Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 5.djvu/246

 not follow that the intervening years are never disgraced by the appearance of such monsters, which, for the rest, belong rather to the phantasies of the nursery than to the superstitions of grown-up folks.

A more widely disseminated belief, which has also left indelible traces in the realm of fine art and sculpture, is based upon the theory that, by mortification of the flesh and complete annihilation of all carnal desires, the divine attributes of the soul may be actively developed though it still retains its earthly tenement. This superstition came to Japan from China. It had its origin in the hermits or ascetics who hid themselves in mountain caves beyond the sounds of the world's passion and confusion, and thus, fading imperceptibly out of human knowledge, were supposed to have attained immortality. In esoteric terms the Chinese sieng-nung are supposed to be beings released from the chain of transmigrations for a hundred thousand years, which period of rest they spend in mountain solitudes. The first Japanese sen-nin was a native of Noto, by name Yōshō. He was born in 870 A.D., and his supernatural character was presaged by his mother's dream that she had swallowed the sun. Exceptional ability and profound charity marked his early life, which was devoted chiefly to the study of the "Lotus of the Law." Abstaining from rice and barley, he lived on fruit only, and at length he succeeded in reducing his diet to a