CHAPTER XXXIV

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JAPANESE BUDDHISM.

Buddhism, that worship without God, that religion of nothingness, invented by despair, is superior, in many respects, to the religion which it has displaced in Japan.--AIMÉ HUMBERT.

My mountain dwelling’s roof of thatch Is with Yahemugura moss o’ergrown, Of passer-by no glimpse I catch, I dwell uncheered and alone.

THE PRIEST’S LAMENT FOR THE DESERTED TEMPLE (translated from the Japanese).

Buddhism was introduced into Japan in 552 A.D. By this time, the original Buddhism of India had been very greatly altered. “It now had a vast and complicated ecclesiastical and monastic machinery, a geographical and sensuous paradise, definitely-located hells and purgatories, populated with a hierarchy of titled demons. Of these, the priests kept the keys, regulated the thermometers, and timed or graded the torture or bliss.” The Chinese had very greatly modified the Buddhism of India, and the Coreans had still further changed the Buddhism which they had received from China; and now, Japan, in her turn, modifies the religion she received from Corea. The way was prepared for the coming of Buddhism to Japan. Shintoism had become an empty, cold system of political management, used as a support of the government. It had lost its hold on the affections of the people, and they were heart-hungry for just such a warm religious system as Buddhism had to offer. In the year 552, King Petsi, of Corea, sent to Kin-Mei, the thirteenth Mikado of Japan, a statue of Gautama, together with books, banners, a baldaquin and other objects of worship. Buddha had said: “My doctrine shall extend to the East;” and King Petsi desired to aid in fulfilling that prophecy. The mikado suffered the statue to remain; a chapel was built for it, and worship offered by a few of the members of the mikado’s court. An epidemic broke out; it was declared that the new image was the cause of it, and the chapel was thereupon burned and the statue cast into the river.

In the reign of the next mikado, Bidasu, a Buddhist bonze (priest) came over from Corea. He had been warned of the difficulties before him, but surmounted them by a pleasant device. When he was presented to the mikado at his court, he saw his little grandson, a boy of six years old, at whose birth there had been some extraordinary signs. He prostrated himself at the child’s feet, and worshiped him, declaring that he recognized in him the incarnation of one of Buddha’s disciples, the new patron of the empire. The mikado left the child in the care of the Corean priest, to be educated by him. As might be expected, the child became the first high-priest of Buddhism. Through his efforts, being so closely related to the Emperor, the religion spread with greater rapidity, and soon became the dominant religion of the land.

BODHIDHARMA IN JAPAN.

In Japan, as in India, there have been many ascetics, noted for their wonderful penances. One of the first and most famous of these is called Bodhidharma, who founded the Shin-Shin sect of Buddhists. He came from Corea, in 613 A.D., according to the legend, floating upon a large lotus-leaf. Kobo Daishi, the inventor of the Japanese syllabary or alphabet, was a celebrated priest, born in 774 A.D. Fodaishi was a remarkable inventive genius, who came from China. The priests had been required to read the “wheel of the law,” as it was called, with great regularity. He constructed a movable desk, and spread on it the rolls of the sacred books. He allowed his disciples, instead of reading all the books through--which would have been a most tiresome task--to give this desk a half or three-quarters of a turn, counting it as if they had read the books which passed before them. He and great priests of later days did much to mix the two religions, Buddhism and Shintoism together, and thus secure its readier acceptance. The thirteenth century was the time when Buddhism attained the height of its prosperity. At this time, many of the greatest temples were built, and most of the sects founded. Of these sects, there are seven chief and some twenty minor ones, illustrating the utmost diversity.

THE SUN-CHILD AND HIS MIRACULOUS DELIVERANCE.

In 1222, a child was born, who was named Nichiren, because his mother dreamed that the sun (nichi, in Japanese) had entered her. While still a child, he was intrusted to the care of a priest. As he grew up, he turned away from all the accepted teachings, and resolved to found a new and purer sect. He changed the common Japanese prayer from “Save us! O Eternal Buddha!” to “Glory to the salvation-bringing book of the law!” This prayer is inscribed in the temples of this sect, upon their tomb-stones and shrines, and was even engraven on the shields of their warriors. Nichiren was a traveling preacher, and he founded many temples. He bitterly opposed all other Buddhists, and made many bitter enemies. The story is thus told by Griffis: “On a certain day, he was taken out to a village on the strand of the bay, beyond Kamakura, and in front of the lovely island of Enoshima. This village is called Koshigoye. At this time, Nichiren was forty-three years old. Kneeling down upon the strand, the saintly bonze calmly uttered his prayers, and repeated ‘_Namu mio ho ren ge kio_’ upon his rosary. The swordman lifted his blade and, with all his might, made the downward stroke. Suddenly a flood of blinding light burst from the sky, and smote both the executioner and the official inspector deputed to witness the severed head. The sword-blade was broken in pieces, while the holy man was unharmed. At the same moment, Hojo, the Lord of Kamakura, was startled at his revels in the palace by the sound of rattling thunder and the flash of lightning, though there was not a cloud in the sky. Dazed by the awful signs of Heaven’s displeasure, Hojo Tokoyori, divining that it was on account of the holy victim, instantly dispatched a fleet messenger to stay the executioner’s hand, and reprieve the victim. Simultaneously, the official inspector, at the still unstained blood-pit, sent a courier to beg reprieve for the saint whom the sword could not touch. The two men, coming from opposite directions, met at the small stream which the tourist still crosses on the way from Kamakura to Enoshima, and it was thereafter called Yukiai (meeting on the way) River, a name which it retains to this day. Through the pitiful clemency and intercession of Hojo Tokimuni, son of the Lord of Kamakura, Nichiren was sent to Sado Island. He was afterward released by his benefactor, in a general amnesty. Nichiren founded his sect at Kioto, and it greatly flourished under the care of his disciple, his reverence, Nichizo. After a busy and holy life, the great saint died at Ikegami, a little to the north-west of the Kawasaki Railroad station, between Yokohama and Tokio, where the scream of the locomotive and the rumble of the railway car are but faintly heard in the solemn shades. There are to be seen gorgeous temples, pagodas, shrines, magnificent groves and cemeteries. The dying presence of Nichiren has lent this place peculiar sanctity; but his bones rest on Mount Minobu, in the province of Kai, where was one of his homes when in the flesh.”

[Illustration: MIRACULOUS DELIVERANCE OF A BONZE.]

[Illustration: SHRINE OF KWANON.]

The disciples of Nichiren drank in their master’s spirit, and they long continued the most powerful sect of the Buddhists in Japan. The Shin sect, which was brought to great strength by Shinran in 1262 A.D., discarded fasting, penances, pilgrimages, separation from society, nunneries and monasteries, and taught salvation by faith in Buddha, and not by works. They use the sacred Buddhist books in a translation into Japanese, while the other sects used the (to them) unintelligible Sanskrit and Chinese. Their temples are built mainly in crowded cities. Their priests marry, and their sons succeed them in office. This sect wields a vast influence over the religious life of the people. To these two men, Shinran and Nichiren, and their missionary labors, the great progress of Buddhism in Japan is due.

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF KWANON’S TEMPLE, TOKIO, JAPAN.]

FURTHER HISTORY OF BUDDHISM IN JAPAN.

The books and idols were brought from Corea in 552. In 584 several of the nobles at court professed faith in the new religion. In 585 the pestilence broke out, and the progress of Buddhism seemed to be checked. In 741 an imperial decree was given that two temples and a seven-storied pagoda be built in each province. This would seem to indicate the establishment of Buddhism in Japan. But, from the time (800) when Kobo Daishi showed that, according to Buddhism, patriotism and piety were one, and that the Shinto gods were but Japanese manifestations of Buddha, it gained a sure foothold in Japan; the religion spread more and more extensively, until the fourteenth century, when the zeal of Nichiren, Shinran and their co-workers were somewhat forgotten. Many of the largest Buddhist temples now standing were built in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and are therefore, five or six hundred years old. In the fourteenth century the great majority of the soldiers were Buddhists. Images of Buddha were sewed into their helmets; texts from the sacred books were woven into their banners; and amulets or charms, with sacred characters written on the papers within them, were worn as a protection in battle.

[Illustration: THE HIOGO BUDDHA.]

From the year 1570 Nobunaga, a famous warrior, appears as a persecutor of the Buddhists. The Buddhists were then very powerful; they had enormous monasteries and stone-walled and moated fortresses. The priests of the various sects were continually quarreling among themselves, and used arms with the dexterity of the soldiery. They grew to be less and less strict in their observance of religious rites and rules as they grew prosperous. On the shore of Lake Biwa was the largest monastery in all Japan. Here thousands of monks were gathered together. They chanted their prayers before gorgeous altars, while they reveled in luxury and licentiousness, drinking wine, eating forbidden food, and yielded to the charms of concubines or fanned the flames of wars between their followers and those of other sects. Nobunaga, who had been trained among priests, had no respect for such characters; he was born, bred and educated as a Shintoist, and he hated Buddhism. In 1571 he ordered his soldiers to set fire to this and other monasteries, and to destroy their occupants without exception. Before this, Xavier and other Jesuit missionaries had come to Japan, and they were encouraged by Nobunaga, because he regarded them as opponents of the Buddhists. But Buddhism thrived in spite of this persecution. Now the whole country, with its 35,000,000 of people, may be called Buddhist. But since the thirteenth century not many very extensive monasteries have been built. That work is nearly abandoned.

BUDDHIST SECTS IN JAPAN.

Buddhism in Japan is broken up into many sects. These sects differ greatly, much more than even Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. For a time they waged bitter wars against each other, and sought to exterminate each other.

W. E. Griffis has prepared the following tabular list of Buddhist sects in Japan:

Chief Sects. Total number of Temples. 1. Tendai, founded by Chisha, in China, 6,391 2. Shingon, „ „ Kobo, in Japan, A.D. 813, 15,503 3. Zen, „ „ Dharma, „ 21,547 4. Jodo, „ „ Hönen, „ A.D. 1173, 9,819 5. Shin, „ „ Shinran, „ A.D. 1213, 13,718 6. Nichiren, „ „ Nichiren, in Japan, A.D. 1262, 7. Ji, „ „ Ippen, ” A.D. 1288, 586

According to the census taken in Japan in 1872, there was a population of 33,110,825. Of these there were 75,925 priests, abbots and monks; 9 abbesses; 37,327 novices preparing to become monks or priests; and 98,585 religious devotees were gathered in monasteries. These last are mostly of the Shin sect. In 1875 the census showed a decrease of over 4,000 of these _religieux_. Besides the seven chief sects above mentioned, there are twenty-one “irregular,” “local” or “independent” sects, which act apart from the others, and in some cases have no temples or monasteries. A number of other sects have originated in Japan, flourished for a time, decayed and passed out of existence. Mr. Griffis estimates that it took 900 years to convert the Japanese from their nature-worship to Buddhism.

THE PROTESTANTS OF BUDDHISM.

[Illustration: BUDDHIST SHRINE AT KOBE.]

[Illustration: JAPANESE PILGRIM IN WINTER DRESS.]

[Illustration: DINING-ROOM OF A BUDDHIST MONASTERY.]

The members of the Shin sect, founded in 1213, sometimes called the Shinshin, at other times the Monto sect, are the Protestants of Japanese Buddhism. They protested and still protest against penance, fasting, pilgrimages, convents and monasteries, hermitages, charms, amulets and the reading of the Buddhist sacred books in an unknown tongue. Its founder, the priest Shinran, married a noble lady of Kioto. The Monto priests always marry and oppose the celibacy of the priesthood. This is the most thoroughly organized and earnestly aggressive of all the Buddhist sects of Japan. Its priests are wide-awake and active. Two of them have been studying the Sanskrit language with the famous Professor Max Müller, preparing better to understand and preach their sacred books, which are written in this tongue. One of the foremost priests of to-day is Akamatz, who spent several years in England studying Sanskrit and Christianity. Their temples are the most magnificent in Japan. A specially favored visitor to the Nishi-Hongu-wanji temple, which may be described as the cathedral of the Monto sect, describes what she saw while there as follows: “We walked around the outside of the public rooms, which are numerous, large and lofty, by a deep-corridor, from which we saw the interior through the open doors and the dull gleam of rich dead gold hinted of the artistic treasures within. For in these dimly-lighted rooms, most of which have been set apart for guests for centuries, there are painting’s nearly 300 years old, and the walls are either paneled in gold, or are formed of sliding-screens, heavily overlaid with gold-leaf, on which, in the highest style of Japanese art, are depicted various sacred emblems--the lotus, the stork, the peony, and the _Cleyera Japonica_--executed very richly and beautifully with slightly conventionalized fidelity to nature. From thence are passed into the great temple, the simple splendor of which exceeds anything I have yet seen. The vast oblong space has a flat roof, supported on many circular pillars of finely-planed wood; a third part is railed off for the sanctuary; the panels of the folding-doors and the panels at the back are painted with flowers on a gold ground; behind a black lacquer altar stands a shrine of extreme splendor, gleaming in the twilight; but on the high altar itself there were only two candlesticks, two vases of pure white chrysanthemums, and a glorious bronze incense burner. An incense-burner was the only object on the low altar. Besides these there were six black lacquer desks, on each desk a roll of litanies, and above the altar six lamps burned low. It was imposingly magnificent. The Japanese have a proverb: ‘As handsome as a Monto altar.’”

[Illustration: RELIGIOUS FESTIVAL AT NIGHT IN THE TEMPLE-GROUNDS OF ASAKUSA, TOKIO.]

This sect rejects images and all sensuous paraphernalia addressed to the popular taste.

The Creed of the Monto sect is thus given by Akamatz: “Rejecting all religious austerities and other actions, giving up all idea of self-power, rely upon Amita Buddha with the whole heart for our salvation, which is the most important thing; believing that at the moment of putting one’s faith in Amita Buddha our salvation is settled.

“From that moment invocation of his name is observed to express gratitude and thankfulness for Buddha’s mercy. Moreover, being thankful for the reception of this doctrine from the founder and succeeding chief priests, whose teachings are as kind and welcome as the light in a dark night.

“We must also keep the laws which are fixed for our duty during our whole life.”

KWANON’S TEMPLE AT ASAKUSA, TOKIO.

Tokio, the eastern capital of Japan, is the most thickly populated city of the empire. It has a very large number of temples and shrines. The most famous and popular of all is the temple of Kwanon, at Asakusa. Asakusa is really one great play-ground, with the temple in the centre. The people gather there for pleasure as well as worship. The approach to the temple is by a long lane, from twelve to fifteen feet wide, and is lined with booths, stalls and shops, in which toys and articles of ornament and the like are sold. It is always holiday time here. The toys, dolls and all manner of playthings are displayed in wonderful variety. The shops are open all along their fronts, and the toys are arranged on steps, rising as they were farther and farther from the front, so that everything in the shops could be seen at a glance. The Japanese are a very domestic people, and think a great deal of their children, and often when they go to the temple to worship they take the children with them, and purchase toys, games, puzzles or dolls for them at these booths. Inside the temple-grounds are “tea-houses,” as they are called, where the people sit to quaff the tea from tiny cups, while they listen to some interesting tale, as it is told by the story-tellers. The story-tellers are a regular profession in Japan. Jugglers and gymnasts, painters and play-actors are doing their best to amuse the worshipers. Little stands are erected, where beans (Japanese peanuts) are being roasted, where savory stews are being prepared, where barley sugar-candy is being pulled, or where sweetmeats are being prepared for little purchasers. It is astonishing to see the manifold ways in which amusements are provided, and all is in connection with the temple services. The owners of the booths, etc., all pay a percentage of their profits to the priests. Just before coming into the temple proper, one passes through a huge red gate-way, having a compartment on each side of the doorway. In these compartments are two gigantic wooden images, painted red. They are two of the guardians of Heaven, defending the passage-way, to keep out evil spirits. The idols are protected by wire screens, such as are used to protect store windows. To these gratings huge straw sandals are tied. They are the offerings of the worshipers for the use of the gods. On New Year’s Eve the priests are placed on a platform, suspended in this doorway and under the eyes of the gods. From this position they distribute paper amulets to the people, guaranteeing the protection of Kwanon to such who shall be so fortunate as to secure one. They throw them in the air, their servants fanning them, so as to distribute them the more thoroughly, and the great, surging crowds struggle in their search of them. Inside the gate-way are more booths; these are for the sale of the objects to be used in worship--idols, rosaries, candles, domestic altars and the like. Here, in a little stable on the left of the way, is an Albino pony. This is for the use of the goddess Kwanon. Each morning the priests lead the pony before the goddess, and ask her if she does not wish to take a ride. At a large table near by, an old woman sells large beans, which the pious worshiper buys and give to the sacred white horse for food. He has a priest to attend him. On another table the worshiper purchases a small dish of beans, which he throws on the ground, and immediately flocks of pigeons sweep down and eat them. These are sacred pigeons, to whom the right of using the temple and all its buildings is given. Within the temple-grounds, and surrounding the temple of Kwanon, are some forty or fifty sacred buildings, temples and shrines, devoted to the worship of almost all the national gods--shrines of Sanno, the ruler-god; Dai-Koka, the rice god; Benten, goddess of harmony; Hachiman, god of war; and even of the fox are to be found here. The fox is worshiped because of the mischief he can do. His little chapel is on the summit of a knoll; just before it are two granite images of the fox, representing him in a sitting posture, with his eyes on every one approaching his sanctuary. The faithful bow, cast their coins in the box placed here for that purpose, kneel in prayer, hang up their offerings, and turn away. Near the central temple is a seven-storied pagoda, symbolizing the supremacy of Buddhism. From the eaves of each story are suspended wind-bells.

[Illustration: NEW YEAR’S FROLIC IN JAPAN.]

[Illustration: BUDDHIST “NIO,” OR TEMPLE GUARD.]

We turn to ascend the copper-edged steps of the central building. This is a plain wooden structure, built with great solidity, and yet so planned as to be secure against the frequent earthquakes. Its massive sloping roof of gray tiles sweeps up from either side. There are two main rooms in the temple, a sort of vestibule, where the worshipers perform their ceremonies, and the screened shrine of the goddess. The pigeons are perched about the rafters, and the whole place is noisy and dirty. Huge lanterns are suspended from the ceiling; private shrines are scattered here and there; the walls are hung with pictures and white tablets. Around the great red columns which support the ceiling, and on the wire screens before the idols, are hung scores of braids of hair of men and women, presented as offerings to Kwanon. The ceiling is covered with paintings of scenes from Buddha’s life. The worshiper, as he enters, drops a coin in the lap of an old woman, at the door, who puts a pinch of incense on the fire burning in a brazier, and passes on to the front of the altar to pray. The great altar, on which is the splendid gilt statue of Kwanon, is protected by a wire screen. Before the screen is a large coffer, extending clear across the front of the altar, with bars across its top. Into this, before engaging in prayer, each worshiper casts a coin. Then he kneels, rubbing the palms of the hands together, repeating his prayer and telling his beads. Often one will buy from the priest a written prayer, put it in the mouth and chew it into pulp and then throw the “spit-ball” at the screen. If it sticks, he believes that his prayer will be heard; if it falls, he expects it to fail! Men, women and children, shop-keepers and soldiers, peasants and princes, country and city folks, are all the time coming and going. After worshiping at the main altar, the devotee often turns to the side altars or to some of the shrines. At the right of the altar sits an ugly wooden idol, perched up on a table. He rivals even the main altar in the number of worshipers that throng to touch him. He is the god Binzuru, one of Buddha’s sixteen disciples who is reputed to cure disease. It is a pitiable sight to see crowds of blind, lame, diseased, sickly persons coming in a long string, eagerly awaiting their turn to touch him; for if they can but first rub their hands on him, and then on the diseased spot, it is sure to heal. Often a group of mothers, each with a sickly little babe on her back, carried in Japanese fashion, between her inner and outer garments, will approach Binzuru. Reaching around, they take the tiny hand of the sick child, and rub it on the face of the idol. So constant has been the rubbing that the idol, though made of hard wood, has lost all its features; eyes, nose, lips, ears are all rubbed away. Near by is a stand where an old woman sells for the priest pictures, or small shrines of Kwanon, which are exactly like the accompanying pictures.

[Illustration: JAPANESE PICTURE OF KWANON.]

Behind the screen are many smaller idols and altars, and an inclosed matted space, where those who choose may, by paying an extra fee to the attendant priests, enter and worship undisturbed. On high days and great festival occasions, a space near the altar is fenced in, and the priests, richly dressed, chant their prayers, while incense is smoking and candles are flaring. The crowd presses against the fence, and by making special gifts of money, secure special prayers for themselves, and extra candles, representing such prayers, are placed on the stand for them by the attendants.

To the left of the altar are placed, by the symbols of the Shinto-worship, the mirror and white paper. This enables all shades of opinion to be suited.

Outside the building are groves of plum and cherry trees, which are esteemed not so much for their fruit as for their blossoms. Here are carefully kept beds of lotus, azaleas, chrysanthemums, and camellias and evergreens. These evergreens are dwarfed and trimmed into all sorts of fanciful shapes, even while growing. Trees many years old are made to represent cats, dogs, boats, houses, wagons and other objects. Around the bases of the idols of Buddha, scattered everywhere, are heaps of small stones, representing prayers offered. A praying-machine--a stone wheel set to run on a stone post--stands close by. There is an exhibition of wax-works, which would rival Madame Tussaud’s, of London. These are intended to depict various deliverances from dangers and peril, wrought by Kwanon.

TEMPLE OF SHIBA, IN TOKIO, JAPAN.

[Illustration: MUSICIANS OF THE TEMPLE AT SHIBA.]

[Illustration: TORII, OR WATER GATE, TO THE TEMPLE OF MIYAJIMA, INLAND SEA, JAPAN.]

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE TEMPLE OF SHIBA.]

One of the finest temples of Japan was that of Shiba, in Tokio. It was burned by a fanatic incendiary on the eve of New Year’s Day, December 31st, 1874. Formerly the visitor passed through an immense red gate-way on the north side of the temple, and then passed along a wide avenue lined with overhanging fir-trees. After passing through another gate-way, one enters a large court-yard, in which were arranged 200 stone lanterns, each the gift of a Japanese prince, the head of a clan. Going on through another carved and gilded gate-way, another court-yard is entered, having six large gilt lanterns, each the gift of a prince of the royal family. Then another gate-way, more richly carved and ornamented than the last, is passed, and the visitor stood before the handsome shrines. The lacquered steps lead up to gilt doors, which swing open upon a room covered with the finest white matting. The walls, panels and beams are covered with sculpture. There the great altars rise up, resplendent with golden lacquer and sculpture. In caskets are placed the tablets of the deceased shogouns and rulers. Images of Buddha and Kwanon are scattered about. One of these idols represents Buddha on his death-bed. For many years the mikado lived in Kioto, secluded from the sight of the people. The real ruler was called shogoun (in later days, termed tycoon). This functionary lived in Yedo or Tokio. He was accustomed to worship at Shiba. On the great festival occasions he proceeded there with an immense retinue, and the services were performed with great magnificence.

There are very many idols and shrines in the country places, as well as in the cities. In every hamlet, by the roadsides, among the rice-fields, by the sea-shore, on the hill-tops, by the running streams, in groves of trees or in niches of the rocks. Generally, the temples are placed in elevated positions; these are reached by long flights of steps. Just outside of Tokio, and commanding a fine view of the city, is the hill called Atagosa Yama. One hundred steps lead to the top of this hill; there, amid the clumps of cedar and bamboo, are two idols, formerly much worshiped. They are both Buddhas; the one is standing on a lotus-flower; the other is sitting on a tortoise.

Kobé is the sea-port town of Osaka. High up on a mountain-peak, near the city, is a famous temple built by Jingu Kogo, the Amazonian empress of Japan, after her return from invading Corea. Many hundreds of pilgrims visit it annually. In Kobé is the shrine of a hero, much loved and honored by the Japanese. This is one of the means used by the Buddhist priests to intrench themselves and their religion in the affections of the people. Immediately, on the death of any hero or noted personage, they propose erecting a shrine or a monument to him, thus drawing the devotions of the people anew to that particular shrine, and through it, to their faith.

TEMPLE OF FIVE HUNDRED GODS.

The temples of the 500 disciples of Buddha are among the most celebrated in Japan. Of these, there are several--one in Asakusa, and one in Honjo. In one of these, near the main image of Buddha, is an idol of Hachiman, having three eyes, horns, hoofs and long hair--a curious combination. In each corner, in iron cages, are the gods Daikoku and Yebisu. Yebisu is the god of daily food, and has a fish under his arm; Daikoku, god of wealth, sits on two sacks of rice, with a mallet in his hand, which, when he shakes it, is supposed to send wealth to the worshipers. Great numbers of strips of paper, with prayers written on them, are tied to the railing before these gods, and this indicates their popularity. These images are found in almost every household, and receive daily worship. The idols are seated under a scroll, on their throne. Shallow dishes containing oil with floating wicks, are placed on either side and lighted. On low tables are placed loaves of _mochi_, made of glutinous rice-flour and fishes, and vases containing scrolls. The head of the family, kneeling between the tall candle-stick, presents, each morning before breakfast, a cup of tea or _saki_--a very common drink, brewed from the rice, accompanied with a dish of rice.

In the Temple of the Five Hundred Gods, there are, besides these gods, a statue of Kwanon and images of the five hundred of Buddha’s disciples. On a throne of weather-stained rocks and pieces of volcanic rock and lava, is a colossal image of Buddha, seated on the lotus-flower. On either side of him is a statue of an elephant and of a lion. Next to Buddha is the statue of the disciple who collected all of Buddha’s sayings; next, the disciple who never forgot anything his master taught him, and so on through all the list. Away in the rear is the black image of Yema, the god of hell.

In this representation of the Buddhistic hell Yema sits upon his throne behind a table, as the Japanese pictures put him, with his pencil in hand, ready to write out the sentence of the condemned. On either side are those who keep the records of the misdeeds of men, and, in front, the executioner ready to cast the condemned man from his boat into the lake of fire. In the future state, there are, according to the teaching of the Buddhist priests, eight modes of torture. “First, the wicked are alternately beaten and resuscitated; secondly, they are dragged limb from limb, chopped to pieces, pounded in a mortar, sawn or planed into various shapes, eyes gouged out, and the tongue and nails are plucked out; in the third, the crowd of the wicked are beaten about like animals in a pen; the fourth is weeping; the fifth, is great lamentation; the sixth, burning and roasting; the seventh, hills covered with large needles, over which the wicked are driven; the eighth, being thrown into the bottomless pit of perdition.” These are specimens of the terrors which heathenism holds over its followers.

[Illustration: TEMPLE OF FIVE HUNDRED GODS, CANTON, CHINA.]

THE CASTING OF A TEMPLE BELL.

Osaka is the greatest commercial city of Japan. In it are many temples. One of the most beautiful sounds the traveler ever hears, as he travels in Asia, is the sound of the temple bells of Japan. They are very large, and generally sounded by striking a suspended beam against the bell. Some of these bells are ten feet high. On their sides are cast or engraven texts from the Buddhist sacred books, images of Buddha or Kwanon, or of heavenly beings. The bell was stuck on a knob on its side by the small tree-trunk. Few sounds are sweeter than the quivering, mellow tones of the Japanese temple bells. The bells are often, as in Osaka, placed in separate buildings, built for them; this was to give a better effect to the sounds. The occasion of the casting of a bell was one of great public rejoicing. Offerings of money or jewelry, or utensils of tin, copper, silver or gold were brought by men and women. “When metal enough, and in proper proportion, had been amassed, crucibles were made, earth-furnaces dug, the moulds fashioned, and huge bellows--worked by standing men at each end, like a see-saw--were mounted; and, after due prayers and consultations, the auspicious day was appointed. The place selected was usually a hill or elevated place. The people, in their gayest dress, assembled in picnic parties, and with song, and dance, and feast waited while the workmen, in festal uniform, toiled, and the priests, in canonical robes, watched. The fires were lighted, the bellows oscillated, the blast roared, and the crucibles were brought to the proper heat and the contents to fiery fluidity, the joy of the crowd increasing as each stage in the process was announced. When the molten flood was finally poured into the mould, the excitement of the spectators reached the height of uncontrollable enthusiasm. Another pecuniary harvest was reaped by the priests before the crowds dispersed, by the sale of stamped kerchiefs or paper containing a holy text, or certifying to the presence of the purchaser at the ceremony, and the blessing of the gods upon him therefor. Such a token became an heirloom; and the child who ever afterward heard the solemn boom of the bell at matin or evening, was constrained by filial, as well as by holy motives, to obey and reverence its admonitory call.” Such devotion to the idol-worship is not so frequently seen to-day, as skepticism is becoming prevalent.

[Illustration: BELFRY OF THE TEMPLE AT OSAKA, JAPAN.]

THE COLOSSAL IDOL, THE KAMAKURA DAI BUTSU.

There is a gigantic image about two miles from Kamakura, and twenty miles from Yokohama. The colossal idol of Buddha here (see frontispiece) is of bronze, and, though sitting in Oriental style, is forty-four feet high, and including the terrace on which it sits, is sixty-five feet. It is probably the most finished work of art the Japanese possess, regarded both for its beauty and the religious sentiment it expresses. After leaving Kamakura, with its wonderful old temples, the road passes out among the rice fields, down toward the shore washed by the waves of the Pacific Ocean. Every here and there _torii_, or birds’ rests, as they are called, great gate-ways, modeled after those before the topes in India, are placed. They consist of two upright shafts of stone, about ten or twelve feet high, with cross-pieces on their tops bending upwards at the ends, and extending beyond the uprights, and a square cross-piece about a foot from the top running from shaft to shaft. Knowing the immensity of the statue, the visitor for the first time is on the lookout for it. But its builders have used great judgment in placing it, for it is not to be seen until one reaches the most favorable spot. After passing through the red gate-way, with its Gog and Magog, the giant idols, on either side, the road seems to end in a clump of trees. However, it passes around the trees, and there, right from the best place to see the idol favorably, there right before him it sits. There is an irresistible charm about it; the features of the face are in such perfect harmony, the garments are so simple, the face is so serene and benevolent in its contemplative ecstasy, and the whole pose of the figure so well executed. The hills, clad with evergreens, gently slope together in the background, and all the buildings, dwellings for priests, etc., are so dexterously concealed by the foliage. The place is silent, and time has so tempered the bronze idol itself and the stones of the terrace, that the whole effect is grand, and compels admiration.

But, while the whole scene inspires one with a sense of its beauty and grandeur, it saddens one to think that after all it is an idol. Even while one stops to study its beauty he is jostled by the pilgrims with their white garments, broad hats, little bells fastened to their girdles and their staves, as they come bowing and rising alternately, till they get near to the idol. The idol is made of bronze plates, nicely united, though time and the weather have somewhat exposed some of these joints. In front of it are vases with bronze lotus lilies, and a bronze brazier where incense is burned day by day for the benefit of pilgrims.

The image is hollow, and inside smaller idols are ranged. A window in his shoulder lets in the light. His ears are large, as are the ears of almost all idols, and the head is covered with representations of snail-shells, to protect him from the sun. The idol was cast and erected about six hundred years ago. At first a building inclosed it, but it was soon destroyed, and for nearly six centuries past he has been exposed to wind and rain, and snow and frost, to earthquake and typhoon, and yet he is there unharmed, and widely admired and adored by hundreds of devout worshipers.

[Illustration: STREET MOUNTEBANKS IN A JAPANESE NEW YEAR’S FESTIVAL.]

THE FAMOUS TEMPLE OF THE GREAT BUDDHA, AT NARA.

“Long ere great Buddha strode Upon his calm, colossal, godlike way O’er the broad rolling river of Cathay, By the Corean road,

“And stepping stormy seas Hither, to mount the golden lotus throne, O Nara, there to rule and muse alone, Through lingering centuries.”

As usual in approaches to Japanese temples, there are several shops near to the temple itself. In the centre of the large open space between the lesser gate-way and the temple is an immense and very old bronze lantern, large enough for a man to stand in. This lantern was presented to the temple by the renowned hero and statesman, Yoritomo, who died in the year 1199, and is 700 years old. It is in daily use still. This temple was originally founded, and the immense image made, by the Mikado Shomu, the forty-sixth of the present line of emperors, and the third of Nara, who died 748 A.D. The temple was destroyed 700 years ago, in the terrible civil wars of the twelfth century, and again seriously injured, so that the head of the god had to be recast, in the seventeenth century. The great gate-way, however, with most of the other buildings of the great temple, have escaped such injuries, and, although constructed of wood, have stood as they now stand for more than eleven centuries.

[Illustration: JAPANESE IDEA OF THE JUDGE OF HELL.]

The interest of this place centres in the great god of gold and bronze, which has been the wonder of Japan for so many ages past. It has been positively stated by some that a considerable amount of gold entered into his composition; but those on the spot seem to be uncertain as to whether the gold employed in making him was mixed with the bronze of which he is cast, or applied superficially to him. That much has been applied in the latter way there can be no doubt; and in places in which the gold is visible, and which I closely examined, it seemed to me that it conformed to an external line of ornament in each case, which would indicate that it was superficial only. The dimensions of this god are truly colossal. His height from the base of the lotus-flower, on which he sits, to the top of his head is sixty-three and one-half feet; and above this rises an aureole fourteen feet wide, above which again rises for several feet the flame-like glory which arches in the whole figure. The face proper is sixteen feet long; its width, nine and one-half feet. The eyes are three feet nine inches long; the eyebrows, five and one-half feet; the ears, eight and one-half feet. The chest is twenty feet in depth. Its middle finger is five feet long. Around the head, shoulders and sides of the god, in front of the aureole, are sixteen sitting figures, said to be eight feet long. The leaves of the immense lotus on which he sits are each ten feet long and six feet wide, and there are fifty-six of them. The casting must have been wonderfully well executed, although the fineness of the leaf-edges, and other parts which we were able to examine, and the elaborate engraving which can be traced upon the lotus-leaves in the uninjured parts, leaves no doubt that the founder’s art was elaborately supplemented by the file and graver. The countenance of the god is less mild and calm of expression than is usual in images of Buddha. The right hand is open and raised upwards; the left rests on the lap.

SOME JAPANESE GODS.

Many of the gods of Shintoism have been adopted by the Buddhists. Hotei’s image is carved into the shape of buttons, and used for holding the pipe in the girdle (a Nitsuki). Inari, the rice-god, and his companion, Kitsune, the fox, are worshiped. A very great many superstitions are connected with the fox. If one is sick, he is said to have a fox in him, and a priest is sent for, who, by beating a drum--at, say, three beats each half minute all night long--will drive him out. He is the cause of a thousand ills to the people. He is reverenced because he is supposed to be the most cunning creature in creation. Kitsune becomes by turns a sacred, amusing, perfidious, diabolical personage. One superstitious notion is, that if the traveler fail to honor the fox before his journey, he, Kitsune, will take revenge by causing will-o’-the-wisps to spring up all over the rice-swamps, and so mislead the traveler, and prolong his journey indefinitely. This lighting the will-o’-the-wisp is called the Festival of the Foxes, and is shown in the opposite picture.

SOME JAPANESE FESTIVALS.

New Year’s day is observed in Japan with many ceremonies. On the day before all accounts are squared, new clothing is bought, and the people prepare to spend the morrow with great joy. The Chinese seek to drive the devils out of their houses by exploding fire-crackers. The Japanese have a feast on New Year’s Eve, and when the merriment is almost over, the head of the house takes a dish of beans and goes all over the house, throwing the beans in every corner; in this way they think they drive out the devils, and when they are all out, they place a sacred piece of paper, which they have purchased from the priest, on the door, to prevent their re-entering. On New Year’s day the streets are alive with the people. It is _the_ holiday of the nation, and the temples are thronged with the gay worshipers and dexterous jugglers.

[Illustration: FESTIVAL OF THE FOXES.

This is a supposed freak of the foxes in order to mislead travelers who do not honor them. Will-o’-the-wisps are regarded as originating in this way.]

[Illustration: DRIVING THE DEVILS OUT OF THE HOUSE ON NEW YEAR’S EVE WITH BEANS.]

[Illustration: A JAPANESE MATSURI, OR RELIGIOUS FESTIVAL.]

[Illustration: RELIGIOUS PROCESSION IN JAPAN.]

We will let an eye-witness describe a Matsuri, or festival scene. He writes from Osaka: “The other day a procession passed our door, which you, perhaps, would like to hear of. We heard a din, a Babel of voices, growing louder and louder, and on going to the door saw a crowd approaching, composed largely of boys between five and ten years of age, though some men were among them. The first fifty or more were dressed in uniform colors, a suit of red and white, in squares of about an inch and a half, the red being a dominant color, looking, indeed, like circus clowns. Each person had a cloth tied around his head, with apparently a paper stuck in it, and a paper fan in his hand. They were dancing along, striking their hands, or perhaps each other, with the fan, and singing and chatting. The men especially were cutting up queer antics. Some of the boys had bells hung to their girdles. Then came a lot of older persons, dressed in blue and white garments. Perhaps a hundred and fifty in all. Last of all came a triumphal car, a miniature temple, or shrine, with a man in it. They were having a jolly time altogether.”

Another festival is that of the god Tengou. The Japanese mariner knows no festival so attractive as that of which the sea is the theatre. When the sea-side inhabitants of Sinagawa, at Tokio, celebrate the anniversary of their favorite deity, _Tengou_, they believe that they best show their affection for the idol by transporting it into the sea. While the veterans of the priesthood and their servants attend to the annual purification of the temple and its furniture, the most vigorous of the priests take upon their shoulders the frame on which the shrine or Mikosi rests. When they have reached the shore, they lay aside their sacerdotal vestments, and in good order plunge through the waves. Meanwhile the crowds of fishermen, who follow them with tumultuous shouts, encircle the _cortége_; seize with their strong arms the sacred abode of the god; raise it above the lacquered caps of the priests; and in spite of the efforts, real or pretended, of its official guardians, who struggle against the crowd in the midst of the waves, the tottering, but still upright shrine in the hands of the people accomplishes its maritime pilgrimage.

This ceremonial takes place on the sixth day of the sixth month, which is about the end of our July. It lasts, with its different rites, to the eighth day, when, to conclude, the priests distribute to their flocks branches of trees laden with fruit in the condition in which the people most like it--that is to say, when it has scarcely arrived at maturity.

THE SACRED MOUNTAIN, FUJI.

[Illustration: FUJISAN, FROM A VILLAGE ON THE TOKAIDO.]

One of the grandest sights to be seen in all the world is the view of the great Sacred Mountain of Japan, Fuji-Yama. The writer will never forget the impression it made upon him. It rises in all its lonely majesty to a height of 13,080 feet high. Its beautifully sweeping sides rise, cone-like, from the almost level lands surrounding its base. It is no wonder that the mountain is so dear to the heart of every Japanese. On almost all their works of art, in bronze or lacquer-ware, Mount Fuji is drawn or wrought. Long before the sun has lighted the earth below at the sunrise, and long after the hills and valleys are shrouded in the darkness of the coming night, Fuji’s snow-crowned summit is aglow with light; the huge cone rising high above the clouds, sublime, colossal and beautiful in its ruddy purple. To this mountain the Japanese are accustomed to make pilgrimages. All who have visited Fuji-Yama in pilgrimage wear a little bell attached to their girdle, in addition to their pilgrim suit. Longfellow has introduced into his Poems of Places, in the volumes on Asia, the following translation of a Japanese poem on Fuji:

“Heaven above from earth below Long ago the gods have parted, Henceforth hiding far from men. Round the hoary peak sublimely Towering o’er Suruga’s land, Fuji’s venerated mountain, All the wide-arched azure sky Though thou search with wistful gaze Of the hastening sun’s bright track, Not a glimpse shalt thou enjoy; Nor of gentlier beaming moon Hail the shadow-fringing shimmer: Fleecy clouds are hovering, Hovering round the high, bare summit, Veiling it from mortal ken. Hath thereon the white snow fallen; Would’st thou of the lofty gods Know the annals, only Fuji Can the secret story tell thee.”

CUSTOMS CONCERNING BIRTH, MARRIAGE AND DEATH.

With but a very few exceptions the Japanese Buddhists are intensely superstitious. Some of the young men of Japan, who have come in contact with foreigners, have given up their superstitions; but the rest of the people, more especially the peasants, hold a firm faith in a multitude of superstitious customs. These touch upon the most insignificant occupations of every-day life, as well as upon birth, marriage and death.

When a child is thirty days old it is taken to the temple of its parents’ gods, and, with the assistance of the priest, a name is chosen. Three names are selected by the parents, and written on slips of paper. These slips are tossed in the air by the priest, while he mumbles incantations, and the first slip that falls to the floor is believed to contain the name chosen by the gods for the little babe. The priest then writes this name on a piece of sacred paper, and it is given to the parents as a talisman.

In a few of the Buddhist sects, the priest assist at the marriage, but in the great majority of cases he has no part to perform there. At the marriage ceremony neither bride nor bridegroom can wear any garment containing purple color. The Japanese believe that to do this would be most fatal; for as purple is the color which fades most readily, so the marriage of those who wear purple would come to an end speedily. The Japanese marriage ceremony is a very simple one, and is rather singular, because religion finds no place in it. When the bride and bridegroom and their friends are gathered together, a small cup is filled with the native wine, which a chosen friend hands to the bride, who drinks from it, and then passes it to the bridegroom; he passes it back, after drinking, and thus it passes back and forth between the two a few times until it is emptied, and this constitutes them man and wife. The Japanese say that it is thus, that, as husband and wife, they must drink of the same cup of sorrow or of joy. The writings of Confucius, are the basis of many of the laws of Japan. According to these, among the seven causes for divorce is the one: “If she talk too much.” Every heathen religion lowers women to a position far below that of man. In India, woman’s lot is the saddest, and in Japan, probably the happiest of all heathen countries. According to Buddhism there is no salvation for a woman unless she is born over again as a man. The nature-worship of Japan gives to woman a much higher place than Buddhism does. Two things tend to cause the degradation of women in Japan. The one is the custom of having many wives; the other is the demands of parental obedience. In Japan, according to Buddhist teaching, a girl must obey her father in everything, and no exception is allowed. Hence it not infrequently happens that the father commands his child to enter upon a life of sin, that he may make money by it. The daughter is bound to do as she is bidden, and thus the greatest evil that can come upon a woman is brought upon her under the direction of a heathen system. But, thank God, noble Christian women have gone forth from our own and other Christian lands, and by their teachings and examples have done much to better the condition of the women of Japan and a brighter day is rapidly dawning upon them.

From the moment when a person dies in Japan, religious ceremonies are performed in the house of the deceased until the body is removed to the grave. Priests are immediately sent for, who light the candles and incense-sticks before the household gods, and who recite their prayers. The priests, carrying their rosaries, head the funeral procession as it goes to the temple. The nearest relatives are dressed in white, and carry various objects formerly used by the deceased. The square coffin is set down in the temple before the altar, and religious services are performed, with more or less pomp, according to the wealth of those who fee the priests for the services. Very frequently, the bodies are then burned, and the ashes placed in an urn; at other times, the bodies are buried. After a time, the nearest relative of the dead person buys from the priest a long, narrow board or tablet, containing the new name of the deceased. This is placed on the grave. Fresh flowers and evergreens are kept on the tomb-stones in bamboo vases for a long time. The relatives resort to the tombs for worship; praying, sometimes, _to_ the deceased, asking his aid, or at other times _for_ the deceased, that he may be freed from the pains of purgatory. In either case they are very devout.

SOME JAPANESE SUPERSTITIONS.

[Illustration: WORSHIPING AT THE TOMB OF AN ANCESTOR IN JAPAN.]

[Illustration: THE FLOWING INVOCATION.]

Scattered all over Japan are trees, which are specially devoted to the gods, or _Kami_, as they are called in Japanese. Often they twist some rice-straw into a rope, and bind it around the base of a tree to indicate its sacredness. Like the Greeks of old, the Japanese imagine that the mountains and valleys, the rills and rivers, the rocks and trees, are all filled with spirits. They tell tales of trees shedding blood, or groaning in agony, when the woodman cut them with his axe. Some trees, we are told, are believed to have wonderful power to attract men to commit suicide; this is because they are possessed by evil spirits. Other trees are noted for the shelter they afford in storms, for the protection they furnish when flying from enemies; these are supposed to be inhabited by good and helping spirits. Many customs among Christian nations, so-called, are decidedly superstitious. For example, it is counted _unlucky_ in some parts of America to spill salt, to break a looking-glass, to have thirteen people sit down at table together; and many are the stories, _undoubtedly true_, it is declared, which are told to illustrate the certainty with which evils follow these signs. So in Japan there are many such superstitious signs and customs, some of them just the opposite of signs in other lands. These signs are almost innumerable, and concern the actions of every day. Many are the fairy tales and ghost stories which the O-Baa-San, or grandmother, tells to the children as they gather around the fire-box at night, and which send them shivering and shaking to bed. Some of the superstitious customs, however, are not revolting, but are very beautiful. Mr. Griffis, an American teacher in Japan, tells us one of this better kind. It is called “The Mother’s Memorial.” It is popular with all classes, being often used by the Shintoists as well as the Buddhists. He writes thus: “A sight not often met with in the cities, but in the suburban and country places as frequent as the cause of it requires, is the _nagare kanjo_ (flowing invocation). A piece of cotton-cloth is suspended by its four corners to stakes set in the ground near a brook or rivulet. Behind this is a high, narrow board, notched near the top, and having an inscription written upon it. Resting by the brookside is a wooden dipper. Perhaps, upon the four corners, in the hollow ends of the upright bamboo stakes, may be set bouquets of flowers. The inscriptions and flowers are like those set up upon graves. Waiting long enough, perchance but a few minutes, there may be seen a passer who pauses, and, devoutly offering a prayer, with the aid of his rosary, reverently dips a ladleful of water, pours it on the cloth, and waits until it has strained through, before moving on. All this, when the significance is understood, is very touching. It is a silent appeal to the passer-by, by the love of Heaven, to shorten the penalties of a soul in pain. The Japanese believe that the mother dying in child-bed, suffers, by such a death, for some sin committed long ago. After death, they say, she sinks into a hell, until this ‘flowing invocation’ ceases, by the wearing out of the symbolic cloth. When this is so utterly worn that the water no longer drips through, but falls through at once, the mother’s soul is delivered from her sufferings. But in addition to the sadness that this superstition brings upon us, as we think of the delusion this people rest under, there is a feeling of indignation awakened as we learn that these cloths can only be purchased from a priest, and that for much money a cloth can be bought, so thin in the middle, that the water soon runs through, while the poor person must be content with a cloth that it will take a long while to wear out.”

RELIGION OF THE AINOS.

To the north of the main island of Japan, and almost touching it, lies the island of Yezzo. The people of Yezzo are called Ainos; they are savages in their manner of life, though their disposition is kind and their manner gentle.

The following account of Ainos worship, particularly the strange “sacrifice of the bear,” is from Mr. J. J. Enslie, Consul at Hakodate, 1861–3:

“The religious creed of the Ainos is the ancient Japanese ‘Shintoism,’ or the adoration of the Kamis. Their rulers have made many attempts to convert them to Buddhism; but the only result of these endeavors is that the Ainos now rub their hands together as a form of worship before their gods, instead of raising the hands above the head as they formerly did. There is a slight difference between the symbols of Japanese and Aino Shintoism--the former exhibiting a looking-glass and a variety of white paper ornaments, while the latter use a polished stone and garlands made of a peculiar description of very white wood. The Ainos, however, have numerous festivals totally distinct from Shintoism. The grandest and most solemn of these festivals is undoubtedly the Sacrifice of the Bear, for which animal the Ainos entertain a strange sort of veneration.

“The savage denizen of the forest destined to be exalted to the position of a god is reared from a cub by the village chief, and the female most distinguished in rank and beauty enjoys the honor of being its wet-nurse. As soon as the bear is two years old, he is carried in a cage to an eminence (previously consecrated for the ceremony), amid shouts of joy and the most inharmonious concert of various noises ever heard; while from time to time the bereft nurse utters the most piercing and heart rending cries, expressive of her poignant grief. After this uproar has continued for some time, the chief of the village approaches the bear, and with an arrow gives him the first wound. The animal, previously maddened by the din around him, now becomes furious, the cage is opened, and he springs out into the midst of the assemblage. Then, at a signal given by the children of the nurse, everybody in the crowd wounds him with the various weapons they have brought with them, each one striving to inflict a wound, as all believe that he who fails to wound the bear has no claim to any favor from the new Kami, or god. As soon as the poor animal falls down exhausted from the loss of blood, his head is cut off, and the arrows, spears, knives, sticks, and in fact all the weapons by which he has been wounded, are solemnly presented to the headless trunk by the village patriarch, who requests the bear to avenge himself upon the weapons by which he has been insulted and slain. The severed head is then affixed to the trunk, and the dead bear is carried to the altar, where the _Rama Matsouri_ (the sacrifice of the bear) commences amid various solemnities, such as singing, music, and offerings consisting of everything the Ainos most esteem. The nurse meanwhile deals blows with the branch of a tree upon every one who has taken part in the bear’s death. The flesh is then distributed among the people, and the head is placed upon a pole opposite the hut of the chief, where it is left to decay.

“The Ainos entertain great fear and profound respect for strength and courage; and this is the cause of their veneration for the bear--the strongest and fiercest animal known to them. Their most energetic comparison is the bear. A man is ‘strong as a bear,’ ‘fierce as a bear,’ etc. The bear is the burden of their national songs, and, in a word, this animal is the symbol of everything they think worthy of respect. To compare an Aino with a bear is the surest plan to gain his friendship; and it must be acknowledged that the merit the Ainos attach to the bear is more or less deserved, as the Yezzo bear is the finest specimen of his species.”

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