country, its chief deity is the Sun-Goddess, worshipped
through the Kami, or inferior divinities, counted by
hundreds and even thousands, at the head of which
they place the reigning Mikado. Their temple, or
mias, the Japanese surround with groves and tombs ;
they do not profess to worship idols, although the
interior often abounds with images of sacred and
celebrated men- the principal ornament is the “ Gohei,”
a circular steel mirror, the symbol of truth, placed
often in a box or bag on a kind of altar, also strips of
white paper with the names of various divinities
written upon,—these are relics of Ise, the holy temple,
situated some 200 miles south-west of Tokio.
Confucianism is here, as in China, confined to the
higher classes, but Buddhism, which was introduced
into Japan from India and the Corea as early as a .d .
69, has since the 6th century of the Christian era
become the principal religion, although it had made
very little progress previous to it. The two creeds of
the Sintists and Buddhists are now, however, so much
mixed up together that there is no very perceptible
difference either in the appearance of their temples or
their form of worship. In reality it is difficult to say
whether the Japanese have any well-defined religion;
especially the upper classes are mostly sceptics, whilst
pilgrimages to certain temples seem to be the almost
only outward show of devotion. There is, as I have
shown before, a great similarity amongst all these early
religions,—the Hindus, the Buddhists, nay, even that of
the Roman Pantheism, with its Jupiter, Minerva, and
Juno, had a representation of the Trinity, which we
shall also find in some of the Japanese temples. Again
at Loo-choo, a dependency of Japan, lately incorporated
with the latter empire, one frequently meets with
broken lingams, although not generally venerated by
the Japanese ; and, being a feature of Hindu worship,
it was probably received from Java or India.
Quite recently a very important discovery has been
made by the aid of a learned Buddhist priest, throwing
a new light upon some of the teachings of that body,
and favouring the view long entertained that many of
the Sanscrit MSS., which had been carried off from
India to China, must still be in existence in its temples
and monasteries. Search had been made in the latter
country, but none were found, although translations
from Sanscrit into Chinese did exist. Strange enough a
Japanese priest, some time ago, sent to Professor Max
Müller a book containing one of the sacred texts of
Buddhism in the original Sanscrit, hitherto unknown, a
Sûtra, containing a description of the Buddhist Paradise,
which with the northern Buddhists took the place of
Buddha’s Nirvâna. New treasures, it is hoped, will be