Page:A History of Japanese Literature (Aston).djvu/360

344 The Buddhist literature of Japan forms a separate subject, which I shall not attempt to deal with. Most of it is in the Chinese language, and that part which is in Japanese is not very important as literature. It consists chiefly of lives of the Buddhist saints, and of edifying tracts and stories all addressed to the more ignorant classes, and highly seasoned with a thaumaturgic element.