, was god-warden or
kannushi of the Geiku or Outer Palace Temple at
Ise. H& promulgated his views about the year 1660,
basing them upon the book called Eki by the Japanese
and Yi-king by the Chinese. This Yi-king, Avhich
Professor Terrien de Lacouperie declares is only a
very ancient book of pronunciation of comparative
Accadian and Chinese Syllabaries, has been the cause
of incredible waste of labor, time, and brains in China
— enough to have diked the Yellow Eiver or drained
the swamps of the Empire. It is the chief basis of
Chinese superstition, and the greatest literary barrier to
the advance of civiUzation. It has also made much
mischief in Japan. Deguchi explained the myths of
the age of the gods by divination or eki, based on the
Chinese books. As late as 1898 there Avas published
in Tokio a work in Japanese, Avith good translation
into English, on Scientific Morality, or the practical
guidance of life by means of divination — The Taka-
shima Ekidan (or Monograph on the Eki of Mr. Taka-
shima), by S. Sugiura.
The Jikko sect, according to its representative at

396 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
the World's Parliament of Eeligions at Chicago, is
"the practical." It lays stress less upon speculation
and ritual, and more upon the realization of the best
teachings of Shintrj. It was founded by Hasegawa
Kakugio, who was bom at Nagasaki in 1541. Living
in a cave in Fuji-yama, " he received inspiration
through the miraculous power of the mountain." It
believes in one absolute Deity, often mentioned in the
Kojiki, which, self-originated, took the embodiment
of tAvo deities, one with the male nature and the other
female, though these two deities are nothing but forms
of the one substance and unite again in the absolute
deity. These gave birth to the Japanese Archipelago,
the sun and moon, the mountains and streams, the
divine ancestors, etc. According to the teachings of
this sect, the peerless mountain, Fuji, ought to be rev
erenced as the sacred abode of the divine lord, and as
" the brains of the whole globe." The believer must
make Fuji the example and emblem of his thought and
action. He must be plain aud simple, as the form of
the mountain, making his body and mind pure and
serene, as Fuji itself. The present world with all its
practical works must be respected more than the
future world. We must pray for the long life of the
country, lead a life of temperance and diligence, co
operating with one another in doing good.
Statistics of Shintoism.
From the official Eesume Statistique de I'Empire
du Japon, 1894. In 1891 there were nine administra
tive heads of sects ; 75,877 preachers, priests, and
shrine-keepers, with 1,158 male and 228 female stu-

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 397
dents. There were 163 national temples of superior
rank and 186,652 shrines or temples in cities and pre
fectures ; a total of 193,153, served by 14,700 persons
of the grade of priests. Most of the expenses, apart
from endoAvments and local contributions, are included
in the flrst item of the annual Treasury Budget, " Civil
List, Appanage and Shinto Temples."

CHAPTEE IV
THE CHINESE ETHICAL SYSTEM IN JAPAN
' " He was fond of saying that Princeton had never
originated a new idea ; but this rneant no more than
that Princeton Avas the advocate of historical Calvinism
in opposition to the modified and provincial Calvinism
of a later day." — Francis L. Patton, in Schaff-Herzog
Encyclopaedia, Article on Charles Hodge.
' We use Dr. James Legge's spelling, by whom these
classics have been translated into English. See Sacred
Books of the East, edited by Max Miiller.
3 The Canon or Four Classics has a somewhat va
ried literary history of transmission, collection, and
redaction, as weU as of exposition, and of criticism,
both "lower" and "higher." As arranged under the
Han Dynasty (b.c. 206-a.d. 23) it consisted of — I.
The Commentary of Tso Kiuming (a disciple Avho ex
pounded Confucius's book. The Annals of State of Lu) ;
II. The Commentary of Kuh-liang upon the same work
of Confucius ; III. The Old Text of the Book of His
tory ; IV. The Odes, collected by Mao Chang, to whom
is ascribed the text of the Odes as handed down to

398 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
the present day. The generally accepted arrangement
is that made by the mediseval schoolmen of the Sung
Dynasty (a.d. 960-1341), Cheng Teh Sio and Chu Hi,
in the twelfth century : I. The Great Learning ; II. The
Doctrine of the Mean ; III. Conversations of Confu
cius ; IV. The Sayings of Mencius.— C. E. M., pp. 806-
309. ' See criticisms of Confucius as an author, in Legge's
Eeligions of China, pp. 144, 145.
^ Eeligions of China, by James Legge, p. 140.
^ See Article China, by the author. Cyclopaedia of
Political Science, Chicago, 1881.
' This subject is critically discussed by Messrs.
Satow, Chamberlain, and others in their writings on
Shinto and Japanese history. On Japanese chronol
ogy, see Japanese Chronological Tables, by WUUam
Bramsen, Tokio, 1880, and Dr. David Murray's Japan
(p. 95), in the series Story of the Nations, New York.
^ The absurd claim made by some Shintoists that
the Japanese possessed an original native alphabet
called the Shingi (god-letters) before the entrance of
the Chinese or Buddhist learning in Japan, is refuted
by Aston, Japanese Grammar, p. 1 ; T. A. S. J., Vol. IIL,
Appendix, p. 77. Mr. Satow shows " their unmistakable
identity with the Corean alphabet."
' For the life, Avork, and tombs of the Chinese
scholars who fled to Japan on the fall of the Ming
Dynasty, see M. E., p. 298 ; and Professor E. W. Clem
ent's paper on The Tokugawa Princes of Mito, T. A.
S. J., Vol. XVIIL, and his letters in The Japan MaU.
10 " -^g have consecrated ourselves as the instruments
of Heaven for punishing the wicked raan," — from the
document submitted to the Yedo authorities, by the

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 399
assassins of Ii Kamon no Kami, in Yedo, March 23,
1861, and signed by seventeen men of the band. For
numerous other instances, see the voluminous litera
ture of the Forty-seven Eonins, and the Meiji political
literature (1868-1898), political and historical docu
ments, assassins' confessions, etc., contained in that
thesarus of valuable documents, The Japan Mail ;
Kinse Shiriaku, or Brief History of Japan, 1853-
1869, Yokohama, 1873, and Nihon Guaishi, translated
by Mr. Emest Satow ; Adams's History of Japan ;
T. A. S. J., Vol. XX., p. 145 ; Life and Letters of Yokoi,
Heishiro ; Life of Sir Harry Parkes, London, 1893,
etc., for proof of this assertion.
" For proof of this, as to vocabulary, see Professor
B. H. Chamberlain's Grammars and other philological
works; Mr. J. H. Gubbins's Dictionary of Chinese-
Japanese Words, with Introductiou, three vols., Tokio,
1892 ; and for change in structure, Eev. C. Munzinger,
on The Psychology of the Japanese Language in the
Transactions of the German Asiatic Society of Ja
pan. See also Mental Characteristics of the Japanese,
T. A. S. J., VoL XIX., pp. 17-37.
'2 See The Ghost of Sakura, in Mitford's Tales of
Old Japan, VoL IL, p. 17.
'3 M. E., 277-280. See an able analysis of Japanese
feudal society, by M. F. Dickins, Life of Sir Harry
Parkes, pp. 8-18 ; M. E., pp. 277-283.
" This subject is discussed in Professor Chamber
lain's works ; Mr. Percival Lowell's The Soul of the Far
East; Dr. M. L. Gordon's An American Missionary in
Japan; Dr. J. H.De Forest's The Influence of Panthe
ism, in The Japan Evangelist, 1894.
'^ T. A. S. J., Vol. XVIL, p. 96.

400 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
'8 The Forty Seven-Eonins, Tales of Old Japan, Vol.
I. ; Chiushiugura, by F. V. Dickens ; The Loyal Eo
nins, by Edward Greey ; Chiushiugura, translated by
Enouye. '^ See Dr. J. H. De Forest's article in the Andover
Eeview, May, June, 1893, p. 309. For detaUs and
instances, see the Japanese histories, novels, and
dramas ; M. E. ; Eein's Japan ; S. and H. ; T. A. S. J.,
etc. Life of Sir Harry Parkes, p. 11 et passim.
'8M. E., pp. 180-192, 419. For the origin and
meaning of hara-kiri, see T. J., pp. 199-201 ; Mit
ford's Tales of Old Japan, Vol. L, Appendix ; Adams's
History of Japan, story of Shimadzii Seiji.
" M. E., p. 133.
'^ For light upon the status of the Japauese family,
see F. 0. Adams's History of Japan, Vol. IL, p. 334 ;
Kinse Shiriaku, p. 187 ; Naomi Tamura, The Japan
ese Bride, Ncav York, 1898 ; E. H. House, Yone Santo,
A Child of Japan, Chicago, 1888 ; Japanese Girls and
Women, by Miss A. M. Bacon, Boston, 1891 ; T. J., Ar
ticle Woman, and in Index, Adoiation, Children, etc.;
M. E,, 1st ed., p. 585 ; Marriage in Japan, T. A. S. J.,
Vol. XIIL, p. 114 ; and papers in the German Asiatic
Society of Japan.
2' See Mr. F. W. Eastlake's papers in the Popular
Science Monthly.
^ See Life of Sir Harry Parkes, VoL IL, pp. 181-182.
"It is to be feared, however, that this reform [of the
Yoshiwara system], Uke many others in Japan, never
got beyond paper, for Mr. Norman in his recent book.
The Eeal Japan [Chap. XII.], describes a scarcely
modified system in full vigor." See also Japanese
Giris and Women, pp. 289-292,

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 401
^ See Pung Kwang Yu's paper, read at the Parlia
ment of EeUgions in Chicago, and The Chinese as
Painted by Themselves, by Colonel Tcheng-Ki-
Tong, New York and London, 1885. Dr. W. A. P.
Martin's scholarly book. The Chinese, New York, 1881,
in the chapter Eemarks on the Ethical PhUosophy of
the Chinese, gives in English and Chinese a Chart of
Chinese Ethics in w^hich the whole scheme of philos
ophy, ethics, and self-culture is set forth.
^ See an exceedingly clear, able, and accurate arti
cle on The Ethics of Confucius as Seen in Japan,
by the veteran scholar, Eev. J. H. De Forest, The An
dover Eeview, May, Jime, 1893. He is the authority
for the statements concerning non-attendance (in Old
Japan) of the husband at the Avife's, and older brother
at yoimger brother's funeral.
^A Japanese translation of Mrs. Caudle's Curtain
Lectures, in a Tokio morning newspaper " met with
instant and uniA-ersal approval," shoAving that Doug
las Jerrold's world-famous character has her counter
part in Japan, where, as a Japanese proverb declares,
" the tongue three inches long can kill a man six feet
high." Sir EdAvin Arnold and Mr. E. H. House, in
various Avritings, have idealized the admirable traits of
the Japanese Avoman. See also Mr. Lafcadio Hearn's
Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan, Boston, 1894 ; and
papers (The Eternal Feminine, etc.), iu the Atlantic
Monthly. '^ Summary of the Japanese Penal Codes, T. A. S. J.,
Vol. v., Part II. ; The Penal Code of Japan, and The
Code of Criminal Procedure of Japan, Yokohama.
^See T. A. S. J., Vol. XIIL, p. 114; the Chapter on
Marriage and Divorce, in Japanese Girls and Women,
26

402 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
pp. 57-84. The foUowing figures are from the Ee
sume Statistique de I'Empire du Japon, published an
nuaUy by the Imperial Government :

Makbiages,

Divorces,

Number,

Per 1,000
Persons.

Number,

Per 1,000
Persons.

1887,,

..334,149

8.55

110,859

2.84

1888 . ,

..330,246

8.34

109,175

2.76

1889..

. . 340,445

8.50

107,458

2.68

1890,.

..325,141

8.04

197,088

2.70

1891,,

..352,651

8.00

112,411

2.76

1892 , ,

-.348,489

8.48

113,498

2.76

^ This was strikingly brought out in the hundreds of
English compositions (written by students of the Im
perial University, 1872-74, describing the home or in
dividual life of students), examined and read by the
author. ^^Homo sum : humani nU a me aUenum puto —
Heauton Tomoroumenos, Act — , Scene 1, line 25, where
Chremes inquires about his neighbor's affairs. For
the golden rule of Jesus and the silver rule of Con
fucius, see Doolittle's Social Life of the Chinese.
^ " What you do not AA'ant done to yourselves, do
not do to others." Legge, The Eeligions of China, p.
137 ; Doolittle's Social" Life of the Chinese ; The Tes
tament of lyeyasii, Cap. LXXL, translated by J. C.
Lowder, Yokohama, 1874.
^' Die politische Bedeutung der amerikanischer Ex
pedition nach Japan, 1852, by Tetsutaro Yoshida,
Heidelberg, 1898 ; The United States and Japan (p.
39), by Inazo Nitobe, Baltimore, 1891 ; Matthew Cal
braith Perry, Chap, XXVIII.; T. J., Article Perry;
Life and Letters of S. Wells WiUiams, New York, 1889.

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 403
^ See Life of Matthew Calbraith Perry, pp. 368,
864. ^ Lee's Jerusalem Illustrated, p. 88.

CHAPTEE V
CONFUCIANISM IN ITS PHILOSOPHICAL FOEM
' See On the Early History of Printing in Japan, by
E. M. Satow, T. A. S. J., VoL X., pp. 1-83, 252-259 ;
The Jesuit Mission Press in Japan, by E. M. Satow
(privately printed, 1888), and Eeview of this mono
graph by Professor B. H. Chamberlain, T. A. S. J.,
VoL XVIL, pp. 91-100.
^The Tokugawa Princes of Mito, by Ernest W.
Clement, T. A. S. J., Vol. XVIIL, pp. 1-24, and Let
ters in The Japan Mail, 1889.
^ Effect of Buddhism on the Philosophy of the Sung
Dynasty, p. 818, Chinese Buddhism, by Eev. J. Ed
kins, Boston, 1880.
^C. E. M., p. 200; The Middle Kingdom, by S.
WeUs WUliams, Vol. IL, p. 174.
' C. E. M., p. 34. He was the boy-hero, who smashed
with a stone the precious water-vase in order to save
from droAvning a playmate who had tumbled iu, so
often represented in Chinese popular art.
"C. E. M., pp. 25-26 ; The Middle Kingdom, VoL L,
pp. 113, 540, 652-654, 677.
' This decade in Chinese history Avas astonishingly
Uke that of the United States from 1884 to 1894, in
M'hich the economical theories advocated in certain

404 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
journals, in the books Progress and Poverty, Look
ing Backward, and by the PopuUsts, have been so
widely read and discussed, and the attempts made to
put them into practice. The Chinese theorist of the
eleventh century, Wang Ngan-shih was "a poet and
author of rare genius." — C. E. M., p. 244.
^ John xxi. 25.
^ This is the opinion of no less capable judges than
Dr. George Wm. Knox and Professor BasU HaU
Chamberlain. '" The United States and Japan, pp. 25-27 ; Life of
Takano Choyei by Kato Sakaye, Tokio, 1888.
"Note on Japanese Schools of Philosophy, by T.
Haga, and papers by Dr. G. W. Knox, Dr. T. Inoue,
T. A. S. J., VoL XX., Part I.
'^ A religion, surely, with men like Yokoi Heishiro.
i^See pp. 110-113.
'^ Kinno — loyalty to the Emperor ; T. A. S. J., Vol.
XX., p. 147.
15 « Originally recognizing the existence of a Supreme
personal Deity, it [Confucianism] has degenerated into
a pantheistic medley, and renders worship to an im
personal anim.a mundi under the leading forms of
visible natm-e." — Dr. W. A. P. Martin's The Chinese,
p. 108.
'^ Ki, Ei, and Ten, Dr. George Wm. Knox, T. A. S. J.,
Vol. XX., pp. 155-177.
" T. J., p. 94.
'« T. A. S. J., VoL XX., p. 156.
'^ Matthew Calbraith Perry, p. 373 ; Japanese Life
of Yoshida Shoin, by Tokutomi, Tokio, 1894; Life
of Sir Harry Parkes, Vol. IL, p. 88.
* " The Chinese accept Confucius in every detail,

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 405
both as taught by Confucius and by his disciples. . . .
The Japanese recognize both religions [Buddhism and
Confucianism] equally, but Confucianism in Japan has
a direct bearing upon everything relating to human
affairs, especially the extreme loyalty of the people to
the emperor, while the Koreans consider it more use
ful in social matters than in any other department of
life, and hardly consider its precepts in their business
and mercantile relations."
" Although Confucianism is counted a religion, it is
really a system of sociology. . . . Confucius was a
moralist and statesman, and his disciples are moralists
and economists." — Education in Korea, by Mr. Pom
K Sob, of the Korean Embassy to the United States ;
Eeport of U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1890-91,
Vol. I., pp. 345-846.
^'In Bakin, who is the great teacher of the Japanese
by means of fiction, this is the idea always inculcated.

CHAPTEE VI
THE BUDDHISM OF NOETHEEN ASIA
' See his Introduction to the Saddharma Pundarika,
Sacred Books of the East, and his Buddhismus.
^Origin and Growth of Eeligion as IUustrated by
Buddhism ; Non-Christian Eeligions Systems— Buddh
ism. 5 The sketch of Indian thought here foUowing is
digested from material obtained from various works on
Buddhism and from the Histories of India. See the

406 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
excellent monograph of Eomesh Chunder Dutt, in
Epochs of Indian History, London and New York,
1893 ; and Outlines of The Mahayana, as Taught by
Buddha ("for circulation among the members of the
ParUament of Eeligions," and distributed in Chicago),
Tokio, 1893.
'' Dyaus-Pitar, afterward ^ei? Trarijp. See Century
Dictionary, Jupiter.
' Yoga is the root form of our word yoke, which at
once suggests the union of Iavo in one. See Yoga, in
The Century Dictionary.
* Dutt's History of India.
' The differences between the simple primitive nar
rative of Gautama's experiences in attaining Buddha
hood, and the richly embroidered story current in later
ages, may be seen by reading, first, Atkinson's Prince Si-
dartha, the Japanese Buddha, and then Arnold's Light
of Asia. See also S. and H., Introduction, pp. 70-84,
etc. Atkinson's book is refreshing reading after the ex
purgation and sublimation of the same theme in Sir
Edwin Arnold's Light of Asia.
^ Eomesh Chunder Dutt's Ancient India, p. 100.
^ Origin and Growth of Eeligion by T. Ehys Davids,
p. 28.
'"Job i. 6, HebreAv.
" Origin and Growth of Eeligion, p. 29.
'^ " Buddhism so far from tracing ' all things ' to
' matter ' as their original, denies the reality of matter,
but it nowwhere denies the reality of existence." — The
Phoenix, Vol, L, p. 156.
'^ See A Year among the Persians, by Edward G.
Browne, London, 1898.
" Dutt's History of India, pp. 153-156. See also

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 407
Mozoomdar's The Spirit of God, p. 805. " Buddhism,
though for a long time it supplanted the parent sys
tem, Avas the fulfilment of the prophecy of universal
peace, which Hinduism had made ; and when, in its
turn, it was outgrown by the instincts of the Aryans,
it had to leave India indeed forever, but it contrib
uted quite as much to Indian religion as it had ever
borrowed." 1= Korean Eepository, Vol. I., pp. 101, 131, 153 ; Sie-
bold's Nippon, Archiv ; Eeport of the U. S. Commis
sioner of Education, 1890-91, Vol. I., p. 846 ; DaUet's
Histoire del'EgUse de Coree, Vol. I., Introd., p. cxlv. ;
Corea, the Hermit Nation, p. 331.
'^ See Brian H. Hodgson's The Literature and His
tory of the Buddhists, in Journal of the Asiatic Society
of Bengal, which is epitomized in The Phoenix, Vol.
I. ; Beal's Buddhism in China, Chap. II. ; T. Ehys
Davids's Buddhism, etc. To Brian Houghton Hodgson,
(of Avhose death at the ripe age of ninety-three years we
read in Luzac's Oriental List) more than to any one
writer, are we indebted for our knowledge of Northern
or Mahayana Buddhism.
'' See the very accurate, clear, and full definitions and
explanations in The Century Dictionary.
"This subject is fully discussed by Professor T.
Ehys Davids in his compact Manual of Buddhism.
" See Century Dictionary.
^ Jap. Mon-ju. One of the most famous images of
this Bodhisattva is at Zenko-ji, Nagano. See Kern's
Saddharma Pundarika, p. 8, and the many references
to Manjusri in the Index. That Manjusri was the
legendary civilizer of Nepaul seems probable from the
following extract from Brian Hodgson :

408 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
"The Swayambhu Purana relates in substance as fol
lows : That formerly the valley of Nepaul was of cir
cular form, and fuU of very deep water, and that the
mountains confining it were clothed with the densest
forests, giving shelter to numberless birds and beasts.
Countless waterfowl rejoiced in the waters. . .
". . . Vipasyi, having thrice circumambulated
the lake, seated himself in the N. W. (Vayubona) side
of it, and, having repeated several mantras over the
root of a lotos, he threw it into the water, exclaiming,
' What time this root shall produce a flower, then,
from out of the flower, Swayambhu, the Lord of Agnish-
tha Bhuvana, shall be revealed in the form of flame ;
and then shall the lake become a cultivated and popu
lous country.' Having repeated these Avords, Vipasyi
departed. Long after the date of this prophecy, it was
fulfiUed according to the letter. . . .
". . . When the lake was dessicated (by the
sword of Manjusri says the myth — probably earth
quake) Karkotaka had a fine tank built for him to
dwell in ; and there he is still Avorshipped, also in the
cave-temple appendant to the great Buddhist shrine
of Swayambhu Nath. . . .
" . . . The Bodhisatwa above alluded to is Manju
Sri, whose native place is very far off, towards the north,
and is called Pancha Sirsha Parvata (which is situated
in Malia China Des). After the coming of Viswabhu
Buddha to Naga Vasa, Manju Sri, meditating upon
Avhat was passing in the Avorld, discovered by means of
his divine science that Swayambhu-jyotirupa, that is,
the self-existent, in the form of flame, was revealed out
of a lotos in the lake of Naga Vasa. Again, he reflected
within himself : ' Let me behold that sacred spot, and

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 409
my name avUI long be celebrated in the Avorld ; ' and
on the instant, collecting together his disciples, com
prising a multitude of the peasantry of the land, and a
Eaja named Dharmakar, he assumed the form of Vis-
wakarma, and Avith his two Devis (Avives) and the per
sons above-mentioned, set out upon the long journey
from Sirsha Parvata to Naga Vasa. There having ar
rived, and having made puja to the self-existent, he
began to circumambulate the lake, beseeching all the
while the aid of SAvayambhu in prayer. In the second
circuit, Avheu he had reached the central barrier moun
tain to the south, he became satisfied that that Avas the
best place Avhereat to draw off the Avaters of the lake.
Immediately he struck the mountain with his scimitar,
when the sundered rock gave passage to the Avaters,
and the bottom of the lake became dry. He then de
scended from the mountain, and began to Avalk about
the vaUey in all directions." — The Phoenix, Vol. II.,
pp. 147-148.
^'Jap. KAvannon, god or goddess of mercy, in his
or her manifold forms. Thousand-handed, Eleven-faced,
Horse-headed, Holy, etc.
* Or, The Lotus of the Good Law, a mystical name
for the cosmos. " The good law is made plain by Aoav-
ers of rhetoric." See Bernouf and Kern's translations,
and Edkin's Chinese Buddhism, pp. 43, 214. Transla
tions of this work, so influential in Japanese Buddhism,
exist in French, German, and English. See Sacred
Books of the East, Vol. XXL, by Professor H. Kern,
of Leyden University. In the Introduction, p. xxxix.,
the translator discusses age, authorship, editions, etc.
Bunyiu Nanjio's Short History of the Twelve Jap-
ananese Buddhist Sects, pp. 132-184. Beal in his

410 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
Catena of Buddhist Scriptures, pp. 389-396, has trans
lated Chapter XXIV.
^ At the great Zenkoji, a temple of the Tendai sect,
at Nagano, Japan, dedicated to three Buddhist divin
ities, one of whom is Kwannon (Avalokitesvara), the
rafters of the vast main hall are said to number 69,384,
iu reference to the number of Chinese characters con
tained in the translation of the Saddharma Pundarika.
^ " The third (collection of the Tripitaka) was . . .,
made by Manjusri and Maitreya. This is the col
lection of the Mahayana books. Though it is as clear
or bright as the sun at midday yet the men of the
Hinayana are not ashamed of their inability to know
them and speak evil of them instead, just as the Con
fucianists call Buddhism a law of barbarians, Avithout
reading the Buddhist books at all." — B. N., p. 51.
^^ See the writings of Brian Hodgson, J. Edkins, E.
J. Eitel, S. Beal, T. Ehys Davids, Bunyiu Nanjio,
etc. ^•^ See Chapter VIII. in T. Ehys Davids's Buddhism,
a book of great scholarship and marvellous condensa
tion. ^ Davids's Buddhism, p. 206. Other illustrations of
the growth of the dogmas of this school of Buddhism
we select from Brian Hodgson's Avritings.
1. The line of division between God and man, and
between gods and man, was removed by Buddhism.
" Genuine Buddhism never seems to contemplate any
measures of acceptance with the deity; but, overleap
ing the barrier between finite and infinite mind, urges
its followers to aspire by their own efforts to that di
vine perfectibility of Avhicli it teaches that man is ca
pable, and by. attaining Avhich mau becomes God — and

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 411
thus is explained both the quiescence of the imaginary
celestial, and the plenary omnipotence of the real
Manushi Buddhas — thus, too, we must account for the
fact that genuine Buddhism has no priesthood ; the
saint despises the priest ; the saint scorns the aid of
mediators, Avhether on earth or in heaven ; ' conquer
(exclaims the adept or Buddha to the novice or Bodlii-
Sattwa) — conquer the importunities of the body, urge
yom- mind to the meditation of abstraction, and you
shall, in time, discover the great secret (Sunyata) of
nature : knoAv this, and you become, on the instant,
whatever priests have feigned of Godhead — you be
come identified with Prajna, the sum of aU the poAver
aud aU the Avisdom which sustain and govern the Avoiid,
and which, as they are manifested out of matter, must
belong solely to matter ; not indeed in the gross and
palpable state of pravritti, but in the archetypal and
pure state of nirvritti. Put off, therefore, the vile,
pravrittika necessities of the body, and the no less vile
affections of the mind (Tapas) ; urge your thought into
pure abstraction (Dhyana), and then, as assuredly you
can, so assuredly you shall, attain to the Avisdom of a
Buddha (Bodhijnana), and become associated Avitli the
eternal unity and rest of nirvritti.' " — The Phoenix, Vol.
L, p. 194.
2. A specimen of " esoteric " and " exoteric " Buddh
ism ; — the Buddha Tathagata.
" And as the wisdom of man is, in its origin, but an
effluence of the Supreme wisdom (Prajna) of nature, so
is it perfected by a refiuence to its source, but without
loss of individuality ; whence Prajna is feigned in the
exoteric system to be both the mother and the Avife of
all the Buddhas, 'janani sarva Buddhdndm.,' and ' Jina-

412 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
sundari ; ' for the efflux is typified by a birth, and the
reflux by a marriage.
" The Buddha is the adept in the wisdom of Buddh
ism (Bodhijndna) whose first duty, so long as he remains
on earth, is to communicate his wisdom to those who
are willing to receive it. These Avilling learners are
the ' Bodhisattwas,' so called from their hearts being
inclined to the wisdom of Buddhism, and ' Sanghas,'
from their companionship Avith one another, and with
their Buddha or teacher, in the Vihdras or ccenobitical
establishments." " And such is the esoteric interpretation of the third
(and inferior) member of the Prajniki Triad. The
Bodhisattwa or Sangha continues to be such until he
has surmounted the very last grade of that vast and
laborious ascent by which he is instructed that he can
' scale the heavens,' and pluck immortal wisdom from
its resplendent source : Avhich achievement performed,
he becomes a Buddha, that is, an Omniscient Being,
aud a Tathdgata — a title implying the accomplishment
of that gradual increase in Avisdom by which man be
comes immortal or ceases to be subject to transmigra
tion,"— Tlie Phoenix, Vol. L, pp. 194, 195.
3. IsGodaU, or is aU God?
" What that grand secret, that ultimate truth, that
single reality, is, whether all is God, or God is aU,
seems to be the sole propositum. of the oriental philo
sophic reUgionists, who have all alike sought to dis
cover it by taking the high priori road. That God is
all, appears to be the prevalent dogmatic determina
tion of the Brahmanists ; that all is God, the preferen
tial but sceptical solution of the Buddhists ; and, in a
large view, I believe it would be difficult to indicate

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 413
any further essential difference between their theoretic
systems, both, as I conceive, the unquestionable
growth of the Indian soil, and both founded upon
transcendental speculation, conducted in the very
same style and manner." — The Phoenix, Vol. IL, p.
45. 4. Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
" In a philosophical light, the precedence of Buddha
or of Dharma indicates the theistic or atheistic school.
With the former, Buddha is intellectual essence, the
efficient cause of all, and underived. Dharma is ma
terial essence, the plastic cause, and underived, a co
equal biunity Avith Buddha ; or else the plastic cause,
as before, but dependent and derived from Buddha.
Sangha is derived from, and compounded of, Buddha,
and Dharma, is their collective energy in the state of
action ; the immediate operative cause of creation, its
type or its agent. With the latter or atheistic schools,
Dharma is Diva natura, matter as the sole entity, in
vested with intrinsic activity and inteUigence, the effi
cient and material eause of all.
" Buddha is derivative from Dharma, is the active
and intelligent force of nature, first put off from it and
then operating upon it. Sangha is the result of that
operation ; is embryotic creation, the type and sum of
all specific forms, which are spontaneously evolved
from the union of Buddha with Dharma." — The Phoe
nix, VoL IL, p. 12.
5. The mantra or sacred sentence best known in the
Buddhadom and abroad.
" Amitabha is the fourth Dhyani or celestial Buddha :
Padma-pani his .^Eon and executive minister. Pad-
ma-pani is the prcesens Divus and creator of the exist-

414 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
ing system of worlds. Hence his identification with
the third member of the Triad. He is figured as a
graceful youth, erect, and bearing in either hand a
lotos and a jewel.. The last circumstance explains the
meaning of the celebrated Shadakshari Mantra, or six-
lettered invocation of him, viz., Om ! Manipadme horn !
of which so many corrupt versions and more corrupt
interpretations have appeared from Chinese, Tibetan,
Mongolian, and other sources. The mantra in ques
tion is one of three, addressed to the several members
of the Triad. 1. Om sarva vidye hom. 2. Om Praj-
ndye hom. 3. Om mani-padme hom. 1. The mystic
triform Deity is in the all-Avise (Buddha). 2. The
mystic triform Deity is in Prajna (Dharma). 3. The
mystic triform Deity is in him of the jewel and lotos
(Sangha). But the prsesens Divus, Avhether he be Au
gustus or Padma-pani, is everything with the many.
Hence the notoriety of this mantra, Avhilst the others
are hardly ever heard of, and have thus remained
unknown to our travellers." — The Phoenix, Vol. IL,
p. 64.
* " Nine centuries after Buddha, Maitreya (Miroku
or Ji-shi) came down from the Tushita heaven to the
lecture-hall in the kingdom of Ayodhya (A-ya-sha) in
Central India, at the request of the Bodhisattva
Asamga (Mu-jaku) and discoursed five Sastras, 1,
Yoga-karya-bhumi-sastra (Yu-ga-shi-ji-ron), etc. . . .
After that, the two great Sastra teachers, Asanga
and Vasubandhu (Se-shin), who were brothers, com
posed many Sastras (Eon) and cleared up the mean
ing of the Mahayana " (or Greater Vehicle, canon of
Northern Buddhism).— B. N., p. 32.
* Buddhism, T. Ehys Davids, pp. 206-211.

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 415
* Prayer- wheels in Japan are used by the Tendai
and Shingon sects, but Avithout written prayers at
tached, and rather as an Ulustration of the doctrine of
cause and effect (ingwa) ; the prayers being usually of
fered to Jizo the merciful. — S. and H., p. 29 ; T. J., p.
360. ^' For this see Edkins's Chinese Buddhism ; Eitel's
Three Lectures, and Hand - book ; Eev. S. Beal's
Buddhism, and A Catena of Buddhist Scriptures from
the Chinese ; The Eomantic Legend of Sakya Buddha,
from the Chinese ; Texts from the Buddhist canon
commonly knoAvn as the Dhammapeda ; Notes on
Buddhist Words and Phrases, the Chrysanthemum,
Vol. I. ; The Phoenix, Vols. I.-III.
See, also, a spirited sketch of Ancient Japan, by
Frederick Victor Dickins, in the Life of Sir Harry
Parkes, Vol. II. , pp. 4-14.
32 S. and H., pp. 289, 293 ; Chamberiain's Hand-book
for Japan, p. 220 ; Summer's Notes on Osaka, T, A. S. J.,
Vol. VIL, p. 882 ; Buddhism, and Traditions Con
cerning its Introduction into Japan, T. A. S. J., Vol.
XIV., p. 78.
^S. andH., p. 844.
*'T. J., p. 73.
3^ Vairokana is the first or chief of the five personi
fications of Wisdom, and in Japan the idol is espe
cially noticeable in the temples of the Tendai sect. —
"The Action of Vairokana, or the great doctrine of
the highest vehicle of the secret union," etc., B. N., p.
75. ^S. aud H., p. 390 ; B. N., p. 29.
^ " Hinduism stands for philosophic spirituality and
emotion, Buddhism for ethics and humanity, Chris-

416 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
tianity for fulness of God's incarnation in man, whUe
Mohammedanism is the champion of uncompromising-
monotheism." — F. P. C. Mozoomdar's The Spirit of
God, Boston, 1894, p. 305.

CHAPTEE VII
RIYOBU, OE MIXED BUDDHISM
' Is not something similar frankly attempted in Eev.
Dr, Joseph Edkins's The Early Spread of Eeligions
Ideas in the Far East (London, 1893) ?
» M. E., p. 252 ; Honda the Samurai, pp. 193-194.
° See The Lily Among Thoms, A Study of the Bibli
cal Drama Entitled the Song of Songs (Boston 1890),
in which this subject is glanced at.
"¦ See The Eeligion of Nepaul, Buddhist Philosophy,
and the writings of Brian Hodgson in The Phoenix,
Vols. I., IL, III.
^ See Century Dictionary, Yoga ; Edkins's Chinese
Buddhism, pp. 169-174 ; T. Ehys Davids's Buddhism,
pp. 206-211 ; Index of B. N., under Vagrasattwa ; S.
and H., pp. 85-87.
" T. J., p. 226 ; Kojiki, Introduction.
'' See in the Journal of the Eoyal Asiatic Society,
1893, a very valuable paper by Mr. L. A. Waddell, on
The Northern Buddhist Mythology, epitomized in the
Japan Mail, May 5, 1894.
^ See Catalogue of Chinese and Japanese Paintings
in the British Museum, and The Pictorial Arts of
Japan, by William Anderson, M.D.
" Anderson's Catalogue, p. 24.

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 417
'" S. and H., p. 415 ; Chamberlain's Hand-book for
Japan ; T. J. ; M. E,, p. 162, etc.
" The names of Buddhist priests and monks are
usuaUy different from those of the laity, being taken
from events in the life of Gautama, or his original dis
ciples, passages in the sacred classics, etc. Among
some personal acquaintances in the Japanese priest
hood were such names as Lift-the-Kettle, Take-Hold-
of-the-Dipper, DrivelUng-Drunkard, etc. In the raci-
ness, oddity, literalness, realism, and close connection
of their names with the scriptm-es of their system, the
Buddhists quite equal the British Puritans.
'^ Kern's Saddharma-Pundarika, pp. 311, 314 ; Da
vids's Buddhism p. 208 ; The Phoenix, Vol. I., p. 169 ;
S. and H., p. 502 ; Du Bose's Dragon, Demon, and
Image, p. 407 ; Fuso Mimi Bukuro, p. 134 ; Hough's
Corean Collections, Washington, 1893, p. 480, plate
xxviU. '3 Japan in History, Folk-lore and Art, pp. 86, 80-
88 ; A Japanese Grammar, by J. J. Hoffman, p. 10 ; T.
J., pp. 465-470.
" This is the essence of Buddhism, and was for cen
turies repeated and learned by heart throughout the
empire : " Love and enjoyment disappear,
What in our world endnretli here?
E'en should this day in oblivion be rolled,
'Twas only a vision that leaves me cold."
'^ This legend suggests the mediseval Jewish story,
that Ezra, the scribe, could Avrite with five pens at
once ; Hearn's Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan, pp, 29-
33. 27

418 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
'8 Brave Little HoUand, and What She Taught Us,
p. 124,
'' T, J., pp. 75, 342 ; Chamberlain's Hand-book for
Japan, p. 41 ; M. E., p. 162.
'^ T. A. S. J., Vol. IL, p. 101 ; S. and H., p. 176.
" It was for lifting with his walking-stick the curtain
hanging before the shrine of this Kami that Arinori
Mori, formerly H.I.J.M. Minister at Washington and
London, Avas assassinated by a Shinto fanatic, Februai-}'
11, 1889 ; T. J., p. 229 ; see Percival LoAveU's paper in
the Atlantic Monthly.
2» See Mr. P. LoweU's Esoteric Shinto, T. A. S. J.,
VoL XXL, pp. 165-167, and his "Occult Japan."
2' S. and H., Japau, p. 83.
22 See the Author's Introduction to the Arabian
Nights' Entertainments, Boston, 1891.
'-^ B. N., Index aud pp. 78-108 ; Edkins's Chinese
Buddhism, p. 169.
2' SatoAv's or Chamberlain's Guide-books furnish
hundreds of other instances, and describe temples in
Avhich the renamed kami are Avorshipped.
^ S. aud H., p. 70.
2"^ M. E., pp. 187, 188 ; S. and H., pp. 11, 12.
''" San Kai Ei (Mountain, Sea, and Land). This
Avork, recommended to me by a learned Buddhist priest
in Fukui, I had translated and read to me by a Buddhist
of the Shin Shu sect. In like manner, even Christian
Avriters in Jajjan have occasionally endeaA-ored to ration
alize the legends of Shinto, see Kojiki, p. liii., where
Mr. T. Goro's Shinto Shin-ron is referred to. I have to
thank my friend Mr. E. Watanabe, of Cornell Univer
sity, for reading to me Mr. Takahashi's interesting but
uuconvinciug monographs on Shinto and Buddhism.

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 419
^ T. J., p. 402 ; Some Chinese Ghosts, by Lafcadio
Hearn, p. 129.
28 S. and H., Japan, p. 397 ; Classical Poetry of the
Japanese, p. 201, note.
^ The Japanese word Eyo means both, and is ap
plied to the eyes, ears, feet, things correspondent or in
pairs, etc. ; bu is a term for a set, kind, group, etc.
=' Eem, p. 432 ; T, A. S. J., Vol. XXL, pp. 241-270 ;
T. J., p. 389.
^- The Chrysanthemum, Vol. I., p. 401.
3^ Even the Taketori Monogatari (The Bamboo Cut
ter's Daughter), the oldest and the best of the Japanese
classic romances is (at least in the text and form uoav
extant) a warp of native ideas with a Avoof of Buddhist
notions. '*Mr. Percival Lowell argues, in Esoteric Shinto,
T. A. S. J., Vol. XXL, that besides the habit of pilgrim
ages, fire-walking, and god-possession, other practices
supposed to be Buddhistic are of Shinto origin.
^ The native literature illustrating Eiyobuism is not
extensive. Mr. Ernest Satow in the American Cyclo-
psedia (Japan : Literature) mentions several volumes.
The Teuchi Eeiki Noko, in eighteen books contains a
mixture of Buddhism and Shinto, aud is ascribed by
some to Shotoku aud by others to Kobo, but noAv
literary critics ascribe these, as well as the books
Jimbetsuki and Tenshoki, to be modern forgeries by
Buddhist priests. The Kogoshiui, Avritten in a.d. 807,
professes to preserve fragments of ancient tradition not
recorded in the earlier books, but the main object is
that which Ues at the basis of a vast mass of Japanese
literature, namely, to prove the author's oavu descent
from the gods. The Yuiitsu Shinto Miyoho Yoshiu,

420 TUE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
in two volumes, is designed to prove that Shinto and
Buddhism are identical in their essence. Indeed, al
most all the treatises on Shinto before the seventeenth
century maintained this view. Certain books like the
Shinto Shu, for centuries popular, and well received
even by scholars, are uoav condemned on account of
their confusion of the two religions. One of the most
interesting works which we have found is the San Kai
Ei, to which reference has been made.
^ T. J., p. 224.
^ " Human life is but fifty years," Japanese Proverb ;
M. E., p. 107.
^ Chamberlain's Classical Poetry of the Japanese, p.
130. "¦' S. and H., p. 416.
^ Things Chinese, by J. Dyer Ball, p. 70 ; see also
Edkins and Eitel.
"" The Japan Weekly Mail of AprU 28, 1893, trans
lating and condensing an article from the Bukkyo, a
Buddhist newspaper, gives the results of a Japanese
Buddhist student's tour through China — " Taoism
prevails everyAvhere. . . . Buddhism has decayed
and is almost dead."
"'2 Vaisramana is a Deva who guarded, praised, fed
with heavenly food, and answered the questions of the
Chinese Do-sen (608-907 a.d.) who founded the Eisshu
or Vinaya sect. — B. N., p. 25.
"•3 Anderson, Catalogue, pp, 29-45.
*^ Some of these are pictured in Aime Humbert's
Japon lUustre, and from the same pictures reproduced
by electro-plates which, from Paris, have transmigrated
for a Avhole generation through the cheaper books on
Japan, in every European language.

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 421
CHAPTEE VIII
NORTHERN BUDDHISM IN ITS DOCTEINAL EVOLUTIONS
' On the Buddhist canon, see the writings of Beal,
Spence Hardy, T. Ehys Davids, Bunyiu Nanjio, etc.
2 Edkins's Chinese Buddhism, pp. 48, 108, 214 ; Clas
sical Poetry of the Japanese, p. 178.
3 See T. A. S. J., VoL XIX., Part I., pp. 17-37 ; The
Soul of the Far East ; aud the writings of Chamber
lain, Aston, Dickins, Munzinger, etc.
^ Much of the information as to history and doctrine
contained in this chapter has been condensed from
Mr. Bunyiu Nanjio's A Short History of the Twelve
Japanese Buddhist Sects, translated out of the Japau
ese into English. This author, besides visiting the old
seats of the faith in China, studied Sanskrit at Oxford
Avith Professor Max MuUer, and catalogued in English
the Tripitaka or Buddhist canon of China and Japan,
sent to England by the ambassador lAvakura. The
nine reverend gentlemen who wrote the chapters and
introduction of the Short History are Messrs. Ko-cho
Ogurusu, and Shu-Zan Emura of the Shin sect ; Eev.
Messrs. Sho-hen Ueda, and Dai-ryo Takashi, of the
Shin-gon Sect ; Eev. Messrs. Gyo-kai Fukuda, Ken-
ko Tsuji, Eenjo Akamatsu, and Ze-jun Kobayashi of
the Jo-do, Zen, Shin, and Nichiren sects, respectively.
Though execrably printed, and the English only toler
able, the work is invaluable to the student of Japanese
Buddhism. It has a historical introduction and a
Sanskrit-Chinese Index, 1 vol., pp. 172, Tokio, 1887.
Substantially the same work, translated into French,

422 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAJS
is Le Bouddhisme Japonais, by Eyauon Fujishima,
Paris, 1889. Satow and Hawes's Hand-book for Japan
has brief but valuable notes in the Introduction, and,
like Chamberlain's continuation of the same work,
is a storehouse of illustrative matter. Edkins's and
Eitel's works on Chinese Buddhism have been very
helpful. ^ M. Abel Eemusat published a translation of a Chi
nese PUgrim's travels in 1836 ; M. Stanislais Julien
completed his volume on Hiouen Thsang in 1858 ; and
in 1884 Eev. Samuel Beal issued his Travels of Fah-
Hian and Sung-Yun, Buddhist Pilgrims from China to
India (400 a.d. and 518 a.d.). The latter work contains
a map.
^B. N., p. 3.
' B. N., p. 11.
^ Three hundred and twenty mUUon years. See Cen
tury Dictionary.
^ See the paper of Eev. Sho-hen Ueda of the Shin
gon sect, in B. N,, pp. 20-31 ; and E. Fujishima's Le
Bouddhisme Japonais, pp. xvi., xvii, from which most
of the information here given has been derived.
'"M. E., p. 383 ; S. and H., pp. 23, 30.
The image of Binzuru is found in many -Japanese
temples to-day, a famous one being at Asakusa, in
Tokio. He is the supposed healer of all diseases.
The image becomes entirely rubbed smooth by devo
tees, to the extinguishment of aU features, lines, and
outlines. " Davids's Buddhism, pp. 180, 200 ; S. and H., pp.
(87) 389, 416.
'2B. N., pp. 32-43.
'8 B. N„ pp. 44-56.

" Japanese Fairy World, p. 282 ; Anderson's Cata
logue, pp. 103-7.
1= B. N., p. 62.
'« Pf oiindes, Fuso Mimi Bukuro, p. 102.
"B. N., p. 58. See also The Monist for January,
1894, p. 168.
'^ " Tien Tai, a spot abounding iu Buddhist antiqui
ties, the earUest, and except Puto the largest and rich
est seat of that religion in eastern China. As a mo
nastic establishment it dates from the fourth century."
— Edkins's Chinese Buddhism, pp. 187-142.
"S. and H., p. 87. See the paper read at the Par
liament of Eeligions by the Zen bonze Ashitsu of Hi-
yeisan, the poem of Eight Eeverend Shaku Soyen, and
the paper on The Fundamental Teachings of Buddh
ism, in The Monist for January, 1894 ; Japan As We
Saw It, p. 297.
2° See Century Dictionary, mantra.
2' See Chapter XX. Ideas and Symbols in Japan : in
History, Folk-lore, and Art. Buddliist tombs (go-rin)
consist of a cube (earth), sphere (water), pyramid
(fire), crescent (wind), and flame-shaped stone (ether),
forming the go-rin or five-blossom tomb, tyi:)ifying the
five elements.
22B. N., p. 78.
^ To put this dogma into intelligible English is, as
Mr. Satow says, more difficult than to comprehend the
whole doctrine, hard as that may be. " Dai Nichi Ni-
yorai (Vairokana) is explained to be the collectivity of
aU sentient beings, acting through the mediums of
Kwan-non, Ji-zo, Mon-ju, Shaka, and other influences
which are popularly believed to be self-existent dei
ties." In the diagram called the eight-leaf enclosure,

424 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
by Avhich the mysteries of Shingon are explained,
Maha- Vairokana is in the centre, and on the eight
petals are such names as Amitabha, Manjusri, Mait
reya, and Avalokitesvara ; in a word, all are purely
speculative beings, phantoms of the brain, the mush
rooms of decayed Brahmanism, and the mould of
primitive Buddhism disintegrated by scholasticism.
2' S. and H., p. 81.
2»B. N., p. 115.
2"^ Here let me add that in my studies of oriental and
ancient religion, I have never found one real Trinity,
though triads, or tri-murti, are common. None of
these when carefully analyzed yielc^ the Christian idea
of the Trinity.

CHAPTEE IX
THE BUDDHISM OF THE JAPANESE
' Tathagata is one of the titles of the Buddha, mean
ing " thus come," i.e.. He comes bringing human nat
ure as it truly is, Avith perfect knoAvledge and high in
telligence, and thus manifests himseU'. Amitabha is
the Sanskrit of Amida, or the deification of boundless
light. 2 B. N., p. 104.
^ Literally, I yield to, or I adore the Boundless or
the Immeasurable Buddha.
"¦A Chinese or Japanese volume is much smaller
than the average printed volume in Europe.
^Legacy of ly^j^asii. Section xxviii. Doctrinally,
this famous document, Avritten probably long after

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 425
lyeyastl's death and canonization as a gongen, is a
mixture or Riyobu of Confucianism and Buddhism.
*At first glance a forcible illustration, since the
Japanese proverb declares that " A sea-voyage is an
inch of hell." And yet the original saying of Eyii-ju,
now proverbial iu Buddhadom, referred to the ease of
saihng over the water, compared with the difficult^' of
sm-mounting the obstacles of land travel in countries
not yet famous for good roads. . See B. N., p. 111.
' Fuso Mimi Bukm-o, p. 108 ; Descriptive Notes on
the Eosaries as used by the different Sects of Buddh
ists in Japan, T. A. S. J., Vol. IX., pp. 173-182.
8B. N., p. 122.
^S. andH., p. 361,
'" S. and H., pp. [90-92] ; Unbeaten Tracks in Japan,
Vol. IL, pp. 242-253.
" These three sutras are those most in favor Avith
the Jo-do sect also, they are described, B. N., 104-106,
and their tenets are referred to on pp. 260, 261.
'2 For modern statements of Shin tenets and prac
tices, see E. J. Eeed's Japan, Vol. I., pp. 8^86 ; The
Chrysanthemum, April, 1881, pp. 109-115 ; Unbeaten
Tracks in Japan, Vol. IL, 242-246 ; B. N., 122-131.
Edkins's EeUgion in China, p. 158. The Chrysan
themum, April, 1881, p. 115.
'3 S. and H., p. 861 ; B. N., pp. 105, 106. Toward
the end of the Amitayus-dhyana sutra, Buddha says :
" Let not one's voice cease, but ten times complete
the thought, and repeat Namo'mitabhaya Buddhfiya
(Namu Amida Butsu) or adoration to Amitbaha
Buddha." '*M. E., pp. 164-166.
'^ Schaff's Encyclopcedia, Article, Buddhism.

420 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
'"On the Tenets of the Shin Shiu, or "True Sect"
of Buddhists, T. A. S. J., VoL XIV., p. 1.
" The Gobunsho, or Ofumi, of Eennyo Shonin,
T. A. S. J., VoL XVIL, pp. 101-148.
''At the gorgeous services iu honor of the founder
of the great Higashi Hongwanji Western Temple of
the Original Vow at Asakusa, Tokio, November 21 to
28, annually, the Avomen attend Avearing a head-dress
called "horn-hider," which seems to have been named
in allusion to a Buddhist text which says : " A wom
an's exterior is that of a saint, but her heart is that of
a demon." — Chamberlain's Hand-book for Japan, p.
82; T. A. S. J., Vol. XVIL, pp. 106, 141; Sacred
Books of the East, VoL XXL, pp. 251-254.
'^Eeview of Buddhist Texts from JajDan, The Na
tion, No. 875, April 6, 1882. "The Mahayana or
Great Vehicle (we might fairly render it 'highfalut-
in ') school. . . . Filled as these countries [Ti
bet, China, Japan] are Avith Buddhist monasteries, aud
priests, and nominal adherents, and abounding in volu
minous translations of the Sanskrit Buddhistic Utera
ture, little understood and Avellnigh unintelligible (for
neither country has had the independence and men
tal force to produce a literature of its own, or to add
anything but a chapter of decay to the history of this
religion)  "
2° M. E., pp. 164, 165 ; B. N., pp. 132-147 ; Mitford's
Tales of Old Japan, Vol. IL, pp. 125-134.
2' See article Demoniacal Possessions, T. J., 106-113 ;
T. A. S. J., Vol. XXL, Esoteric Shinto ; Occult Japan.

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTMAlIONS 427

CHAPTEE X
JAPANESE BUDDHISM IN ITS MISSIONARY DEVELOP
MENT
' T. J., p. 71. Further illustrations of this statement
may be found in his Classical Poetry of the Japanese,
especiaUy in the Selection and Appendices of this
book ; also in T. E. H. McClatchie's Japanese Plays
(Versified), London, 1890.
2 See Introduction to the Kojiki, pp. xxxii.-xxxiv., and
in Bakin's novel illustrating popular Buddhist beliefs,
translated by Edward Greey, A Captive of Love, Bos
ton, 1886.
^ See jade in Century Dictionary ; " Magatama, so
far as I am aware, do not ever appear to have been
found in sheU heaps" (of the aboriginal Ainos),
MUne's Notes on Stone Implements, T. A. S. J., Vol.
Vin., p. 71.
^ Concerning this legendary, and possibly mythical,
episode, which has so powerfully infiuenced Japanese
imagination and politics, see T. A. S. J., Vol. XVI.,
Part I,, pp. 39-75 ; M. E., pp. 75-85.
^ See Corea, the Hermit Nation, pp. 1, 2 ; Persian Ele
ments in Japanese Legends, T. A. S. J., Vol. XVI.,
Part I, pp. 1-10 ; Journal of the Eoyal Asiatic Society,
January, 1894. Eein's book. The Industries of Japan,
points out, as far as knoAvn, the material debt to India.
Some Japanese words like beni-gari (Bengal) or rouge
show at once their origin. The mosaic of stories in the
Taketori Monogatari, an allegory in exquisite literary
form, illustrating the Buddhist dogma of Ingwa, or laAv

428 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
of cause and effect, and written early in the ninth cen
tury, is made up of Chinese-Indian elements. See
F. V. Dickius's translation and notes in Journal of the
Eoyal Oriental Society, Vol. XIX., N. S. India was
the far off land of gems, wonders, infallible drugs,
roots, etc.; Japanese Fairy World, p. 137.
"•¦M. E., Chap. VIII. ; Klaproth's Annales des Em-
pereurs du Japon (a translation of Nippon O Dai
Ichi Eau) ; Eein's Japan, p. 224.
''See Klaproth's Annales, passim. S. and H. p. [85].
Bridges are often symbolical of events, classic passages
in the shastras and sutras, or are antetypes of Paradisai
cal structures. The ordinary native hashi is not remark
able as a triumph of the carpenter's art, though some
of the Japanese books mention and describe in detaU
some structures that are believed to be astonishing.
* Often amusingly illustrated, M. E., p. 390. A trans
lation into Japanese of Goethe's Eeynard the Fox is
among the popular Avorks of the day. " Strange to say,
however, the Japanese lose much of the exquisite
humor of this satire in their sympathy with the woes
of the maltreated wolf." — The Japan Mail. This sym
pathy with animals grows directly out of the doctrine
of metempsychosis. The relationship between man and
ape is founded upon the pantheistic identity of being.
" We mention sin," says a missionary now in Japan,
" and he [the average auditor] thinks of eating flesh, or
the killing of insects." Many of the sutras read like
tracts and diatribes of vegetarians.
' See The Art of Landscape Gardening in Japan,
T. A. S. J., Vol. XIV. ; Theory of Japanese Flower
Arrangements, by J. Conder, T. A. S. J., Vol. XVII. ;
T. J,, p. 168 ; M, E., p. 437 ; T. J., p. 163.

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 429
'" The book, by excellence, on the Japauese house, is
Japanese Homes and Their Sm-roundings, by E. S.
Morse. See also Constructive Art in Japan, T. A. S. J.,
VoL IL, p. 57, IIL, p. 20 ; Feudal Mansions of Yedo,
VoL VIL, p. 157.
"See Hearn's Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan, pp.
385, 416, B.nA passim.
'^For pathetic pictures of Japanese daily life, see
Our Neighborhood, by the late Dr. T. A. Purcell, Yo
kohama, 1874 ; A Japanese Boy, by Himself (S. Shi-
gemi). New Haven, 1889 ; Lafcadio Hearn's Glimpses
of UnfamUiar Japan, Boston, 1894.
'^ Klaproth's Annales, and S. and H. passim.
'"" See Pfoundes's Fuso Mimi Bukuro, p. 130, for a list
of grades from Ho-o or cloistered emperor, Miya or
sons of emperors, chief priests of sects, etc., doAvn to
priests in charge of inferior temples. This Budget
of Notes, pp. 99-144, contains much valuable informa
tion, and was one of the first publications in English
which shed light upon the peculiarities of Japanese
Buddhism. "Isaiah xl. 19, 20, and xli. 6, 7, read to the dweller
in Japan Uke the notes of a reporter taken yesterday.
'^T. J., p. 339; Notes on Some Minor Japanese
EeUgious Practices, Journal of the Anthropological In
stitute, May, 1893 ; LoweU's Esoteric Shinto, T. A. S. J.,
Vol. XXL; Satow's The Shinto Temples of Ise,
T. A. S. J., Vol. II. , p. 113.
" M. E. p. 45 ; American Cyclopaedia, Japan, Litera
ture — History, Travels, Diaries, etc.
"* That is, no dialects like those which separate the
people of China. The ordinary folks of Satsuma and
Suruga, for example, however, would find it difficult to

430 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
understand each other if only the local speech were
used. Men from the extremes of the Empire use the
Tokio standard language in communicating with each
other. '^For some names of Buddhist temples in Shimoda
see Perry's Narrative, pp. 470-474, described by Dr. S.
Wells Williams ; S. and H. pas.sim.
2° The Abbe Hue in his Travels in Tartary was
one of the first to note this fact. I have not noticed in
my reading that the Jesuit missionaries in Japan in
the seventeenth century call attention to the matter.
See also the writings of Arthur Lillie, voluminous but
unconvincing, Buddha and Early Buddhism, and Bud
dhism and Christianity, London, 1893.
2'M. E,, p. 252.
22T. J., p. 70.
2^ See The Higher Buddhism iu the Light of the
Nicene Creed, Tokio, 1894, by Eev. A. Lloyd.
2' " I preach Avith ever the same voice, taking en
lightenment as my text. For this is equal for all ; no
partiality is in it, neither hatred nor affection. ... I
am inexorable, bear no love or hatred towards anyone,
and proclaim the law to all creatures without distinc
tion, to the one as Avell as to the other." — Saddharma
Pundarika. 2^ Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, Vol. IL, p. 247.
2SFor the symbolism of the lotus see M. E., p. 437;
Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, Vol. L, p. 299 ; M. E. in
dex; and Saddharma Pundarika, Kern's translation,
p. 76, note :
" Here the Buddha is represented as a wise and be
nevolent father ; he is the heavenly father, Brahma.
As such he Avas represented as sitting on a 'lotusrseat.'

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 431
How common this representation Avas in India, at least
in the sixth century of our era, appears from Varaha-
mihira's Brihat-Samhita, Ch. 58, 44, Avhere the f oUoav-
ing rule is laid doAvn for the Buddha idols : ' Buddha
shall be (represented) sitting on a lotus-seat, like the
father of the Avorld.' "
2' See The Northern Buddhist Mythology in Journal
of the Royal Asiatic Society, January, 1894.
2^ See The Pictorial Arts of Japan, and Descriptive
and Historical Catalogue, WiUiam Anderson, pp. 13-
94. 2^ See fylfot in Century Dictionary.
^The word vagra, diamond, is a constituent in
scores of names of sutras, especially those whose con
tents are metaphysical in their nature. The Vajrasan,
Diamond Throne or Thunderbolt seat, was the name
applied to the most sacred part of the great temple
reared by Asoka on the site of the bodhi tree, under
Avhich Gautama received enlightenment. " The ada
mantine truths of Buddha struck like a thunderbolt
upon the superstitions of his age." " The Avord vagTa
has the two senses of hardness and utility. In the
former sense it is understood to be compared to the
secret truth Avhich is ahvays in existence and not to be
broken. In the latter sense it implies the poAver of
the enUghtened, that destroys the obstacles of pas
sions." — B. N., p. 88. " As held in the arms of KAvan-
non and other images in the temples," the vagra or
"diamond club" (is that) Avith Avhich the foes of the
Buddhist Church are to be crushed. — S. and H., p. 444.
Each of the gateway gods Ni-o (two Kings, Indra and
Brahma) " bears in his hand the tokko (Sanskrit ra.gra),
an ornament originally designed to represent a dia-

432 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
mond club, and now used by priests and exorcists, as
a religious sceptre symbolizing the irresistible power
of prayer, meditation, and incantation." — Chamber
lain's Hand-book for Japan, p. 81.
^' Jizo is the compassionate helper of all in trouble,
especially of travellers, of mothers, and of children.
His Sanskrit name is Kshiugarbha. His idol is one
of the most common in Japan. It is usually neck-
laced Avith baby's bibs, often by the score, while the
pedestal is heaped Avith small stones placed there by
sorrowing mothers. — S. and H., p. 29, 394 ; Chamber
lain's Handbook of Japan, 29, 101. Hearn's Japan,
p. 34, and passim.
^2 Sanskrit arliat or arhan, meaning Avorthy or de
serving, i.e., holy man, the highest rank of Buddhist
saintship. See Century Dictionary.
^ M. E., p. 201. The long inscription on the bell in
Wellesley CoUege, which summons the student-maid
ens to their hourly tasks has been translated by the
author and Dr. K. Kurahara and is as follows :
1. A prose preface or historical statement.
2. Two stanzas of Chinese poetry, in four-syllable
lines, of four verses each, with an apostrophe in two
four-syllable lines.
3. The chronology.
4. The names of the composer and caUigraphist, and
of the bronze-founder.
The characters in vertical lines are read from top to
bottom, the order of the columns being from right to
left. There are in all 117 characters.
The flrst tablet reads :
Lotus-Lily Temple (of) Law-Grove Mountain ; Bell-
inscription (and) Preface.

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 433
•' Although there had been of old a bell hung in the
Temple of the Lotus-Lily, yet being of small dimen
sions its note Avas quickly exhausted, and no volume
of melody foUowed (after having been struck). Where
upon, for the purpose of improving upon this state of
affairs, Ave made a subscription, and collected coin to
obtain a ncAv bell. All believers in the doctrine, gods
as well as devils, contributed freely. Thus the enter
prise was soon consummated, and this inscription pre
pared, to Avit :
" ' The most exalted Buddha having pitiful compas
sion upon the people, would, by means of this beU, in
stead of Avords, aAvaken them from earthly illusions,
and reveal the darkness of this Avoiid.
" ' Many of the Uving hearkening to its voice, and mak
ing confession, are freed from the bondage of their sins,
and forever released from their disquieting desires.
" ' How great is (Buddha's) merit ! Who can utter
it ? Without measure, boundless ! '
"Eleventh year of the Era of the Foundation of
Literatm-e (and of the male element) Wood (and of the
zodiac sign) Dog ; Autumn, seventh month, fifteenth
day (a.d. August 30, 1814).
" Composition and penmanship by Kameda Koye-
sen. Cast by the artist Sugiwara Kuninobu."
(The poem in unrhymed metre.)
Buddha in compassion tender
With this bell, instead of words,
Wakens souls from life's illusions.
Lightens this world's darkness drear.
Many souls its sweet tones heeding.
From their chains of sin are freed ;
28

434 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
All the mind's unrest is soothed,
Sinful yearnings are repressed.
Oh hoAV potent is his merit.
Without bounds in all the worlds !
»* Fuso Mimi Bukuf a,- p. 129.
35 M. E., pp. 287-290, 518-514 ; Perry's Narrative,
pp. 471, 472 ; Our Neighborhood, pp. 119-124. The
foUowing epitaphs are gathered from various sources :
" This stone marks the remains of the believer who
ncA'er grows old."
" The believing' woman Yu-ning, Happy was the day
of her departure."
'' Multitudes fill the graves,"
" Only by this vehicle — the coffin — can we enter
Hades." "As the floating grass is bloAvn by. the gentle breeze,
or the glancing ripples of autumn disappear when the
sun goes doAvn, or as a shijD returns to her old shore —
so is life. It is a A-apor, a morning-tide."
"Buddha himself Avishes to hear the name of the de
ceased that he may enter life."
" He who has left humanity is uoav perfected by
Buddha's name, as the Avithered moss by the dew."
"Life is like a candle in the wind."
" The wise make our halls illustrious, and their
monuments endure for ages."
"What permanency is there to the glory of the
world ?
It goes from the sight like hoar-frost in the sun."
" If men wish to enter the joys of heavenly light,
Let them smell the fragrance of the laAv of Buddha."
" Whoever Avislies to have his merit reach even to

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 435
the abode of demons, let him, Avith us, and all living,
become perfect in the doctrine."
^ Eev. C. B. Hawarth in the Neiv York Independent,
January 18, 1894.
^ In 781 the Buddhist monk Kei-shun dedicated a
chapel to Jizo, on whom he conferred the epithet of
Sho-gun or general, to suit the warUke tastes of the
Japanese people. — S. and H., p. 884. So also Hachi
man became the god of Avar because adopted as the
patron deity of the Genji warriors. — S. and H., p. [70.]
^ Corea, the Hermit Nation, p. 96.
^Dixon's Japan, p. 41 ; S. and H., Japan, passim ;
Eein's Japan ; Story of the Nations, Japan, by David
MmTay, p. 201, note; Dening's life of Toyotomi
Hideyoshi ; M. E., Chapters XV., XVL, XX., XXIIL,
XXIV. ; Gazetteer of Echizen ; Shiga's History of Na
tions, Tokio, 1888, pp. 115, 118; T. A. S. J., Vol.
VIII., pp. 94, 134, 148.
«T. A. S. J., Vol. VIII., Hideyoshi and the Sat
suma Clan in the Sixteenth Century, by J. II. Gub-
bins; The Times of Taiko, by E. Brinkley, in The
Japan Times.
"" The Copy of the Buddhist Tripitaka, or Northern
Collection, made by order of the Emperor, Wan-Li, iu
the sisteenth century, when the Chinese capital (King)
was changed from the South (Nan) to the North (Pe),
was reproduced in Japan in 1679, and again in 1681-
83, and in over two thousand volumes, making a pile a
hundred feet high, was presented by the Japanese Gov
ernment, through the Junior Prime Minister, Mr.
Tomomi Iwakura, to the Library of the India Office.
See Samuel Beal's The Buddliist Tripitaka, as it is
knoAvn in China and Japan, A Catalogue and Compen-

436 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
dious Eeport, London, 1876. Tlie library has been re
arranged by Mr. Bunyiu Nanjio, wiio has pubUshed
the result of his labors, with Sanskrit equivalents of the
titles and Avith notes of the highest value.
"•2 " Neither country (China or Japan) has had the
independence and mental force to produce a Uterature
of its own, and to add anything but a chapter of decay
to the history of this religion." — Professor William D.
Whitney, in review of Anecdota Oxoniensia, Buddhist,
Texts from Japan, in The Nation, No. 875.
*^ Education in Japan, A series of papers by the
writer, printed in The Japan Mail of 1873-74, and re
printed in the educational journals of the United States.
A digest of these papers is given in the appendix of F.
O. Adams's History of Japan; Life of Sir Harry
Parkes, Vol. IL, pp. 805, 806.
^' Japan : in Literature, Folk-Lore, and Art, p. 77.
^¦"Japanese Education at the Philadelphia Exposi
tion, New York, 1876.
""^ See Japanese Literature, by E. M. Satow, in The
American Cyclopsedia.
*~ The word bonze (Japanese bon-so or bozu, Chinese
fan-sung) means an ordinary member of the congrega
tion, just as the Japanese term bon-yo or bon-zoku means
common people or the ordinary folks. The word came
into European use from the Portuguese missionaries,
Avho heard the Japanese thus pronounce the Chinese
term fan, which, as bon, is appUed to anything in the
mass not out of the common.
"¦^ See On the Early History of Printing in Japan, by
E. M. Satow, T. A. S. J., Vol. X., Part I., p. 48 ;
Part IL, p. 252.
*' Japanese mediseval monastery life has been ably

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 437
pictured in English fiction by a scholar of imagination
and literary power, withal a military critic and a vet
eran in Japanese lore. " The Times of Taiko," in the
defunct Japanese Times (1878), deserves reprint as a
book, being founded on Japanese historical and de
scriptive works. In Mr. Edward's Greey's A Captive
of Love, Boston, 1886, the idea of ingwa (the effects
in this Ufe of the actions in a former state of exist
ence), is Ulustrated. See also S. and H., p. 29 ; T. J.,
p. 360.
* It is cuiious that while the anti-Christian polemics
of the Japanese Buddhists have used the words of
Jesus, " I came to send not peace but a sword," Matt.
X. 34, and " If any man .... hate not his
father and mother," etc., Luke xiv. 26, as a brand
ing iron with which to stamp the reUgion of Jesus as
gross immoraUty and dangerous to the state, they jus-
tU'y Gautama in his " renunciation" of marital and pa
ternal duties.
" See PubUc Charity in Japan, Japan Mail, 1893 ;
and The Annual (Appleton's) Cyclopsedia for 1893.
^2 1 have some good reasons for making this sugges
tion. Yokoi Heishiro had dwelt for some time in
Fukui, a few rods away from the house in which I
lived, and the ideas he promulgated among the
Echizen clansmen in his lectures on Confucianism,
were not only Christian in spirit but, by their own
statement, these ideas could not be found in the texts
of the Chinese sage or of his commentators. Although
the volume (edited by his son, Eev. J. F. Yokoi) of
his Life and Letters shows him to have been an intense
and at times almost bigoted Oonfucianist, he, in one
of his later letters, prophesied that when Christianity

438 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
should be taught by the missionaries, it would win
the hearts of the young men of Japan. See also
Satow's Kinse Shiriaku, p. 188 ; Adams's History of
Japan ; and in fiction, see Honda The Samurai, p. 242,
and succeeding chapters.
^ In the colorless and unsentimental language of
government publications, the Japanese edict of eman
cipation, issued to the local authorities in October,
1871, ran as follows : " The designations of eta and
hinin are abolished. Those Avho bore them are to be
added to the general registers of the population and
their social position and methods of gaining a UveUhood
are to be identical with the rest of the people. As
they have been entitled to immunity from the land tax
and other burdens of immemorial custom, you wUl in
quire how this may be reformed and report to the
Board of Finance." (Signed) Council of State.
5' In English fiction, see The Eta Maiden and the
Hatamoto, in Mitford's Tales of Old Japan, Vol. I., pp.
210-245. Discussions as to the origin of the Eta are
to be found in Adams's History of Japan, V ol. I., p. 77 ;
M. E., index; T. J., p. 147 ; S. and H., p. 36; Honda
the Samurai, pp. 246, 247; Mitford's Tales of Old
Japan, Vol. I., pp. 210-245. The literature concern
ing the Ainos is already voluminous. See Cham
berlain's Aino Studies, with bibliography ; and Eev.
John Batchelor's Ainu Grammar, published by The
Imperial University of Tokio ; T. A. S. J., Vols. X.,
XL, XVL, XVIIL, XX. ; The Ainu of Japan, New
York, 1892, by J. Batchelor (who has also translated
the Book of Common Prayer, and portions of the Bible
into the Ainu tongue) ; M. E., Chap. II. ; T. A. S. J.,
Vol. X., and foUowing volumes ; Unbeaten Tracks in

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 439
Japan, Vol. II. ; Life with Trans-Siberian Savages, Lon
don, 1893.
55 " Then the venerable Sariputra said to that daugh
ter of Sagara, the Naga-king : ' Thou hast conceived
the idea of enlightenment, young lady of good family,
Avithout sliding back, and art gifted with immense Avis
dom, but supreme, perfect enlightenment is not easily
won. It may happen, sister, that a woman displays
an unflagging energy, performs good works for many
thousands of Aeons, and fulfils the six perfect virtues
(Paramitas), but as yet there is no example of her hav
ing reached Buddhaship, and that because a woman
cannot. occupy the five ranks, viz., 1, the rank of Brah
ma ; 2, the rank of Indra ; 3, the rank of a chief guar
dian of the four quarters ; 4, the rank of Kakravartin ;
5, the rank of a Bodhisattva incapable of sliding back,"
Saddharma Pundarika, Kern's Translation, p. 252.
5^ " Chiii-j6-hime was the first Japanese nun, and
the only woman who is commemorated by an idol.
She extracted the fibres of the lotus root, and wove
them with silk to make tapestry for altars." Fuso
Mimi Bukuro, p. 128. Her romantic and marvellous
story is given in S. and H., p. 397. " The practice of
giving ranks to women was commenced by Jito Tenno
(an empress, 690-705)." Many women shaved their
heads and became nuns " on becoming widows, as
Avell as on being forsaken by, or after leaving their
husbands. Others were orphans." One of the most
famous nuns (on account of her rank) was the Nii no
Ama, widow of Kiyomori aud grandmother of the Em
peror Antoku, who were both drowned near Shimono
seki, in the great naval battle of 1185 a.d. Adams's
History of Japan, Vol. I., p. 37 ; M. E., p. 137.

440 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
5' M. E., p. 213 ; Japanese Women, World's Colum
bian Exhibition, Chicago, 1893, Chap. III.
5^ There is no passage in the original Greek texts, or
in the Eevised Version of the New Testament which
ascribes wings to the aggelos, or angel. In Eev. xii
14, a woman is " given two wings of a great eagle."
5'-' Japanese Women in Politics, Chap. I., Japanese
Women, Chicago, 1893 ; Japanese Girls and Women,
Chapters VI. and VII.
* Bakin's novels are dominated by this idea, Avhile
also preaching in fiction strict Confucianism. See A
Captive of Love, by Edward Greey.
I" " Fate is one of the great words of the East.
Japan's language is loaded and overloaded ivith it. Pa
rents are forever saying before their children, ' There's
no help for it.' I once remarked to a school-teacher,
' Of coiu-se you love to teach children.' His quick
reply Avas, ' Of course I don't. I do it merely because
there is no help for it.' Moralists here deplore the
prosperity of the houses of ill-fame and then add with
a sigh, ' There's no help for it.' All society reverber
ates with this phrase with reference to questions that
need the application of moral power, wiU power.''
—J. H. De Forest.
" I do not say there is no will power in the East, for
there is. Nor do I say there is no weak yielding to
fate in lands that have the doctrine of the Creator, for
there is. But, putting the East and West side by side,
one need not hesitate to affirm that the reason the will
power of the East is weak cannot be fully explained by
any mere doctrine of environment, but must also have
some vital connection with the fact that the idea of a
personal almighty Creator has for long ages been

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 441
wanting. And one reason Avhy western nations have an
aggressive character that ventures bold things and
tends to defy difficulties cannot be wholly laid to en
vironment but must have something to do with the fact
that leads miUions daily reverently to say ' I believe in
the Almighty Father, Maker of Heaven and Earth.' "
—J. H. De Forest.
STATISTICS OF BUDDHISM IN JAPAN.
(From the official "Eesume Statistique de I'Empire du Japon,"
Tokio, 1894.)
In 1891 there were 71,859 temples Avithin city or
town limits, and 35,959 in the rural districts, or
117,718 in all, under the charges of 51,791 principal
priests and 720 principal priestesses, or 52,511 in all.
The number of temples, classified by sects, Avere as
foUows : Tendai, with 3 sub - sects, 4,808 ; Shingon,
with 2 sub-sects, 12,821, of which 45 belonged to the
Hosso shu ; Jo-do, with 2 sub-sects, 8,323, of which 21
were of the Ke-gon shu ; Zen, Avith 3 sub-sects, 20,882,
of which 6,146 were of the Ein-Zai shu ; 14,072 of the
So-do shu, and 604 of the 0-baku shu ; Shin, with 10
Lub-sects, 19,146 ; Nichiren, with 7 sub-sects, 5,066 ;
J i shu, 515 ; Yu-dzu Nembutsu, 358 ; total, 38 sects
aid 71,859 temples.
The official reports required by the government from
the various sects, shoAv that there are 88 administrative
heads of sects ; 52,688 priest-preachers and 44,123 or
dinary priests or monks ; and 8,668 male and 828
female, or a total of 8,996, students for the grade of
monk or nun. In comparison with 1886, the number
of priest - preachers was 39,261, ordinary priests 38,-
189 ; male students, 21,966 ; female students, 642.

442 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
CHAPTEE XI
ROMAN CHEISTIANITY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTUEY.
' See for a fine example of this, Mr. C. MeriAveth-
er's Life of Date Masamune, T. A. S. J., Vol. XXL,
pp. 3-106. See also The Christianity of Early Japan,
by Koji Inaba, in The Japan Evangelist, Yokohama,
1893-94 ; Mr. E. Satow's papers in T. A. S. J.
2 See M. E., p. 280 ; Eein's Japan, p. 312 ; Shige-
taka Shiga's History of Nations, p. 189, quoting from
M. E. (p. 258).
^M. E., 195.
"* The Japan Mail of April and May, 1894, contains a
translation from the Japanese, with but Uttle new mat
ter, however, of a work entitled Paul Anjiro.
5 The "Firando" of the old books. See Cock's
Diary. It is difficult at first to recognize the Japan
ese originals of some of the names Avhich figure in the
writings of Charlevoix, Leon Pages, and the European
missionaries, owing to their use of local pronunciation,
and their spelling, which seems peculiar. One of the
brilliant identifications of Mr. Ernest Satow, uow H.
B. M. Minister at Tangier, is that of Kuroda in the
"Kondera" of the Jesuits.
'' See Mr. E. M. Satow's Vicissitudes of the Church
at YamaguchL T. A. S. J., VoL VIL, pp. 131-156.
' Nobunaga was Nai Dai Jin, Inner (Junior) Prime
Minister, one in the triple premiership, peculiar to
Korea and Old Japan, but was never Shogun, as some
foreign writers have supposed.
'See The Jesuit Mission Press in Japan, by E.

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 443
Satow, 1591-1610 (privately printed, London, 1888).
Review of the same by B. H. Chamberlain, T. A. S. J.,
Vol. XVIL, p. 91.
9HistoU:e de I'EgUse, Vol. I,, p. 490 ; Eein, p. 277.
Takayama is spoken of in the Jesuit Eecords as Jiisto
Ucondono. A curious book entitled Justo Ucon-
dono. Prince of Japan, in Avhich the Avriter, who is
" less attentive to points of style than to matters of
faith," labors to show that " the Bible alone " is
"found wanting," and only the "Teaching Church " is
worthy of trust, was published in Baltimore, in 1854.
'"How Hideyoshi made use of the Shin sect of
Buddhists to betray the Satsuma clansmen is graphi-
caUy told in Mr. J. H. Gubbin's paper, Hideyoshi and
the Satsuma Clan, T. A. S. J., Vol. VIIL, pp. 124-128,
143. " Corea the Hermit Nation, Chaps. XII.-XXL, pp.
121-123 ; Mr. W. G. Aston's Hideyoshi's Invasion of
Korea, T. A. S. J., Vol. VL, p. 227'^; IX., pp. 87, 218 ;
XL, p. 117 ; Eev. G. H. Jones's The Japanese Inva
sion, The Korean Eepository, Seoul, 1892.
'2 Brave Little HoUand and What She Taught Us,
Boston, 1898, p. 247.
'^See picture and description of this temple —
"fairly typical of Japanese Buddhist architecture,"
Chamberlain's Handbook for Japan, p. 26 ; G. A.
Cobbold's, Eeligion in Japan, London, 1894, p. 72.
'^ T. A. S. J., see VoL VL, pp. 46-51, for the text of
the edicts.
'5M. E., p. 262, Chamberlain's Handbook for Japan,
p. 59.
"The Origin of Spanish and Portuguese Eivalry in
Japan, by E. M. Satow, T. A. S. J., VoL XVIIL, p. 183.

444 TIIE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
" See Chapter VIIL, W. G. Dixon's Gleanings from
Japan. "* T. A. S. J., VoL VL, pp. 48-50.
'^ In the inscription upon the great bell, at the tem
ple containing the image of Dai Butsii or Great
Buddha, reared by Hideyori and his mother, one sen
tence contained the phrase Kokka anko, lea and lo
being Chinese for Lje and yasH, which the Yedo ruler
professed to believe mockery. In another sentence,
" On the East it welcomes the bright moon, and on the
West bids farewell to the setting sun," lyeyasu dis
covered treason. He considered himself the rising
sun, and Hideyori the setting moon. — Chamberlain's
Hand-book for Japan, p. 300.
2° I have found the Astor Library in New York es
pecially rich in works of this sort.
2' Nitobe's United States aud Japan, p. 13, note.
22 This insurrection has received literary treatment
at the hands of the Japanese in Shimabara, translated
in The Far East for 1872 ; WooUey's Historical Notes
on Nagasaki, T. A. S. J., Vol. IX., p. 125 ; Koecke-
bakker and the Arima EebelUon, by Dr. A. J. C.
Geerts, T. A. S. J., Vol. XL, 51 ; Inscriptions on
Shimabara and Amakusa, by Henry Stout, T. A. S. J.,
VoL VIL, p. 185.
23 « Persecution extirpated Christianity from Japan."
— History of Eationalism, Vol. IL, p. 15.
*• T. A. S. J., VoL VI., Part I., p. 62 ; M. E. pp. 531,
573. 25 Political, despite the attempt of many earnest mem
bers of the order to check this tendency to intermed
dle in politics ; see Dr. Murray's Japan, p. 245, note,
246.

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSIRATJuNS 445
2* See abundant illustration in Leon Pages' Histoire
de la Eeligion Chretienne en Japon, a book Avhich the
author read Avhile in Japan amid the scenes described.
2^ The Japan Evangelist, Vol. I., No. 2, -p. 96.

CHAPTEE XII
TWO CENTUEIES OF SILENCE
' See Diary of Eichard Cocks, and Introduction by
E. M. Thompson, Hakluyt Publications, 1888.
2 For the extent of Japanese influence abroad, see
M. E., p. 246 ; Eein, Nitobe, and HUdreth ; Modern
Japanese Adventurers, T. A. S. J., Vol. VIL, p. 191 ;
The Intercourse between Japan aud Siam in the Sev
enteenth Century, by E. M. Satow, T. A. S. J., Vol.
XIIL, p. 189 ; Voyage of the Dutch Ship Grol,
T. A. S. J., Vol. XL, p. 180.
^ The United States and Japan, p. 16.
*See Professor J. H. Wigmore's elaborate work,
Materials for the Study of Private Law in Old Japan,
T. A. S. J., Tokio, 1892.
5 See the Legacy of lyeyasu, by John Frederic Loav-
der, Yokohama, 1874, Avith criticisms and discussions
by E. M. SatoAv and others in the Japan Mail ; Dix
on's Japan, Chapter VII. ; Professor W, E. Grigsby,
in T. A. S. J., VoL IIL, Part IL, p. 131, gives another
version, with analysis, notes, and comments ; Eein's
Japan, pp. 814, 815.
^ Old Japan in the days of its inclusiveness was a
secret society on a vast scale, Avith every variety and
degree of selflshness, mystery, secrecy, close-corpora-

446 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
tionism, and tomfoolery. See article Esotericism in
T. J., p. 143.
' Since the abolition of feudaUsm, with the increase
of the means of transportation, the larger freedom, and,
at many points, improved morality, the population of
Japan shows an unprecedented rate of increase. The
census taken in 1744 gave, as the total number of souls
in the empire, 26,080,000 (E. J. Eeed's Japau, Vol. I,,
p. 236) ; that of 1872, 38,110,825 ; that of 1892, 41,-
089,940, showing a greater increase during the past
twenty years than in the one hundred and thirty-eight
years previous. See Eesume Statistique de I'Empu-e
du Japon, Tokio, 1894 ; Professor Garrett Droppers'
paper on The Population of Japan during the Toku
gawa Period, read June 27th, 1894 ; T. A. S. J., Vol.
XXII. ^ For the notable instance of Pere Sidotti, see M.
E., p. 63 ; Sei Yo Ki Bun, by S. E. Brown, D.D., a
translation of Aral Hakuseki's narrative, Yedo, 1710,
T. N. C. A. S. ; Captm-e and Captivity of Pere Si
dotti, T. A. S. J,, Vol. IX., p. 156 ; Christian Valley,
T. A. S. J., Vol. XVL, p. 207.
« T. A. S. J., Vol. I., p. 78, Vol. VIL, p. 323.
'" See Matthew Calbraith Perry, Boston, 1887.
" See the author's Townsend Harris, First Ameri
can Minister to Japan, The Atlantic Monthly, August,
1891. '2 See Honda the Samurai, Boston, 1890 ; Nitobe's
United States and Japan ; The Japan Mail passim ;
Dr. G. F. Verbeck's History of Protestant Missions in
Japan, Yokohama, 1883 ; Dr. George Wm. Knox's
papers on Japanese Philosophy, T. A. S. J., Vol. XX.,
p. 158, etc. Eecent Japanese literature, of which the

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 447
writer has a small shelfful, biograi^hies, biographical
dictionaries, the histories of Ncav Japan, Life of Yo
shida Shoin, and recent issues of The Nation's Friend
(Kokumin no Tomo), are very rich on this fascinating
subject. '^ A typical instance was that of Ein Shihei, bom
1737, author of San Koku Tsu Ran to Setsu, translated
into French by Klaproth, Paris, 1882. Ein learned
much from the Dutch aud Prussians, and Avrote books
Avhich had a great sale. He was cast into prison,
whence he never emerged. The (wooden) plates of his
publications were confiscated and destroyed. In 1876,
the Mikado visited his grave in Sendai, and ordered a
monument erected to the honor of this far-seeing
patriot. » Eein, pp. 336, 387
'5 Eein, p. 339 ; The Early Study of Dutch in Japan,
by K. Mitsukuri, T. A. S. J., Vol. V., p. 209 ; History
of the Progress of Medicine in Japan, T. A. S. J., Vol.
XII., p. 245 ; Vijf Jaren in Japan, J. L. C. Pompe
van Meerdervoort, 2cl Ed., Leyden, 1868.
"Honda the Samurai, pp. 249-251; Nitobe, 25-
27. " The Tokugawa Princes of Mito, by Professor E.
W. Clement, T. A. S. J., Vol. XVIIL, p. 14 ; Nitobe's
United States and Japan, p. 25, note.
"* M. E. (6 Ed.), p. 608 ; Adams's History of Japan,
VoL IL, p. 171.
" See the text of the anti-Christian edicts, M. E., p.
369. 2° T. A. S. J., VoL XX., p. 17.
2' T. A. S. J., Vol. IX., p. 134.
^ Tales of Old Japan, Vol. IL, p. 125 ; A Japanese

448 THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN
Buddhist Preacher, by Professor M. K. Shimomura, in
the New York Independent; other sermons have been
printed in The Japan Mail ; Kino DoAva, two sermons
and vocabulary, has been edited by Eev. C. S. Eby,
Y'okohama. 22 On Sunday, November 29, 1857, Mr. Harris, rest
ing at Kawasaki, over Sunday, on his Avay to Yedo and
audience of the Shogun, having Mr. Heusken as his
audience and fellow-worshipper, read service from the
Book of Common Prayer.
2' See a paper Avritten by the author and read at the
World's Columbian Exhibition Congress of Missions,
Chicago, September, 1893, on The Citizen Eights of
Missionaries. 25 This embassy Avas planned and first proposed to
the Junior premier, Tomomi lAvakura, and the route
arranged by the Eev. Guido F. Verbeck, then Presi
dent of the Imperial University. One half of the
members of the embassy had been Dr. Verbeck's pu
pils at Nagasaki.
2^ A somewhat voluminous native Japanese litera
ture is the result of the various embassies and indi
vidual pilgrimages abroad, since 1860. linmeasurably
superior to all other publications, in the practical in
fluence over his felloAv-countrymen, is the Seiyo Jijo
(The Condition of Western Coimtries) by Fukuzawa,
author, educator, editor, decliner of uumerouslj' proffered
political offices, and "the intellectual father of one-half
of the young men who now fill the middle and lower
posts in the government of Japan." For the foreign
side, see The Japanese in America, by Charles Lan-
man. New York, 1872, and in The Life of Sir Harry
Parkes, London, 1894, aud for an amusing piece of

NOTES, AUTHORITIES, ILLUSTRATIONS 449
literary ventriloquism, Japanese Letters, Eastern Im
pressions of Western Men and Manners, London and
New York, 1891.
See History of Protestant Missions in Japan, by G.
F. Verbeck, Yokohama, 1893.
29

INDEX

Abbess, 318,
Abbots, 312,
Abdication, 214,
Aborigines, 9, 38, 43, 77-79, 177,
Adams, WUl, 324, 340.
Adi-Buddha, 174.
Adoption, 122, 126.
Adultery, 149.
Aidzu, 119.
Ainos, 2, 9, 16, 73, 177, 317, 379.
Akamatsu, Eev. Eenjo, 425,
Akechi, 332,
Alphabets, 199, 200,
Altaic, 39, 389,
Amalgam of religious, 11, 12,
Amaterasu, see Sun-goddess.
American relations, 11, 12, 157.
Amidaism, 276, 302.
Anabaptists, 162.
Analects, 128.
Ancestral worship, 106.
Anderson, Dr. Wm,, 435.
Angels, 304.
Animism, 1,5-17.
Anjiro, 329.
Apostolical succession, 262.
Arabian Nights, 193, 201.
Aiai Hakuscld, 450.
Architecture, 83, 84, 310, 298-300,
Art, 68, 114, 195-197, 297, 298, 303-
30.5, 314, 356.
Aryan Conquest of India, 44, 156,
1.57, 177, 207,
Asanga, 175, 305.
Assassination, 367,
Asoka, 165,

Aston, Mr, Wm. G., 39, 360, 386,
387.
Atheism, 163, 164.
Atkinson, Rev. J. L., 410.
Avalokitesvsra, 170, 171, 179.
Avatars, 201, 208, 321, 247, 269, 395,
Babism, 166,
Bakin, 444,
Bangor Theological Seminary, 378,
Batchelor, Eev. John, 317.
Beal, Rev. Samuel, 8.
Beauty, 207.
Beggars, 208,
Bells, 307, 308.
Benten, 204, 207, 218.
Bible, 27, 104, 364, 366,
Binzuru, 237.
Birth, 84.
Bishamon, 218.
Bodhidharma, see Daruma,
Bodhisattva, 169, 304, 234,
Bonzes, 310,
Bosatsu, 170, 204 ; see Bodhisattva.
Brahma, 247.
Brahmanism, 103, 185, 186, 218.
Brothers, 125, 126,
Brown, Rev, S. R., 450.
Buddha, Amida, see Amidaism.
the Buddha, 101, 103, 161, 163.
Gautama, 155, 161-164.
Shakyamuni, 160,
Siddartha, 410.
Tathagata, 259,
Tathata, 343,
Bunyiu Nanjio, Eev., 231, 425.

452

INDEX

Buddhism, 43, 74, 76, 106, 1>"3, 136,
137, 140, 1S5, 18B, 3,37, 231,
Buddhist, 165, 166, 183, 214, 339,
252.
C.VNNIBA.LISM, 74.
Canon, Chinese, 103 ; Shinto, 39-
41.
Capitals of Japan, 182, 183, 396,
Celibacy, 373.
Cemeteries, 308.
Chair of Contemplation, 252.
Chamberlain, Prof. B. Hall, 89, 324,
388.
Chastity, 68, 134, 149, 330.
Cheng Brothers, 138, 139,
China, 134, IU9, 215, 3:38, 355.
Chinese, 8.2, 134; Buddhism, ,333.
Christianity and Buddhism, 166, 183,
185, 187, 195, 317, 318, 265, 370,
300-302, 306, 315, 319,
Chronology, 41, 370, 387.
Chu Hi, 11, 108, 139, 143, 144, 356,
Cleanliness, 84, 97,
Clement, Prof. B. M., 407.
Cobra-de-capello, 31.
Cocks, Mr. Richard, 380.
Columbus, 338.
Comparative religion, 4-6.
Confucius, 100-106.
Confucianism, 74, 107, 213.
Concubinage, 149.
Constitution of 1889, 96, 123
Corea, see Korea.
Courtship, 124.
Creator, 145, 385.
Cremation, 182.
Crucifixion, 115, 368.
Dai Butsu, 303.
Daikoku, 218,
Dai Mio Jin, 190, 304, 206, 320.
Daruma, 186, 308, 254.
Davids, T. Rhys, 155, 172.
Death, 84,

De Brosses, 33.
De Forest, Eev. J, H., 326,
Demoniacal possession, 281.
Deshima, 354, 358, 362-36.5.
Dharari, 199.
Dharma, see Daruma, 186.
Dhyana Buddhas and Sect, 178, 258,
254.
Diet, 293, 394.
Divorce, 125, 149.
Du-sen, 236.
Do-sho, 181.
Dragon, 30, 31, 74, 115, 198, 242.
Dutch, 90, 336, 340, 353, 354, 358,
360, 363, 363-365, 366.
Dutt, Mr. Eomesh Chunder, 161.
Ebisu, 218.
Ecclesiastes, 214.
Echizen, 313.
Edicts against Christianity, 335, 336,
342.
Edkins, Dr. J., 249.
Education, 313, 320.
Embassy round the world, 373,
Emperor, 148.
Emura, Eev. Shu-zan, 332.
England, 37.
Eta, 115, 1,50, 275, 316, 317, 367.
Ethics, 93, 94.
Euhemerus, 193, 193, 197, 201.
Eurasians, 344,
Evil, 58, 78.
Evolution, 62.
Bzekiel, 36.
Ezra, 102.
Family Life, 122, 13.5-127.
Female divinities, 68, 305, 319.
Fetichism, 32-37.
Feudalism, 10, 108-110.
Filial piety, 123, 149, 213.
Fire-driU, 55, 56.
Fire, God of, 53.
Fire-myths, 53.

INDEX

453

Five Relations, 105, 114, 148-150.
Flags, 26.
Flood, 53.
Flowers, ,58.
Forty-seven Eonins, 118, 119.
Franciscans, 336, 337,
Friends, 127,
Fudo, 379,
Fuji Mountain, 400.
Fujishima, Rev. Ryauon, 231.
Pnkuda, Rev. Gyo-kai, 435.
Fukui, 23.
Fuku-roku-jin, 218.
Gardens, 337, 294, 295.
Gautama, 1.58, 161, 164.
Genji Monogatari, 149.
GenjO, 181, 233, 333, 338, 339,
Germanic nations, 10, 44,
Ghosts, 206.
Giyoku, 183.
Gnostics, 193, 195.
God-possession, 201,
Gold, 184, 196, 210, 291.
Golden Rule, 138.
Gongen, 304, 30,5, 330.
Goro, Mr. T., 7, 384.
Graveyards, 308, 368.
Greater Vehicle, 165, 170, 240, 244.
Gubbins, Mr. J. K, 403, 447.
Hachiman, 204.
Hades, 53, 64.
Hara-kiri, 113, 121, 339.
Harris, Mr. Townsend, 145, 353, 360,
370, 371.
Hayashi, 139.
Heathen, 13, 30.
Heaven, 62, 63, 70, 81, 105, 112, 118,
144.
Hepburn, Dr. J. C.,372.
Hideyori, 340, 342.
Hideyoshi, 313, 333, 338.
Hindu history, 1.56.
Hi-nin, 115, 150.

Hinayana, 165, 167, 169, 328, 233,
338.
Hiouen Thsang, see Genjo.
Hiraii, 3.
Hirata, 86,
History of China, intellectual, 137.
of Japan, intellectual, 230.
of Japan, political, 10, 37, 44, 219,
of Japan, religious, 327, 238.
Hitomaro, 60.
Hiyeisan, 16, 297.
Hodge, 103.
Hodgson, Mr. Brian H., 411, 414.
Hokke-Kio, see Saddharma Punda
rika.
Hokusai, 314.
Holland, 338.
Honen, 361, 364.
Ho-o, 184, 337.
Hospitals, 216, 315.
Hosso-shu, 338, 339.
Hotel, 318.
Hotoke, 303, 269.
Idols, 175, 307, 316.
Idzumo, 44, 65.
Ikko, 373.
Inari, 190.
Indra, 163, 347.
Ingwa, 317, 303, 331 ; see Karma,
Inquisition, 347, 348, 368.
Insurance by fetich, 24, 25.
Isaiah, 100.
Ise, 28, 184, 201,
lyeyasu, 91, 100, 132, 134, 304, 305,
338, 342, 357, 358.
Izanagi aud Izanami, 53, 63, 64, 307,
218.
Jade, 293,
Jains, 166,
Japan, area, 9.
Census, 9.
Ethnology, 43, 44,

454

INDEX

Japan, Geography, 9, 43, 44.
Government, 46.
History, 10, 37, 44, 109,
Origins, 43,
Population, 8, 9.
-y-arious names of, 73.
Japanese Bride, The, 125, 149.
Japanese charaoteiistios,112,385,361.
Language, 113, 116, 135.
Writing, 30»i
Jataka tales, 169.
Jealousy, 124.
Jesuits, 247, 3-29, 337, 341, 343.
Jesus, 76, 97, 100, 117.
Jimmu Tenno, 389.
Jin Gi Kuan, 49, 94, 390-398.
Jizo, 247, 30.5.
Jo do sect, 859, 275.
John, 8, 60.
Jo-jitsu sect, 181, 335.
Joss, 33.
Jun-shi, 68, 76, 119.
Ju-ro-jin, 218.
Kaeuhagi, 36, 60.
Kada Adzumaro, 91.
Kami, 30.
Kami-dana, 86, 88, 295.
Kamui, 30.
Kana, 199, 200, 274.
Kanda, Dai Mio-Jin, 205.
Karma, 162, 169, 186, 234, 258.
Kato Kyomasa, 378, 334, 339.
Kc-gon sect, 242-244.
Keichu, 91.
Kern, Prof. H., 155, 229.
Kioto, 183, 296, 330, 336.
Kirin, 19.
Kishimoto, Mr. Nobuta, 11.
Kiushiu, 339.
Kiyomori, 120.
Kno.v, Dr. George Wm., 133, 236,
388, 385.
Kobayashi, Rev. Ze-jun, 435.
Kobo, 89, 197, 205, 248, 250.

Kojiki, 29, 33, 40, 41, 58, 74, 82-90,
149, 195, 197.
Ko-ken, Empress, 310.
Kompira, 204.
Konishi, 334, 335.
Korea, 9, 31, 86, 40, 41, 74, 106, 107,
168, 179, 180, 298, 310, 338, 333,
333, 334, 355, 368,
Kosatsu, 368.
Ko-ya, 198.
Kumi, Prof., 76-83.
Kun-shin, 111, 113, 116, 117, 313,
Ku-sha sutra, 238, 333.
Kwannon, 181, 307, 347, 319.
Kyuso, 132, 144.
Lamaisin, 167.
Language of China, 27.
of England, 39.5.
of Holland, 364, 365.
of Japan, 39, 113, 116, 134, 365,
895, 899, 364.
of Korea, 116.
Lao Tsze, 102, 144, 218.
Laws of Japan, 358.
Lecky, Mr., 344.
Legendre, Gen., 385, 389.
Legge, Dr. J., 100, 378.
Libraries, 253, 327.
Lingam, see Phallicism.
Literature, 39, 109, 141, 156, 159,
216, 358, 313, 318, 369.
Liturgy, see Norito.
Lloyd, Rev. A., 358.
Loo-choo, see Riu Kiu.
Lotus, 434, 435, 437.
Love, 117, 118.
Lowell, Mr. Percival, 397, 433.
Loyalty, see Kun-shin.
Luther, 871.
Lyman, Prof. B, S., 383,
Mabuchi, 89, 91,
MacDonald, Rev. James, 8.
Magatama, 68, 293.

INDEX

455

Mahayana, 165 ; see Greater Vehicle.
Maitreya, 169, 170, 318, 236, 244.
Malays, 9, 43.
Mandala, 303.
Manjusri, 170, 171, 179, 862.
Mantra, 248.
ManyO-shu, 39, 40.
Marco Polo, 43.
Mark, 60.
Marriage, 133, 136, 149.
Martyrs, 337, 344, 359, 360, 363, 366-
369.
Masakado, 309.
Matsugami, 60.
Matsuri, 28.
Meiji Era, 112, 116, 256.
Mencius, 106, IVi, 137.
Mendez, Pinto, 43.
Mexico, 349.
Mikado, 44, 45, 76, 92, 95, 96, 114,
117, 184, 191, 801.
Mikadoism, 4,5^9, 74-82, 184, 203.
Military monks, 847.
Minamoto, 271.
Ming dynasty, 134.
Mioken, 279.
Miracles, 316, 267.
Mirror, 83.
Missionary training, 6-8.
Mito, 111, 134, 143, 366.
Miya, 82-84, 209.
Monasteries, 168, 165, 398, 311, 313.
Monotheism, 1.5, 81, 103, 104, 14.5,
174,187.
Morse lectureship, 4,
Morse, Prof. E. S , 377.
Motoori, 89, 91, 290.
Mozoomdar, 411, 480.
MuUer, Prof. Max, 211.
Munzinger, Eev. C, 403.
Murraj-, Dr. David, 408.
Mutsuhito, 60, 316.
Nagasaki, 332, 337, 343, 344, 358,
362.

Nakatomi, 48.
Names, 127, 202, 265.
Names of Japan, 73, 82.
Namu-Amida-Butsu, 259, 261.
Nanjio Bunyiu, 831.
Nara, 182, 337, 843, 296.
Nehan, see Nirvana.
Nepal, 167, 168, 171.
New Buddhism, 284, 285.
Nichiren, 877, 878.
Sect, 877-280, 334, 339.
Nihilism, 236, 240, 841.
Nihongi, 41, 56, 68.
Nikko, 185, 363,
Nirvana, 163, 163, 186, 300, 303, 303,
Nitobe, Mr. Inazo, 352, 360.
Nobunaga, 312, 331, 332.
Norito, 38, 47-49, 54, 55-58, 79, 80,
96.
Northern Buddhism, 165.
Oeaku sect, 383.
Offerings, 57.
Ogurusu, Eev. Ko-cho, 314.
Ohashi Junzo, 145.
Ojin, 204.
Onna-ishi, see Phallicism.
Original prayer, 871 .
Original vow, 873, 313.
Orphan asylums, 316.
Osaka, 180, 312, 368.
Pages, Mr. Leon, 449,
Pagodas, 203.
Pantheism, 31, 148, 143, 187, 219,
243.
Paradise, 210, 239, 259, 361, 280.
Parliament of Eeligions, 5, 39, 73,
283.
Peking, 105.
Perry, Commodore M. C, 139, 316,
3.52, 360, 364, 365.
Persecutions, 93, 343.
Persian elements, 195, 293, 304.
Personality, 116.

450

INDEX

Pessimism, 214.
Phallicism, 39-30, 49-53, 88, 380-384.
Philo, 192, 197, 301.
Phoenix, 19, 30.
Pilgiimages, 398, 399.
Pindola, see Binzuru.
Poetry, 333 ; see Manyoshu.
Politeness, 74, 241.
Popular customs, 198.
Population, 8, 9, 177, 291, 359.
Popular movement in China, 138,
Portuguese, 344, 345, 347.
Pratyekas, 234.
Prayers, 86-88.
Prayer-wheels, 175,
Printing, 133, 134, 200.
Prometheus, 53.
Protestantism, 155, 162, 252, 274.
Pronouns, 116,
Proverbs, 88, 179, 326, 270, 307, 333,
352, 389.
Psychology of the Japanese, 230,
241.
Pure Land of Bliss, 198, 363-265.
Purification of 1870, 206, 310, 313,
233, 248, 360.
Pyrronism, 340.
Eai Sanyo, 143.
Eakan, 305.
"Eeformed" Buddhism, 370, 274-
277.
Eennyo Sho-nin, 258.
Revision of Confucianism, 148-153.
Revival of pure Shinto, 91-96.
Revolving libraries, 253.
Eis-shu, 236-338.
Rituals, see Norito.
Riu Kiu, 9, 109.
Riyobu, 89, 191, 303, 309, 311, 318,
833.
Rosaries, 366.
Saddhaema PtTNDAIlIKA, 170, 339,
346, 380, 304.

Sado, 341.
Salt, 85.
Samurai, UO, 119, 146, 151, 153.
San Kai Ri, 211.
Sanron sect, 182, 240. , ,
Sanskrit, 35, 182, 300, 210, 245, 349.
Sarat.ashi, 318.
Satow, Mr. Ernest, 39, 47, 386.
Satsuma, 313.
Schools of Philosophy :
Chinese, 136-139.
Indian, 159-164, 832.
Japanese, 356-358, 369.
Sekigahara, 338.
Sendai, 119.
Seppuku, see Hara-kiri.
Serpent -worship, 30-33, 378, 279,
385.
Seven Gods of Good Fortune, 217,
318.
Shaka, 160, 161, 179, 3.54
Shakyamuni, see Shaka.
Shaminism, 15-17.
Shang-Ti, 103, 104.
Shari, 183.
Shastra and Sutra, 231.
Shichimen, 378.
Shigemori, 120.
Shimabara, 344.
Shingaku movement, 369, 370.
Shingon sect, 185, 303, 348-251.
Shinran, 271-274.
Shin sect, 870-276, 317.
Shinta, 38, 42, 76', 89, 96, 97, 142, 184,
195, 314, 319.
Sin, 385, 388.
Sho-gun, no, 115, 143.
Shomon, 336.
Shotoku, ISO, 181, 208, 236, 313.
Siddartha, 410.
Soga no Inamu, 180.
Soshi, 9.1, 278.
Southern Buddhism, 165, 167.
Spaniards, 336, 337, 340, 347.
Stars, 93.

INDEX

457

Statistics of Buddhism, 309.
of Shinto, 400, 401.
Sugawara Michizane, 204.
Suicide, 113, 118-131, 147, 151.
Saiko, 180.
Sung dynasty, 414, 137.
Sun-goddess, 66, 104, 801, 803.
Sun-worship, 46, 47, 82, 87.
Swastika, 30.5.
Swords, 7, 378.
Syle, Eev. E. W., 36.
Syncretism, 191-194, 205.
Synergism, 268, 271, 272.
Szma Kwang, 138.
Taiko, see Hideyoshi.
Takahashi, Mr. Goro, 384.
Takashi, Rev. Dai-Ryo, 838.
Taketori Monogatari, 423.
Tantra system, 194.
Taoism, 106, 31,5, 218.
Tathagata, 359.
Tathata, 343, 346.
Taylor, Bayard, 380.
Tea plant, 308.
Tei-Shu philosophy, 139, 145.
Temples, 83, 93, 309, 305-309.
Ten, 144.
Tendai sect, 185, 344-248, 268.
Tenjin, 304.
Tenno, 184.
Tenshi, 184.
Terence, 138.
Theism, 173.
Theological seminaries, 6-8.
Tibet, 165, 167, 170.
Tobacco, 809.
Tokugawas, 141, 143, 356, 365.
Torii, 84, 810.
Tortoise, 19.
Transmigration of souls, 315.
Tree-worship, 30, 31.
Triads, 171, 855, 279.
Trinity, 428.
Tripitaka, 160, 170, 231.

Tsuji, Rev. Ken-ko, 425,
Tsukushi, 44.
Tsushima, 44.
Tycoon, see Sho-gun.
Ueda, Rev. Sho-hen, 425.
Upanishads, 156, 161, 162.
Ushi toki mairi, 31.
Uzume, 68.
"Vagra, 305.
¦Vagrabodhi, 248, 249.
Vairokana, 184, 244, 250.
Vedas, 156, 158, 159, 160, 162.
Vehicles, the three, 234, 235; see
also Hinayana and Mahayana.
Victims, 74.
Washington, 114.
Western Paradise, 277.
Wheel of the law, 302.
Whitney, Prof. W. D., 811, 377.
William the Silent, 114.
Woman, 123, 149, 275, 318-330.
Xavier, 334, 389, 330, 345, 346, 347.
Yamato, 44, 76, 87, 91, 109,177,
179.
Damashii, 44, 147, 151, 1.53, 178.
Yamato-Tosa art, 114.
Yedo, 110, 115, 119, 141, 230, 838,
340, 360, 366.
Yen sect, 853-256.
Yezo, 43, 317.
Yoga, 157, 197, 199, 301, 309, 311.
Yoga-chara, 194, 203, 349.
Yokoi Heishiro, 113, 316, 366, 367.
Yoni, see Phallicism.
Yoshida Shoin, 147.
Yoshiwara system, 404.
Yuan chang, see Genjo.
Zendo, 261-363, 367.
Zenkoji, 179, 181.

9384 §'