Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 1.djvu/113



HE greatest event in the career of ancient Japan was the advent of Buddhism in the year 552 It is usually said that the Indian creed came officially, a copy of its scriptures and an image of Buddha having been sent to the Yamato Court by the Government of one of the Korean Kingdoms. In a sense this statement is correct, for without that ambassadorial introduction the new religion would probably have long remained a comparative stranger to the mass of the Japanese nation. But it is a fact that the doctrine had been preached in Japan by enterprising missionaries for many years before the arrival of the Korean envoy. Unsuccessfully preached, however. Buddhism owes much to its accessories,—to its massive and magnificent temples, its majestic images, its gorgeous paraphernalia, the rich vestments of its priests, and the picturesque solemnity of its services. These elements must have been absent failing the Government's sanction and support. Besides, from the first chapter