Page:The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, Volume 13.djvu/25

Rh European days of Japan, her art and literature revived. Both, however, were of a peculiarly narrow character. To this period belonged the most honored poet of Japan, Basho. Yet no work of Basho's consists of over three lines of poetry, seventeen syllables. The Japanese had become composers solely of epigrams. Of these, the most celebrated by Basho and others are given here.

In religion the Japanese of these seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the "seclusion" period, followed both the old Shinto rituals and the newer Buddhist doctrines which had developed. The most treasured of Buddhist Scriptures in Japan is the beautiful "Gospel of the White Lotus," part of which our volume presents. It then closes with a brief glance at Japanese folklore, the tales of unknown age, which may well be classed with those of the "Kojiki" for their primitive simplicity, and with the "Gospel of the White Lotus" for their earnest faith in righteousness. Not all the awful warfare of Japan has destroyed the childlike beauty of character of the masses of her people.