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.”