Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/559

Rh as marked as those of Mohammedanism upon Turkey, or Christianity upon England. The chief deity in the Buddhist pantheon in Japan is Amida (Sanskrit Amitabha), and the essential part of the worship offered to Amida is the repetition of the prayer Namu Amida Butsu, "Save us, eternal Buddha." Next to the worship of Amida is that of Kuanon, the goddess of mercy. She is always addressed by those who are in sorrow or affliction of any kind. The most astonishing answers to prayers made to her are on record, and form the subject of a series of remarkable tableaux of life-size figures at the great temple of Asakusa in Tokio. There are 33 celebrated shrines to her honor, and pious pilgrims often make the tour of the empire, visiting and praying at every one of them. Yemma is the god of hell and the chief judge of the infernal regions. Jizo are six deities whose images are placed along the highways of the empire, and who are besought by those who suffer from the consequences of sin and lust. The Go-hiaku-rakan, or 500 original disciples of Shaka, are found in many temples devoted to their honor. Japan is a country of wayside shrines and images, and of temples without number. Some of the great temples in Kioto are enormous structures, capable of seating 5,000 persons, and some contain as many as 3,000 life-sized gilt images of sages, saints, and deities. Monasteries and nunneries are numerous, and were formerly well filled; but Buddhism has been so weakened by governmental fines and confiscations, and by the decay of belief incident to the study of foreign science, that it is slowly but surely decaying, and the number of its priests and nuns has greatly decreased. The Japanese Buddhist priests are called bozu, corrupted into the English word bonze, and are often very learned men. Sanskrit is their sacred language, but is little studied in Japan. A large body of Japanese, especially the higher classes, reject idol worship entirely, and found their rule of life on merely philosophical and abstract notions. They are followers of Confucius, and are called Ju-sha, or the school of philosophers. There is very little hostility between the various forms of religion in Japan, and many profess them all. The Ju-sha have no shrine or ritual, but they pay supreme homage to Confucius, to whose honor there is a temple built in Tokio, but they cannot be said to worship him. They religiously venerate their own ancestors. Indeed, the veneration, if not worship, of ancestors is common to all the religions of Japan. The Yamabushi sect of mountebank priests, once numerous, have been suppressed by the government since 1871. The authorities of the state are indifferent to mere doctrines, so long as the public peace is not disturbed. One reason why the several religions are tolerated by the government, and by each other, is because the divinity of the mikado (whom the officials call tenno, or heavenly king) is dogmatically taught and politically insisted upon, and all people are commanded to obey and reverence him, as the descendant, representative, and vicegerent of the gods. The cause alleged before the foreign ministers of the persecution and punishment of the Christians of Urakami in 1868 and 1869 was, that they acknowledged Christ as the Lord of heaven, and that such a doctrine was a subversion of the dogma of the mikado's divinity, on which the government of Japan rests. In addition to those which have been described, the worship of Inari, the deified introducer of rice into Japan, and the patron of foxes, is common throughout the empire. Inari shrines and images of foxes, which are worshipped, are numerous everywhere, often alone, but usually attached to Shinto temples. Many superstitions in regard to the fox are popularly held. He deceives people, injures them, transforms himself into a beautiful woman, and lures men away by bewitching them or promising them sensual pleasure. He is also believed to enter the hearts of people and make them wicked and devilish. Sometimes he acts benevolently. Hence the people propitiate him, and worship Inari, who rules over the foxes, and whom they obey. The worship of the phallus, which must once have been very prevalent, judging from the immense number of phallic symbols and even shrines until lately seen in Japan, has now faded almost entirely away in the parts visited by foreigners, though it still lingers in the rural districts. The public sale of the phallic emblems, so very common in Yedo, Ozaka, Kioto, and other cities, prior to 1868, has been prohibited and entirely suppressed by the government.—The government of Japan consists of: 1, the emperor; 2, the dai jo kuan or supreme executive, consisting of the dai jo dai jin, or premier, and the u dai jin and sa dai jin, right and left junior prime ministers; 3, the sa in, or left chamber of the council of state, consisting of seven sangi or high counsellors, and the u in or right chamber of the council of state, consisting of all the ministers and vice ministers who are heads of departments, nine in number. There are also the prefectures of the fu or imperial cities, the ken or districts, formerly provinces, and the emigration department having control of the Hokkaido, or territory north of the main island, which are under the dai jo kuan, or supreme government of Japan. The departments are as follows: 1, guai mu sho, foreign office; 2, o kura sho, treasury department, having nine bureaus or subdivisions; 3, riku gun sho, war department, with four bureaus; 4, kai gun sho, navy department, with ten bureaus; 5, mom bu sho, education department; 6, ko bu sho, public works department, with nine bureaus; 7, kio bu sho, department of religion; 8, shi ho sho, department of justice, two bureaus; 9, ku nai sho, department of the imperial household, three bureaus. At the present time (1874) Japan has legations and ministers resident in the United States,