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Title: Religion in Japan

Author: George A. Cobbold, B.A.

Release Date: April 24, 2009 [Ebook 28598]

Language: English

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK

RELIGION IN JAPAN***
 Religion in Japan:
Shintoism—Buddhism—Christianity.
By
George A. Cobbold, B.A.
Pembroke College, Oxford
With Illustrations.
Printed Under The Direction of the Tract Committee.
London:
Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge,
Northumberland Avenue, W.C.; 43, Queen Victoria Street,
E.C.
Brighton: 129, North Street
New York: E. S. Gorham
1905
Contents
Introductory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
I. Shintoism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
II. Buddhism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
III. Buddhism In Japan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
IV. Buddhism And Christianity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
V. Christianity In Japan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Publications Of The Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Footnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
[011]
 Introductory.

It may well be questioned whether, in the course of a like period

of time, any country has ever undergone greater transitions, or
made more rapid strides along the path of civilization than has
Japan during the last quarter of a century. A group of numerous
islands, situated on the high-road and thoroughfare of maritime
traffic across the Pacific, between the Eastern and Western
hemispheres, and in area considerably exceeding Great Britain
and Ireland,—Japan, until thirty years ago, was a terra incognita
to the rest of the world; exceeding even China in its conservatism
and exclusiveness. And now, within a space of some five-and-
twenty years, such changes have come about as to have given
birth to the expression,—“the transformation of Japan.” The more
conspicuous of these changes are summed up by a recent writer
in the following words:—“New and enlightened criminal codes
have been enacted; the methods of judicial procedure have been
entirely changed; thoroughly efficient systems of police, of posts,
[012] of telegraphs, and of national education have been organized;
an army and a navy modelled after Western patterns have been
formed; the finances of the Empire have been placed on a sound
basis; railways, roads, and harbours have been constructed; an
efficient mercantile marine has sprung into existence; the jail
system has been radically improved; an extensive scheme of
local government has been put into operation; a competitive
civil service has been organized; the whole fiscal system has
been revised; an influential and widely-read newspaper press
has grown up with extraordinary rapidity; and government by
parliament has been substituted for monarchical absolutism.”1 At
1
Sir Edwin Arnold's Seas and Lands, chap. xxvii.
Introductory. 3

the present day, an Englishman travelling in Japan is constantly

meeting numbers of his countrymen, intent on either business
or pleasure; while at all the principal cities and places of resort,
handsome new hotels, fitted in Western style, are to be found.
The Mikado may be seen driving through his Capital in a carriage
that would not be out of place in the Parks of London or Paris;
and at Court ceremonies European dress is de rigueur. English
is taught in all the better-class schools, and at the Universities
the works of such authors as Bacon, Locke, Macaulay, Darwin,
John Stuart Mill, Herbert Spencer, are in constant request with
the students. In short, on every side evidence is afforded, that [013]
be it for better or for worse, the old order is fast changing and
giving place to new.
The circumstances which have brought about these wonderful
changes can only be very briefly indicated here. It was towards
the middle of the sixteenth century that Japan first came into
contact with the Western world; the first traders to arrive being
the Portuguese, who were followed some sixty years later by
the Dutch, and in 1613 by a few English ships. To all of these
alike a hospitable reception appears to have been accorded; nor
is there any doubt that Japanese exclusiveness was a thing of
subsequent growth, and that it was based only on a sincere
conviction that the nation's well-being and happiness would
be best consulted by refusing to have dealings with the outer
world. And indeed, that the Japanese should have arrived at this
decision is by no means to be wondered at; their first experience
of foreign intercourse having been singularly unfortunate. The
unhappy breach, which eventually led to Japan entirely closing
her ports to foreign traffic, was, it would seem, due partly to
the attitude of harsh intolerance and general interference adopted
by certain of the Roman Catholic missionaries, who by this
time had arrived in the country: and partly to the insinuations
made by the Dutch that the Portuguese were aiming at territorial
aggrandizement. Anyhow, in 1624, Japan was entirely closed
 4 Religion in Japan

[014] to foreign trade, save for some concessions,—accompanied by

the severest restrictions,—permitted to the Dutch; no foreigners
were allowed to enter, and no natives to leave, the empire;
the missionaries were expelled, and Christianity was prohibited
under pain of death. The Japanese, as has been said, “suspected
everybody and shut out the world.” Previous to this crisis the
English had retired; but when, in 1673, our country sought to
resume friendly relations, the connexion existing between the
English and Portuguese courts proved an insuperable obstacle.2
Subsequent overtures made in 1849, were courteously but firmly
rejected; though the period of Japan's isolation was, as later
events proved, almost at an end. In 1853, the Government of
the United States despatched a fleet across the Pacific, under
the command of Commodore Perry, to insist upon the surrender
of a policy which, it was urged, no one nation of the world
had a right to adopt towards the rest. Whether the arguments
with which this position was advanced would of themselves have
prevailed, is impossible to say; but since it was evident that should
words fail, sterner measures would be resorted to, Japan had no
choice but to submit. Treaties were accordingly concluded, first
[015] with the United States, and subsequently with England and other
European powers; by virtue of which a few ports were grudgingly
opened, and Japanese subjects permitted to engage in commercial
transactions with the outside world. For the first few years, it
is certain that a strong feeling of suspicion and dislike towards
foreigners was rife; but in 1868 events occurred which brought
about a complete change in the whole situation. For some six
hundred years a dual system of government had existed in Japan.
On the one hand, was the Mikado, supposed to trace a lineage
of unbroken descent from the gods, and accorded a veneration
semi-divine, but living in seclusion at the city of Kyoto, with
such powers of administration as he still retained confined to

2
Charles II's queen, it will be remembered, was Katharine of Braganza.
Introductory. 5

matters of religion and education. On the other hand, was the

Shogun, or Tycoon, the acknowledged head of a feudalism,
which, while nominally recognizing the Mikado's authority, had
usurped the sovereign power, and really governed the country.
But in 1868, the altered circumstances in which Japan found
herself brought about a revolution. The ancient nobility were
filled with indignation and disgust at the Tycoon so far violating
Japanese tradition as to enter into treaties with foreign countries;
and, as a consequence of this rupture, the Shogunate, whose
power had for some time been waning, completely collapsed.
The Mikado was restored to imperial power, and at once entered
upon a policy which has been consistently adhered to, and [016]
received with favour by the people generally, who had grown
impatient of the restraint which environed them. That policy may
be termed the Europeanization of the Empire; and in it we have
the explanation of the Japan of to-day.
It is not surprising that the interest excited in England, with
regard to a country which has experienced such remarkable
changes, should be of the greatest—especially when it is
remembered in how large a degree English influence has
contributed to produce them. We may be certain, also, that
the still further developments the future has in store, will be
followed in our own country with a close attention. Equally
natural is it that, in these days of so great fashion and facility
for travelling, increasing numbers of English people should
avail themselves of the opportunity of exploring a country so
entirely unique, and so rich in its attractions of nature and of
art. These circumstances have combined to call into existence
a large number of books on Japan, from which any, who are
unable to visit it in person, may obtain as good an idea as is
possible by reading of the country, its people, and its customs.
Indeed it is by no means easy for any writer now to fasten
upon an aspect of the subject, in which he does not find himself
forestalled. That, however, on which, so far as I understand, least
 6 Religion in Japan

[017] has been written, is precisely that towards which my own main
attention was directed from the time of my leaving England,
and throughout the period of my visit to the country,—namely,
the religious aspect. That the following pages must be very
imperfect in the statement they supply, I am well aware; and that,
despite my efforts to obtain trustworthy information, they will
not prove free from inaccuracy or mistake is extremely probable.
But I was induced to enter upon their preparation by a series
of circumstances that appeared to favour such a task, and need
not be specified here. For the material supplied to me, however,
by one kind friend in particular, without whose assistance these
articles would never have been attempted, I must express my
special obligation. I would gladly refer to him by name, did I
feel at liberty to do so without obtaining his permission, which
I have not, at the time of writing, the opportunity of asking.
Also, among the books I have consulted on the subject, I must
acknowledge my great indebtedness to Messrs. Chamberlain and
Mason's excellent Handbook for Japan (Murray, 1891); and to a
copy of Dr. E. J. Eitel's Lectures on Buddhism (Trübner, 1871),
given me by the author, at the close of a most interesting day
spent under his guidance. The sketch Map of Japan is inserted
by the kind permission of the “Guild of St. Paul.”
November, 1893.

[018]
I. Shintoism.

When, in the sixth century of the Christian era, Buddhism was

introduced into Japan from China, by way of Korea, the need
was felt of some term by which the ancient indigenous religion
of the country might be distinguished from the new importation.
The term thus adopted was Shinto, or Kami-no-michi; the former
being a Chinese word, and the latter its Japanese equivalent.
The meaning of either, in English, is the “Way of the Genii, or
Spirits.”3 It will, accordingly, be seen that the word “Shinto” has
only been in use for some thirteen centuries, while the creed it
designates claims to trace its origin from the remotest antiquity.
Indeed, the investigation of Shintoism takes us back not merely to
the earliest annals of Japanese history, but to the fabulous legends
of a mythological period. The history of Japan is commonly [019]
reckoned to commence with the accession of the Emperor Jimmu
Tenno, the date of which is given as February 11, 660 B.C.;
and when, in 1889, the new Constitution was promulgated,
the anniversary of this event was the day selected—the idea
evidently being to confirm the popular belief in the continuity
of the country's history. This Jimmu Tenno—accounted by the
Japanese their first human sovereign—is supposed to have been
descended from Ama-terasu, the sun-goddess, who was born
from the left eye of Izanagi, the creator of Japan; and this it
is that accounts for the semi-deification in which the Emperors
of Japan have ever been held. It is, then, the countless heroes
and demi-gods of the mythological age referred to—the children
of Izanagi reigning over Japan, generation after generation,
3
This rendering seems preferable to the more usual “Way of the Gods.” The
term Polytheism is not, strictly speaking, applicable to Shinto.
 8 Religion in Japan

for many thousands of years—that are the chief objects of

Shinto veneration; for while it is usual to speak of Shintoism
as being a combination of ancestor-worship and nature-worship,
it would seem that the latter of these elements was largely
due to the contact of Japan with the Taouism of China, and
with metaphysical Buddhism. Thus the essential principle of
Shintoism, it will be seen, is closely akin to that filial piety,
which forms so conspicuous a feature in the religious, political,
and social life of China, and which—deserving as it is, in many
[020] ways, of respect and admiration—presents, when carried to
excess, so vast a hindrance to development and progress.
“Shintoism,” in the words of Diayoro Goh, Chancellor of
the Japanese Consulate General in London, “originated in the
worship offered by a barbarous people to the mythological
persons of its own invention.” To speak accurately, it is not so
much a religion as patriotism exalted to the rank of a creed. It
is a veneration of the country's heroes and benefactors of every
age, legendary and historical, ancient and more recent; the spirits
of these being appealed to for protection. Interwoven with this,
its fundamental characteristic, and to a great extent obscuring it,
is a worship of the personified forces of nature; expressing itself
often in the most abject superstition, and, until lately, also in
that grosser symbolism with which the religion of Ancient Egypt
abounded. This latter feature was widely prevalent in Japan at
the time that the country was first opened to foreigners; but after
the Revolution in 1868, it was everywhere suppressed. It would
appear that the personal cleanliness for which the Japanese, as a
nation, are celebrated, had its origin in the idea of the purification
of the body symbolizing the cleansing of the soul; and in a
vague and hazy sort of way, Shintoism would seem to recognize
a future state of bliss or misery, for which the present life is
[021] a period of probation. Practically, however, this is the only
world with which Shintoism concerns itself; nor does it inculcate
any laws of morality or conduct, conscience and the heart being
I. Shintoism. 9

accounted sufficient guides. It provides neither public worship,

nor sermons; while its application is limited to subjects of the
Mikado. “It is the least exacting of all religions.” When this
is once understood, there ceases to be anything surprising in
the fact of two religions—of which Shintoism was one, and the
other a creed so accommodating as Buddhism—running, side
by side, for centuries in the same country, and being professed
simultaneously by the same people, until the two were so closely
interwoven that it became scarcely possible to distinguish their
respective elements. In the eighteenth century an attempt was
made to restore Shintoism to its primitive simplicity, and to mould
it into a philosophical system which might minister to the higher
aspirations of humanity. But the movement was a failure, and
the Ryobu-Shinto, or “double religion,”—the combination, that
is to say, of Shintoism and Buddhism—continued as before.
It was only so lately as the year 1868 that any important
change took place in the religious history of Japan. In that
year, Shintoism—for reasons wholly political—was adopted as
the State, or “established” religion; Buddhism having always
been the religion favoured by the Shogunate, and the ancient
nobility whom the Shogun represented. Upon this, every temple [022]
was required to declare itself either Shinto or Buddhist, and to
remove the emblems and ornaments peculiar to the discarded cult,
whichever that might be. That no little excitement and dispute
followed upon this proclamation, will be readily understood;
especially when we bear in mind that, for several hundred years,
Buddhist and Shinto clergy had taken their turns of officiating
in the same buildings and at the same altars.4 A grant of some
4
One of the great temples at Shiba, Tokio, was burnt by the Buddhists to
prevent its falling into the hands of the Shinto priests. It may be mentioned
here, as an instance of the liberal feeling of the present (Shinto) government,
that one of this same group of buildings was lent for the Church of England
services, before St. Andrew's church was built. It is the old nobility who have
been throughout the uncompromising opponents of Christianity, and indeed of
all change; and the most zealous supporters of Buddhism.
 10 Religion in Japan

£60,000 a year was made by the Government for the maintenance

of the Shinto temples and shrines, which are said to number in all
about 98,000, and to be dedicated to no less than 3,700 different
Genii, or Kami. Already, however, Shintoism has lost the greater
part of the importance into which it was brought at the time of
the Revolution; and, apart from the fact that it is supported out
of the imperial revenues, and that the presence of its principal
officials is required at certain of the state functions, its general
[023] position has in no way improved. The people still practise the
observances of both religions alike; the only difference being
that, to effect this, they have now to visit two temples instead
of one. A new-born child, for instance, is taken by its parents
to both Shinto and Buddhist temples, for the purpose of solemn
dedication. Another of the changes brought about is that, instead
of all funerals being conducted by Buddhist priests, as was the
case until 1868, the dead are now buried by either Shinto or
Buddhist clergy, as the relatives may prefer. Of the many signs
which indicate that Shintoism has well nigh run its course, not the
least remarkable was the announcement made last year (1892)
by the Government itself, to the effect that its rites were to be
regarded as simply traditional and commemorative, and devoid
of any real religious significance. The relief thus afforded to the
minds and consciences of Christians in Japan was, as might be
supposed, very great.

Of the various sects the Zhikko,—founded 1541 A.D.,—is,

perhaps, the most influential. This sect—as indeed do
Shintoists generally—recognizes one eternal absolute Deity, a
being of infinite benevolence; and here—as in other heathen
religions—we find vague references to a Trinity engaged in the
work of Creation.
I. Shintoism. 11

Group of Shinto Priests With Torii.

Despite the dissociation of the two religions, many of the
Shinto temples still retain traces of the Buddhist influence.
Of Shintoism proper the prevailing characteristic is a marked [024]
simplicity, which, however, is often found combined with great
artistic beauty. Sometimes the shrine consists only of a rude
altar, situated amid a grove of trees; but, even in the case of large
temples with a complete group of buildings, the architecture
is extremely plain, the material employed being unornamented
white wood with a thatch of chamaecyparis. The entrance to the
temple grounds is always through gateways, called Torii; these
are made sometimes of stone, but more properly of wood, and
consist of two unpainted tree-trunks, with another on the top and
a horizontal beam beneath. Near the entrance are commonly
found stone figures of dogs or lions, which are supposed to act
as guardians. The principal shrine, or Honsha, is situated at the
further end of the sacred enclosure, and is divided by a railing
into an ante-room and an inner sanctuary. Within the sanctuary
an altar is erected, on which, however, no images or adornments
are seen, but simply offerings of rice, fruit, wine, &c. Above
 12 Religion in Japan

the altar, in a conspicuous position, a large mirror is generally

placed; and in a box beneath are usually kept a sword, and a stone.
These three,—the mirror, the sword, and the stone,—constitute
the Japanese regalia, and they are all connected with the early
legends. One of the traditions respecting the sacred mirror
[025] deserves quotation.
“When the time was come that Izanagi and his consort should
return together to the celestial regions, he called his children
together, bidding them dry their tears, and listen attentively to
his last wishes. He then committed to them a disc of polished
silver, bidding them each morning place themselves on their
knees before it, and there see reflected on their countenances the
impress of any evil passions deliberately indulged; and again each
night carefully to examine themselves, that their last thoughts
might be after the happiness of that higher world whither their
parents had preceded them.” The legend goes on to relate with
what faithfulness “the children of Izanagi, and afterwards their
descendants, carried out these injunctions; erecting an altar of
wood to receive the sacred mirror, and placing upon it vases
and flowers,—and how, as a reward for their obedience and
devotion, they became in their turn, the spirits of good, the
undying Kami.”5
Another of the most common of the Shinto emblems is a slim
wand of unpainted wood, called Gohei, to which strips of white
paper—originally they were of cloth—are attached. These are
thought to attract the deities, and are held in great veneration.
Leaving the principal shrine, and proceeding to make the tour
[026] of the grounds, the visitor comes, in turn, to the buildings
where the business arrangements of the temple are transacted,
and where the priests, in some cases, reside; to smaller shrines
and oratories; to cisterns for the purpose of ceremonial ablution,
&c. Sometimes, also, at the more important temples is found a
5
Eden's Japan, Historical and Descriptive.
I. Shintoism. 13

long covered platform, called the Kagura-do, where, on festivals

and special occasions, a number of girls—those I saw at Nara
were still quite children—perform the Kagura, or sacred dance.
The dancing is in honour of the divinity to whom the temple
is dedicated; and commemorates a supposed incident of the
mythological period. In the grounds of Shinto and Buddhist
temples alike are frequently found numerous stone-lanterns,
erected by way of votive offerings, and lighted on any great
occasions.
It has already been remarked that Shintoism has nothing
corresponding to our public worship; but every morning and
evening the priests—whose office seems held in no particular
sanctity, and who are at liberty, at any time, to adopt a more
secular calling—perform a service before the altar, vested in
white dresses, somewhat resembling albs and confined at the
waist by a girdle. The service consists of the presentation
of offerings and of the recital of various invocations, chiefly
laudatory. The devotions of the people are remarkable for their
brevity and simplicity. The worshipper, on arriving at the shrine,
rings a bell, or sounds a gong, to engage the attention of the [027]
deity he desires to invoke; throws a coin of the smallest possible
value on to the matting within the sanctuary rails; makes one
or two prostrations; and then, clapping his hands, to intimate
to his patron that his business with him is over, retires—it not
being considered necessary to give to the petition any verbal
expression. The making of pilgrimages, however, still occupies
a prominent place in the Shinto system, and though of late
years the number of pilgrims has considerably decreased, long
journeys are still undertaken to the great temple of the sun-
goddess at Ise—the “Mecca of Japan,”—and other celebrated
shrines. The chief object of the pilgrimage is the purchase of
O-harai, or sacred charms, which can only be obtained on the
spot. These, when brought home, are placed on the Kamidana,
or god-shelf—a miniature temple of wood, found in every Shinto
 14 Religion in Japan

house, to which are attached the names of various patron deities,

and the monumental tablets of the family. His purchase of the
O-harai completed, the pilgrim betakes himself to the enjoyment
of the various shows and other amusements provided for him in
the neighbourhood of the temple.
To conclude this brief sketch of Shintoism. Such influence
as the cult still possesses may be attributed to the superstition
of the poor and illiterate; and to a reluctance, on the part of
[028] the more educated, to break with so venerable a past. The
latter, however, though they continue to conform to them, do not
regard its observances seriously; while the importance attached
to them by the State is, as we have seen, wholly political. In
the words of Diayoro Goh, spoken in the course of a lecture
delivered in London two or three years since: “Shintoism, being
so restricted in its sphere, offers little obstacle to the introduction
of another religion,”—provided, as he added, that the veneration
of the Mikado, which has always formed the fundamental feature
of Japanese government, is not interfered with. The truth of
this statement has already been abundantly exemplified in the
position which Buddhism for so many centuries held in the
religious life of Japan. In the same way, when, three hundred
years ago, Christianity was introduced into the country by the
Portuguese, it was largely owing to the attitude which some of
the missionaries adopted towards these national rites, that the
complications arose, which eventually led to the expulsion of
foreigners, and the persecution of Christians. And surely, when
we think of it, it is not strange that an intense jealousy should
be exhibited on behalf of observances and ceremonies, traceable
back to such remote antiquity, and so intimately bound up with
the whole political and social life of the nation. It is, indeed,
[029] highly probable that, in the great changes Japan is undergoing,
she will find other methods of cherishing the continuity of her, in
many ways, illustrious past. But meanwhile, Christians in Japan
may rejoice that they are permitted, with a quiet conscience, to
I. Shintoism. 15

manifest a respectful regard for a system that is by no means

destitute of praiseworthy features.

[030]
 II. Buddhism.
It is quite possible that to some of the readers of these pages
the very name of Shintoism was unknown; whereas all will have
heard and read at least something of Buddhism, one of the four
most prevalent religions of the world, and claiming at the present
day considerably more than four hundred millions of adherents.6
At the same time, our inquiry into Buddhism cannot be comprised
within such narrow limits as sufficed for our examination of the
indigenous religion of Japan; the subject being one of the vastest
dimensions. Perhaps, then, it may be better if, at the outset, I
allude to some of the literature, published within the last few
years, which has been most instrumental in attracting attention,
both in England and America, to the subject. Nor, in this
[031] connexion, can all reference be omitted to the writings of the
late Madame Blavatsky, Mr. Sinnett, and their school; though I
refer to them only in order to caution my readers against forming
from them any estimate of Buddhism. The only literature, as
far as I know, that has appeared in England from what claims
to be an enthusiastic Buddhist stand-point, these writings are, I
believe, calculated to convey a curiously erroneous idea of the
great system with which we are now concerned, to any who
would turn for information to them exclusively. This, indeed,
becomes obvious when it is understood that the Buddhism, of
which these books profess to treat, is not the Buddhism of
history and the sacred books, not the Buddhism which forms the
6
Even an approximate total is difficult to calculate. At the lowest estimate
we have a number considerably exceeding the whole mass of Christians. But
it is important to bear in mind that in China, which supplies more than three-
fourths of the total number, both Taouism and Confucianism are professed in
conjunction with Buddhism. See Rhys Davids' Buddhism, chap. I (S.P.C.K.).
II. Buddhism. 17

popular religion of hundreds of millions of Asiatics at the present

day, but an “esoteric” Buddhism, a knowledge of which, it is
admitted, is confined to a comparative few, even in the country
where it is said to be most prevalent.7 In short, the “esoteric
Buddhism” of Mr. Sinnett and his friends would seem to be
scarcely, if at all, distinguishable from the movement which has
recently acquired a brief notoriety in England under the name of
Theosophy; and with this, Buddhism proper—i.e. the historical,
popular Buddhism with which we have to do—can hardly be said
to have anything in common. [032]

With the book, however, which probably more than any other
work of the day has been the means of drawing the attention
of English-speaking people to Buddhism, we cannot deal in so
summary a fashion. For in Sir Edwin Arnold's poem, The Light
of Asia, we have a work which is simply a rendering of the life
of Buddha, in general accordance with the received traditions,
and one, moreover, which has met with a cordial welcome at the
hands of Buddhists. Nor can it be questioned that the book is a
production of great power, or that it appeals altogether to a very
different class of readers from that likely to be influenced by the
Occult World, or Isis Unveiled.
It is indeed, the great beauty of its poetry, and the book's
consequent popularity, that only make the more necessary a
reference which must to some extent take the form of a protest.
To put it briefly, the case is this:—Men and women have risen
from a perusal of the Light of Asia with a sense of damage done
to their Christian faith, and with a feeling—confused, perhaps,
but not the less real—that in Gautama Buddha they have been
confronted with a formidable rival to Jesus Christ. How far
the poem is responsible for this result we will not attempt to
determine; and that such was no part of the author's intention
we may readily believe. But that the minds of not a few have
7
Thibet.
 18 Religion in Japan

been perplexed and disturbed by the reading of this book is a

[033] certain fact; making it neither surprising nor regrettable that its
publication should have been followed by works on the subject,
written from an emphatically Christian point of view. To the
fullest and ablest of these,—the Rev. S. H. Kellogg's The Light
of Asia and the Light of the World: a Comparison of the Legend,
the Doctrine and the Ethics of the Buddha, with the Story, the
Doctrine and the Ethics of Christ (Macmillan, 1885),—I would
refer those desirous of investigating fully the points at issue;
contenting myself now with a few brief observations.
It is, then, important to bear in mind that Sir E. Arnold's poem
is written in the person, and from the stand-point of an imaginary
Buddhist. This is indicated plainly on the title-page, in the
preface, and in the course of the poem itself; and when the book
comes to be read by the light of this explanation, a limitation
is cast about much of its more startling language. To take, for
instance, such expressions as “Our Lord,” “Saviour,” “come to
save the world,” constantly assigned to Buddha in the course of
the poem. However accustomed Christians may be to associate
such terms with One only, and however pained they may feel
at their being referred, under any circumstances and with any
restrictions, to another, still it is obvious that their use becomes
less open to objection, when placed in the mouth of a disciple,
[034] singing the praise of his Master,—and that Master, one who, it
can hardly be disputed, wrought no mean work of deliverance
on the earth. Far less admitting of satisfactory explanation are
passages in the book in which we find transferred to Buddha
and Buddhism ideas and language distinctively Christian; the
solemn saying of Simeon to the Holy Mother, “A sword shall
pierce through thine own soul also,” and the still more solemn,
“It is finished” of the Cross, being made to supply particularly
distressing instances of such treatment.8

8
Light of Asia, i. 142, and vi. 688.
II. Buddhism. 19

Or once again: but what I would say now has already been
urged by Dr. Eitel, in words which I cannot do better than
quote. “I believe,” he says, “it would be unjust to pick out any
of those queer and childish sayings with which the Buddhist
Scriptures and especially popular Buddhist books abound, and to
lead people to imagine that Buddhism is little better than a string
of nonsense. It is even doubtful whether the earliest Buddhist
texts contained such statements at all; for, unlike our Bible, the
Buddhist canon has undergone wholesale textual alterations....
As to the popular literature of Buddhism, and its absurdities,
we might as well collect those little pamphlets on dreams, on
sorcery, on lucky and unlucky days, on the lives and miracles
of saints, which circulate among Roman Catholic peasants,—but
would that give us a true picture of Roman Catholicism? Thus it [035]
is with Buddhism.”9 In other words, Dr. Eitel would urge that in
order to deal fairly with such a subject, we must try to distinguish
the essence of the thing itself from the abuses and follies that
may, from time to time, have gathered round it; and this, it is
to be feared, has not always been done by English writers, in
treating of Buddhism.
For the sake of clearness, we may next proceed to trace a brief
outline of the life of Buddha, according to the belief of Buddhists
generally, and stripped of such legends and superstitions as find
no credence with the more educated and intellectual. It is true
that a doubt has sometimes been expressed as to the existence
of Gautama Buddha at all; while even so eminent an authority
as Mr. Spence Hardy declares his conviction that, owing to
the lack of really authentic information, “it is impossible to rely
implicitly on any single statement made in relation to him.”10 But
even supposing the Buddha of the commonly-received traditions
to be, whether in part or in entirety, a mere creation of Indian
thought, the case undergoes no vital alteration; seeing that it is
9
Lectures on Buddhism, pp. 62-3.
10
Legends and Theories of the Buddhists, p. 187.
 20 Religion in Japan

with the religion of Buddhism that we are mainly concerned,

[036] and only in quite a subordinate degree with the person of its
supposed founder. The point is one that deserves careful attention,
suggesting as it does at once the essential difference between
Buddhism and Christianity, and the immeasurable distance which
divides the two. For of Christianity it is no exaggeration to say
that upon the truth of the received accounts of its Founder's
Life and Person its whole position absolutely depends; whereas,
could it be proved that Gautama never even lived, the system
associated with his name would suffer no material loss,—and
this, because in Buddha we are invited to contemplate only a
teacher and a guide, one who would have men seek purification
and deliverance by the same means as he himself needed to
employ, and one who never claimed to be more than human.
Most persons, however, will prefer to accept as, in the main,
historically correct the commonly accepted outline of the life of
Buddha which may thus be given—
The reputed founder of Buddhism was one Siddhartha, known
in later life as Gautama, and later still, by the title of Buddha,
or the “Enlightened One.” Siddhartha was a prince of the Sakya
tribe, whose territories were situated some hundred miles north-
east of the city of Benares. Hence he is often spoken of under
the name of Sakya-muni, or the “Sakya sage.” As regards his
[037] date, widely different opinions are held; sometimes it is placed
as early as the tenth, and sometimes as late as the third century
B.C. The most competent authorities, however, agree in following
the Buddhists of Ceylon, and take 543 B.C. as the date of his
death.11 His father's name was Suddhodana; his mother was
called Maia. Of the earlier years of Siddhartha's life we have
little information that is at all to be relied on; but his early
manhood appears to have been spent amid the luxury and self-
indulgence customary with Oriental princes. Gautama, however,
11
Prof. Max Müller, however (Hibbert Lectures, 1878, p. 134 note), gives
weighty reasons for regarding 477 B.C.{FNS as the year of Buddha's death.
II. Buddhism. 21

was a man of great benevolence, and we are told that, while

still quite young, he pondered deeply on the mystery of the pain
and suffering which held the human race in bondage. Presently,
becoming dissatisfied with his own life of ease and pleasure, he
made the “Great Renunciation;” turning his back, at the age of
thirty, on wife and parents, home and wealth. After spending
some years in travel, he retired to the forest, where he attached
himself to a little band of ascetics, and practised severe forms
of discipline and self-mortification; hoping thus to discover the
secret of release from suffering. But meeting with no success, and
still fast bound by the trammels of ignorance, he betook himself
to contemplation; until one day, as he was seated beneath the
Bo-tree,—henceforth to be accounted sacred12 —the struggles [038]
of his soul prevailed, and he passed out of darkness into light.
He was now Buddha, He who Knew, the Enlightened. The
four truths to the knowledge of which Gautama thus attained,
and which form the very foundation of the Buddhist doctrine,
are these—(i) That man is born to suffering, both mental and
physical: he experiences it himself, he inflicts it upon others; (ii)
that this suffering is occasioned by desire; (iii) that the condition
of suffering in which man finds himself admits of amelioration
and relief; (iv) the way of release, and the attainment to Nirvana.
Here we must pause to make the inquiry, What is meant by
Nirvana,—the goal of the Buddhist's hope and aim? Literally,
the word means “extinction”; and hence it has often come to
be regarded as a mere synonym for annihilation. The variety of
opinions held by European scholars as to its meaning is, there
is little doubt, due to the fact that Buddhists themselves are by
no means agreed as to its precise significance. Is Nirvana a
state of consciousness or unconsciousness? Is the personality
perpetuated, or is the ego absorbed,—i.e. into Buddha? Such
questions are differently answered by the different schools.
12
“The Buddhists look upon the Bo-tree as most Christians have looked upon
the Cross.”—Rhys Davids' Buddhism, p. 37 note.
 22 Religion in Japan

[039] Concerning the nature of Nirvana, Buddha himself, in his

agnosticism, would seem to have been almost wholly silent.
He appears to have simply taught that by the suppression and
“extinction” of the natural passions and desires—anger, avarice,
sorrow, and the like13 —it was possible even here to enter upon a
state of tranquillity, rest, and peace, which should attain hereafter
to more perfect fulfilment. Of the various meanings attached to
Nirvana by the different Buddhist sects, one extreme makes it
scarcely distinguishable from complete annihilation, while the
opposite extreme introduces us to the doctrine of the Paradise
of the West, the Pure Land presided over by Amitabha Buddha,
the abode of perfect happiness and delight. This remarkable
development of Buddhism will claim our attention later.14

13
It is, no doubt, owing largely to the influence of Buddhism that the passion
of anger is almost unknown in Japan. In the same way, a Japanese, though the
heart were well-nigh breaking, would consider it a most unworthy thing to let
his grief betray itself.
14
Miss Isabella Bird (Mrs. Bishop), authoress of Unbeaten Tracks in Japan,
well describes the impression produced on the spectator by the Daibutsus, or
colossal images of Buddha, so common in Japan:—“He is not sleeping, he is
not waking, he is not acting, he is not thinking, his consciousness is doubtful;
he exists,—that is all; his work is done, a hazy beatitude, a negation remain.
This is the Nirvana in which the devout Buddhist may aspire to participate.”
The Daibutsu at Kamakura, of which an illustration is given opposite, is
one of the largest in Japan. It is fifty feet high, and, as a work of art, is without
a rival. The boss protruding from the forehead is supposed to represent a jewel,
and to symbolize Illumination.
II. Buddhism. 23
 24 Religion in Japan

[040]
Daibatsu At Kamakura.
To return. After his enlightenment, it is said that Gautama
was seized by the temptation to enter at once into Nirvana,
without proclaiming his doctrine to the world. But putting the
temptation from him, he began his ministry by announcing the
tidings of release to the companions of his ascetic life, who,
after scoffing for awhile, were at length convinced. In the
course of this, his first sermon, Buddha proceeded to enunciate
the eight steps on the path which leads to Nirvana—(i) Right
faith, (ii) right resolution, (iii) right speech, (iv) right action, (v)
right living, (vi) right effort, (vii) right thought, (viii) right self-
concentration. As time went on, Gautama began to gather round
him a number of disciples, who became his constant companions.
Part of each year he spent in rest and retirement; teaching and
training his disciples, and receiving such as, attracted by his
growing reputation, sought him out. The remaining months
he occupied in travelling from place to place, proclaiming the
good news of deliverance in the towns and villages through
which he passed. Soon we find him establishing a Society or
Brotherhood; the members of which severed their connexion
with all worldly things, handed over their property to the Order,
adopted the tonsure and a distinctive dress, and, following the
Master's doctrine with strictness themselves, devoted their lives
[041] to its propagation. Any member, however, was at liberty to
leave the Brotherhood, should he wish to do so. It is noticeable
that Buddha's earliest followers were chiefly drawn—not, as
in the case of a Greater than he, from the ranks of the poor
and simple—but from the upper classes. Indeed, Gautama
seems to have regarded the weak and ignorant as incapable of
receiving his teaching. Children are hardly mentioned in the
early Buddhist writings; and with regard to women, it was only
with great reluctance that Sakya-muni eventually consented to
the formation of a Sisterhood, the members of which were, as far
as possible, to observe the same rules as the men—together with
II. Buddhism. 25

several additional ones, chiefly concerned with their subjection to

the Brethren. In the same way, it is still the teaching of Buddhism
that it should be a woman's highest aspiration to be reborn as
a man, in a future state of existence. When, however, the two
Orders—for men and for women—had been formed, there still
remained a large number of either sex, who, without leaving
their places in the world, were desirous of being reckoned among
Buddha's followers. These were admitted as lay-adherents, one
of their chief obligations being to contribute to the maintenance
of the Brethren.
Having exercised his public ministry for forty years—without,
as would appear, encountering any great opposition—and having
committed his work to the Brotherhood, to carry on after his
decease, Buddha died, aged about eighty, and was buried with [042]
great pomp. It is recorded that, as the time of his departure drew
nigh, he replied to his disciples' expressions of apprehension and
sorrow, by saying that when he should no longer be with them
in person, he would still be present with them in his sayings, in
his doctrine. Another point on which he laid great stress before
his death was that the Brotherhood should regularly assemble in
convocation. Hence it came about that from very early times,
the declaration, “I seek refuge in Buddha, Dharma (the Law),
Samgha (the Brotherhood),” was adopted as the formula which
any one, desirous of becoming a Buddhist, was required to
profess. And it is the Trinity thus formed, which, represented to-
day by the three great images above the altar of many a Buddhist
temple, has its multitude of ignorant worshippers, who doubt not
that three several divinities are the objects of their adoration and
their prayer.
Such, then, as would appear, was the origin of Buddhism.
Strictly speaking, and apart from its later developments,
Buddhism is a religion which knows no God, which attaches no
value to prayer, which has no place for a priesthood. Nowhere,
perhaps, is its agnosticism more conspicuous than in the five main
 26 Religion in Japan

prohibitions, which are addressed alike to clergy and laity. The

[043] first of these forbids the taking of life,—human life chiefly, but
other life as well; the second is against theft, whether by force or
fraud; the third is against falsehood; the fourth forbids impurity,
in act, word, or thought; the fifth requires abstinence from all
intoxicants. The whole idea of GOD, it will be noticed, is entirely
absent from the Buddhist Commandments. Infinitely removed
above that other agnosticism, which cries, “Let us eat and drink,
for to-morrow we die,” Buddhism starts with the idea of the
entire abnegation of self. But a self-denial that is undertaken,
not for God, and in God for man, but merely to secure one's
own peace and well-being—what is this but selfishness after all?
Enjoining a rule of life that is essentially negative—the natural
product of that blank despair of the world and of human nature
which led to the Great Renunciation—Buddhism, as a religious
system, has yielded but scanty fruits of positive holiness, of
active benevolence. And yet,—wholly inadequate as such a
system as this, even at its purest and best, must be to meet the
needs of humanity,—false and even debased as are sometimes
its teachings,—the one great message that Buddhism proclaims
is a message of undeniable, if most imperfect, truth: the truth
that would have man cultivate self-reliance, and attain to self-
deliverance by means of self-control. “Work out your own
salvation” is the injunction of Christianity. “By one's self,”
[044] taught Sakya-muni, “the evil is one; by one's self must come
remedy and release.” So far the two systems are at one; the
difference between them lies in the fact that the one places in our
hands those supernatural weapons which alone make real victory
possible, and that these the other knows not how to supply.
Hitherto, we have made no reference to the relation of
Buddhism to Brahmanism. And yet we can no more hope
to understand the work of Sakya-muni, without observing its
connexion with Brahmanism, than we could afford to omit all
mention of the Jewish Law and of Jewish Pharisaism, in speaking
II. Buddhism. 27

of the liberation wrought by our Lord Jesus Christ. The work

and doctrine of Gautama Buddha,—with their mean between an
ascetic severity, on the one hand, and a licentious self-indulgence
on the other—their disregard of caste distinctions—their rejection
of burdensome and profitless traditions—may be said to bear to
the heavy yoke of Brahmanism a relation not dissimilar to that
which freedom has to bondage. Laying hold of that which was
ready to his hand, if so be he might mould and purify it, Buddha
was a liberator and reformer in respect to what had gone before.
Let us take, for example, the doctrine of metempsychosis, or, as
it is commonly called, the “transmigration of souls.” No doubt,
there is a great deal connected with this doctrine in the Buddhist
books that cannot but appear to us puerile and shocking; but still, [045]
we do not well, we do not justly, if, as do so many, we fasten such
strange fancies on Buddha, or on Buddhism, as though it were
from these that they sprang. So far from Sakya-muni being the
originator of the theory of transmigration, a belief in it had, for
centuries previously, been almost universal throughout the East;
and his doctrine of Nirvana supplied an antidote to the belief in a
practically interminable series of metempsychoses current at the
time. With the theory of transmigration accepted on all sides,
Buddha seems to have made use of it to the extent that he did,
as affording a convenient solution of the difficulty presented by
the unequal distribution of happiness in this life, and the absence
of any satisfactory exercise of justice in the way of reward or
punishment.
That the doctrine of metempsychosis should have been applied
by Buddhists to their great Master himself, is only what we should
expect to find. Gautama is accredited by Buddhists with some
five hundred previous existences, in the course of which he
passed through numerous stages of vegetable, animal and human
life, until at length he attained to the highest degree of manhood.
Throughout the changing circumstances of his being, he is said to
have exhibited a transcendent and ever-increasing unselfishness
 28 Religion in Japan

and charity, which culminated in his freely giving himself to

[046] be re-born as Buddha for the world's deliverance. And it is
this belief, probably, which has been the most potent factor in
exalting the Philosopher and the Guide to a height, which is
scarcely, if at all, distinguishable from the Throne of God.
I may conclude this chapter by quoting a passage from the
late Dean Stanley's History of the Jewish Church, where he is
referring to Gautama Buddha: “It is difficult for those who believe
the permanent elements of the Jewish and Christian religion to
be universal and Divine not to hail these corresponding forms
of truth and goodness elsewhere, or to recognize that the mere
appearance of such saint-like and god-like characters in other
parts of the earth, if not directly preparing the way for a greater
manifestation, illustrates that manifestation by showing how
mighty has been the witness borne to it even under circumstances
of such discouragement, and even with effects inadequate to their
grandeur.”15

[047]

15
History of the Jewish Church, Vol. iii, Lecture xlv.
III. Buddhism In Japan.
In the last Chapter we sketched in outline the life and teaching
of Gautama Buddha; omitting the many fanciful legends that
have gathered round his name, and confining ourselves to what
would be accepted by Buddhists generally. Of the long period
that divides the death of Sakya-muni from the introduction of
Buddhism into Japan about 550 A.D., it is no part of our purpose
to treat in detail. But enough must be said to connect in some
intelligible way these two events.
After the death of Gautama, his disciples are said to have
gathered together, and recited all that they remembered of his
teaching, arranging it in three divisions. This was the origin
of the sacred books known as the Tripitaca, i.e. the “three
baskets,” the “three receptacles.” The first of these—consisting
of sayings, aphorisms, parables, &c., attributed to Buddha,
together with his first sermon addressed to the ascetics, (the
“Wheel of the Law,”)—is known as the Sutra or “Canon;”
the second is called the Vinaya or “Book of Discipline;” and
the third, the Abhidharma, i.e. the “Book of Metaphysics,” [048]
the “Further Doctrine.” Of the three books, the Sutra, being
mainly ethical, would have a more general application than the
other two; while the Vinaya would be chiefly applicable to
the Brotherhood, and the Abhidharma concerned with abstruse
philosophical dissertations. The Tripitaca, of which the Buddhists
of Ceylon are the custodians, are written in Pali, an early
modification of Sanskrit, and the sacred language of Buddhism;
and they are, undoubtedly, the oldest and purest of the numerous
Buddhist scriptures. The Sutra, in particular, is believed to be
a faithful record of the actual teaching of Gautama. At the
same time, it must be remembered that for some centuries after
 30 Religion in Japan

Sakya-muni's death, there is no proof of the existence of any

written Canon; the probability being that his teaching was, for
the most part, transmitted orally from generation to generation,
and that it underwent in the process considerable alteration and
addition.
With regard to the history of Buddhism, from the time of
its founder's death until the middle of the third century B.C.,
we are practically without information. It appears, however,
that parties and schools were already beginning to be formed.
But about 260 B.C., India, from being divided into a number of
petty kingdoms, became almost wholly united under the rule of
[049] one Asoka. Asoka's grandfather—the founder of the empire
that was soon to assume such vast proportions—had revenged
himself for the contempt in which, for his low birth, he was
held by the Brahmans, by patronizing Buddhism; and Asoka, in
turn, bestowed upon it all possible support. He made Buddhism
the state religion, founded an immense number of monasteries,
and sent forth missionaries in all directions. China was one
of the countries visited; while a mission to Ceylon, in which
Mahendra, Asoka's own son, took a prominent part, resulted in
the conversion of the whole island.
Shortly, however, after Asoka's death, his empire collapsed,
and Buddhism never afterwards exerted the same influence in
India; though it remained widely prevalent until the eighth
century A.D., and it was not until four centuries later that it
became practically extinct. The Brahmans now regained their
former ascendency; declared Gautama to be an “avatar”—or
incarnation—of their god Vishnu; proceeded to incorporate into
their own creed some of the most popular features of the Buddhist
system; and then entered upon a destruction of the monasteries,
and a severe persecution of all Buddhists living in India. But, as
in the history of the Christian Church, persecution only resulted
in the Gospel being afforded a wider area, so was it now with
[050] Buddhism. “They that were scattered abroad went everywhere,
III. Buddhism In Japan. 31

preaching the word.” Among other countries to which the doctrine

of Sakya-muni penetrated was Cashmere, whose king, Kanishka,
a contemporary of Christ, extended to it his enthusiastic support.
At this point was reached an important crisis in the history of
Buddhism. Already controversies about discipline and various
minor questions had called into existence several different
schools; but now a breach occurred, of such magnitude and
destined to prove so lasting in its results, as to often have
suggested comparison with the schism between Western and
Eastern Christendom. A council was held under king Kanishka,
which the Ceylon Buddhists refused to recognize; and from
that time Buddhism has been divided into two main branches,
known as the Mahayana and Hinayana,—the “Greater and Lesser
Vehicles.” The division thus brought about became, to a great
extent, a geographical one; the Hinayana having its home in
Ceylon, and, somewhat less exclusively, in Burmah and Siam,
while the schools of the Mahayana predominate in Cashmere,
Thibet, China and Japan.
Let us glance, for a moment, at their respective characteristics.
The Hinayana and the Mahayana, then, are the names given to
two great systems, or “schools of thought,” which offer to “carry”
or “convey” their followers to the rest of Nirvana. [051]
Of the two, the Hinayana, or Lesser Conveyance, presents a
much closer resemblance to early Buddhism. The distinguishing
features of the Hinayana may be declared to be its adherence to
the strict morality of primitive Buddhism, its greater simplicity of
worship, its smaller Canon of scripture, and the fact that it appeals
rather to the comparatively few, to those, that is to say, who are
able and willing to make the surrender it requires. Whereas, in
the Mahayana, or Greater Vehicle, we see a system characterized
by that increased ease and laxity, which too often accompany a
season of repose and the cessation of the enthusiasm that attends
the establishment of a new movement. The chief features of the
Mahayana may be pronounced to be its less exacting standard
 32 Religion in Japan

of practical morality, its willingness to descend to the level of

the multitude, its subtle metaphysical distinctions, its meditative
inactivity, its elaborate ceremonial, and its more extensive Canon
of scripture.
We are now, at last, in a position to examine the history of
Japanese Buddhism. If an apology seems needed for the length
of our digression, I can only say that it appeared to me necessary
for any profitable treatment of our subject. We have already
seen how, as early as 250 B.C., China was visited by Buddhist
missionaries from India. These are said to have been eighteen in
[052] number; and their effigies may be seen in many a Chinese temple,
where they are held in great veneration. In the first century A.D.,
Buddhism in China began to receive imperial patronage; some of
its books being about the same time translated into the language
of the country. The spirit of accommodation and adaptation,
which has always formed so conspicuous a feature of Buddhism,
manifested itself now in an association with Taouism which has
continued ever since.
552 A.D. is the date assigned to the introduction of Buddhism
into Japan, by way of Korea. At first, it appears to have made
little progress, until the diplomatic action of one of its clergy
brought it into favour with the Court. Prostrating himself one
day, before the little son of the Mikado, the priest declared that
he recognized in him the re-incarnation of one of the disciples
of Buddha, and one who was destined to effect a great spiritual
work in Japan. The Mikado was prevailed upon to confide the
boy's education to the Buddhist priests; with the result that, when
he grew up, he supported their cause with such zeal as to cause
him to be sometimes spoken of as the “Constantine of Japanese
Buddhism.” Shotoku Taishi—for such was his name—acted for
some time as regent, but never himself ascended the throne.
There is no doubt that the progress of Buddhism in Japan was
[053] largely facilitated by the adoption of tactics, which had been
successfully employed in dealing with the barbarous tribes of
III. Buddhism In Japan. 33

India, and—as we have just noticed,—with China also. Indeed,

its readiness to adapt itself to the circumstances, instincts, and
prejudices of the people, with whom it has to do, is, as has
already been implied, one of the most powerful and most striking
peculiarities of Buddhism. In Japan, the Shinto demi-gods were
Buddhaized, and declared to be manifestations of Gautama;
while practices borrowed from the ancient national creed were
introduced into the Buddhist ceremonial. In the eighth century,
we find orders issued for the erection of two temples and a
pagoda in every province; until, about the twelfth century, the
two religions became associated in the manner indicated in our
first chapter,—Buddhist and Shinto clergy officiating by turns
in the same buildings, and the Shinto temples becoming filled
with images, alike of their own demi-gods, and of Buddha and
his companions. This state of things continued until 1868, when
the Shinto cult was chosen to receive the exclusive recognition
of the State, many of the Buddhist monasteries at the same
time suffering spoliation. Within the last few years, however,
Buddhism has been making strenuous efforts to recover its former
power and position, and there is little doubt that it still exerts a
real influence in Japan; while the collapse of Shintoism is, as
certainly, a matter of no distant time. At Tokio, the capital, where [054]
the number of temples is enormous, the proportion of Buddhist to
Shinto is in the ratio of ten to one; and on several occasions during
my stay in Japan I noticed handsome new Buddhist temples in
course of erection, or old ones being redecorated and restored.
On the other hand, numbers are closed, or falling to pieces, for
want of funds to maintain them.
At the present time, there are some twelve or more principal
Buddhist sects in Japan, several of these being subdivided. The
distinction between the various schools is much more closely
preserved than in China; and, at least in the larger cities, each sect
will be found represented by a temple of its own. The difference
between the schools consists not only in the varied attitudes
 34 Religion in Japan

adopted towards some controverted question, but frequently also

in the degrees of importance attached to some point which is
held by all in common. For, as cannot be too emphatically stated,
Buddhism is a many-sided religion.16 The following extract from
[055] Sir Monier Williams' Buddhism, for instance, draws attention to
the variety of aspects, from which it may, and indeed needs to be
regarded by the student.
“In different places and at different times, its teaching has
become both negative and positive, agnostic and gnostic. It passes
from apparent atheism and materialism to theism, polytheism,
and spiritualism. It is, under one aspect, mere pessimism;
under another, pure philanthropy; under another, monastic
communion; under another, high morality; under another,
a variety of materialistic philosophy; under another, simple
demonology; under another, a mere farrago of superstitions,
including necromancy, witchcraft, idolatry, and fetishism. In
some form or other it may be held with almost any religion, and
embraces something from almost every creed.”
To the same effect writes Dr. Eitel in his Lectures on Buddhism
(pp. 1-2): “Buddhism is a system of vast magnitude, for it
comprises the earliest gropings after science throughout those
various branches of knowledge which our Western nations have
long been accustomed to divide for separate study. It embodies
in one living structure grand and peculiar views of physical
science, refined and subtle theorems on abstract metaphysics, an
edifice of fanciful mysticism, a most elaborate and far-reaching
system of practical morality, and finally a church organization as
16
This is scarcely less true of Christianity; and it must be true, in some
measure, of every religious system which attempts to minister to the needs
of beings, so differently constituted, and so dissimilarly circumstanced, as are
the members of the human race. As we proceed in this chapter to refer to the
various schools of Buddhism and their characteristics, we can hardly fail to
have suggested to us, more than once, those different aspects of Christianity,
which have been the occasion of all our “schools of thought,” and, alas, of how
many of our divisions!
III. Buddhism In Japan. 35

broad in its principles and as finely wrought in its most intricate [056]
network as any in the world.”
It would hardly be worth while to attempt any detailed
description of the many Buddhist sects represented in Japan. To
observe the main characteristics of the principal ones, and their
points of difference from one another, will be amply sufficient for
our purpose. The greater number of the schools were introduced
from China, but a few are Japanese developments.
Let us take, first of all, the schools of the Hinayana, or
Minor Vehicle, which, as we should expect, is not extensively
represented in Japan. The Hinayana is represented by four
philosophical schools, in two of which the materialistic element
predominates, and in the two other the idealistic; while
eschatological questions afford further ground for difference.
The points in dispute between these philosophical schools of
Buddhism are altogether so subtle and abstruse as to be extremely
difficult of comprehension to any not thoroughly versed in such
distinctions. Of the four sects referred to, one, called the Kusha,
has for its characteristic the fact that it bases its teaching on the
Abhidharma Pitaca.
To the Minor Vehicle belongs the curious system known as the
“Holy Path.” This has been described as a “debtor and creditor
account kept with divine justice.” Much less common than in
China, the system of the “Holy Path” is yet widely practised [057]
in Japan. Elaborate tables are drawn up, containing a list of all
good and bad actions it is possible to perform, with the numbers
added which each counts on the side of merit or demerit. The
numbers range from one to a hundred, or even more; and the
tables afford an insight into the relative importance in which all
kinds of actions present themselves to the Oriental mind. He
who would tread life's journey along the Holy Path must, at least,
aim at setting off his bad deeds by a corresponding number of
good acts of equal value. At the end of each year, the account
is balanced, and the overplus or deficit is transferred to the
 36 Religion in Japan

succeeding one. That such a system is liable to the gravest abuse,

especially in the case of the more ignorant, is obvious; though,
when conscientiously practised, it need not be supposed to be
unproductive of good.17
At present we have made no mention of the Madhyameka,
or Middle Vehicle, which, as its name implies, occupies
an intermediate place between the Greater and Lesser
Conveyances. A compromise between these two great systems,
the Madhyameka may be said to be characterized by a marked
moderation, i.e. between an excessive strictness, on the one hand,
and a too great liberty on the other. But though it is thus a faithful
[058] exponent of Sakya-muni's original doctrine, the Madhyameka
has never attracted any extensive following. It is represented in
Japan by the sect called the Sanron.
We pass on to examine the schools of the Greater Vehicle. In
the same way that the Kusha sect regards as its chief authority
the Abhidharma Pitaca, there are two schools belonging to the
Greater Vehicle, which base their teaching on the Sutra and
Vinaya Pitacas respectively. The Kagon make the parables and
sayings of Buddha contained in the Sutra their especial study;
while the Ritzu, as adhering to the more ascetic side of Buddhism,
have for their favourite book the Vinaya, or “Discipline.”
The Dhyana or Zen sect is a Chinese school with numerous
sub-divisions. Its distinguishing feature is the prominence it
assigns to the life of contemplation. Mysticism is represented
by the Shingon, the Mantra school of India transferred through
China to Japan; and also by the Tendai, so called from a mountain
in China, where the head-quarters of the sect are situated. The
temples of the Shingon may usually be recognized by the two
guardian figures at the entrance, with open and shut mouths,
suggesting the mystic syllable A-UM. A peculiarity of both of
17
Those who would investigate the subject further are referred to Alabaster's
The Modern Buddhist (Trübner, 1870).
III. Buddhism In Japan. 37

these sects is the use of the prayer-wheels and cylinders so

common in Thibet. [059]
An element of mysticism also pervades the influential Hokkai
sect, a Japanese offshoot of the Tendai, founded in the thirteenth
century by a priest named Nichiren, who is said to have been born
supernaturally of a virgin mother. The Hokkai are most jealously
attached to their own ritual, and to other observances peculiar
to themselves; and, inheriting the disposition attributed to their
founder, exhibit a narrowness and intolerance rarely met with in
Japan. Their characteristic may be said to consist in an emotional
fanaticism; and a visitor to one of their temples will generally
find a number of devotees,—who thus remain engaged for hours
at a time,—chanting the invocation of the sect, “Adoration to the
Lotus of the Law,” to a deafening accompaniment of drums.
Two sects only now remain, but these by no means the
least interesting or least popular: the Jodo and the Shin-Jodo
(i.e. the New-Jodo). The distinguishing features of these
sects,—which also find a place in the system of the Hokkai,—are
their acknowledgement of the need of external aid, and their
doctrine of the Western Paradise, presided over by Amitabha
Buddha. How marked a departure from the original teaching
of Sakya-muni, as observed by us, these schools present is
sufficiently obvious; nevertheless, it is alleged that the revelation
of the Paradise in the West was first made by Buddha himself to
one of his principal disciples. In the distant West is said to dwell [060]
one named Amida, or Amitabha, that is to say “Illimitable Light.”
Immortal himself, immortal also and freed from all the trammels
of transmigration are the vast multitudes of men18 who inhabit
the boundless regions which he rules. In that “Pure Land,”19 that
“Undefiled Ground,” everything beautiful and enchanting has a
place, neither is pain or sorrow known; and thither nought that
18
For it is men only who inhabit this Celestial Region: women, worthy of
attaining to it, have changed their sex.
19
Jodo means the “Pure Land.”
 38 Religion in Japan

is evil or that defileth can come. Whosoever would attain to this

heavenly country must rely, most of all, on faithful invocation
of the name of Amida; he having, as is recorded, made a
vow that he would only accept Buddhahood on condition that
salvation should be placed within reach of all sincerely desirous
of achieving it. Such is the doctrine of the Western Paradise,
some of the descriptions of which read almost like echoes of
the last chapters of the Bible. Unknown to the Buddhism of
Ceylon, Siam, and Burmah, it can be traced back as far as the
second century A.D., when it was certainly known in Cashmere,
though it was not until three centuries later that it began to spread
widely over Northern Buddhism. But the whole question of its
origin remains wrapped in obscurity. At the present day, the
[061] devotion to Amida is very widely practised in Japan, and it is
extremely popular. No doubt, the more educated and intellectual
Buddhist,—and the distinction thus suggested needs constantly
to be insisted on,—would explain the Paradise of the West as
being a mere allegory, and regard Amitabha, as he was originally
conceived to be, as merely an ideal personification of boundless
light. But to the people generally the Undefiled Ground and its
presiding deity are actual, literal, realities.
III. Buddhism In Japan. 39

Kiyomizu-Dera, Kyoto.
We have said that the two sects in which the doctrine of
the Western Paradise appears in greatest prominence are called
the Jodo and Shin-Jodo. The former of these is Chinese in
origin, but was established in Japan about 1200 A.D. by a priest,
Enko Daishi by name, who was also a member of the imperial
family. The head-quarters of this sect are at Kyoto, where the
magnificent monastery of Chion-in forms one of the principal
sights of that most interesting of Japanese cities. But of all the
temples of Japan, those of the New-Jodo (or Monto) sect are
at once the most handsome, the most frequented, and the most
attractive to the European traveller. Everything here, too, is
of a dignified and stately character; there is a striking absence
of the tawdry and the puerile. Founded in the year 1262, this
sect is, at the present day, foremost in learning, influence, and
activity. Another purely Japanese development, it is—owing
to differences about “church government”—composed of two [062]
sub-divisions, the Nishi-Hongwanji and the Higashi-Hongwanji,
 40 Religion in Japan

or the Eastern and Western Divisions of the True Petition,—the

reference being to the vow of Amida. In most of the larger towns,
handsome temples of either branch are to be found, situated
usually in the poorer districts.
It is in the temples of the Shin-Jodo that the remarkable
similarity, of which every one has heard, between the Buddhist
ceremonial and that of the Roman Church is most conspicuous.
Nowhere, perhaps, did the resemblance in question,—to which
I shall have occasion to refer again,—impress me more forcibly
than it did in the New-Jodo temple at Nagasaki, at the first
Buddhist service at which I was ever present. The day of
our visit chanced to be the founder's anniversary, and from
a raised lectern in the chancel, a venerable priest, of benign
countenance,—wearing a rich vestment not unlike a dalmatic, and
a cap resembling a biretta,—was recounting to a congregation,
composed chiefly of women, old men, and children, the virtues
of their deceased benefactor. Presently, the sermon came to an
end, and the colloquial delivery of the discourse was changed
for the monotone of a litany recitation: the people answering
with ready response, and many of them employing the aid of
their rosaries. The fragrance of incense filled the air; tapers and
[063] flowers adorned the altar, above which was the statue, not—as
one entering by chance might almost have expected to see—of a
Christian saint, but of some manifestation of Gautama Buddha.
Despite, however, its elaborate ritual, the Shin-Jodo sect has
been called the “Protestantism of Japan;” the reason being that
it sanctions the marriage of its clergy, approves the reading of
the scriptures in the “vulgar tongue,” permits a wider freedom
in respect to food and drink, and affords other indications of a
“reforming spirit.” The priesthood in this sect is, practically, a
hereditary office.
In the Great Indian Religions of the late Mr. Bettany, there
is given a summary of the Shin-Jodo Belief, in the words of one
of its principal teachers. I will take the liberty of re-quoting it
III. Buddhism In Japan. 41

here. “Rejecting all religious austerities and other action, giving

up all idea of self-power, we rely upon Amida Buddha with
the whole heart for our salvation in the future life, which is the
most important thing: believing that at the moment of putting
our faith in Amida Buddha our salvation is settled. From that
moment invocation of his name is observed as an expression of
gratitude and thankfulness for Buddha's mercy. Moreover, being
thankful for the reception of this doctrine from the founder and
succeeding chief priests whose teachings were so benevolent, and
as welcome as light in a dark night, we must also keep the laws
which are fixed for our duty during our whole life.” The mutual [064]
relation of faith and works is especially to be noticed; and indeed
the strikingly evangelical character of the whole Confession.

Statues of Kwannon, San-Ju-San-Gen-Do.

Vast, however, as is the power attributed to Amitabha, and
great as is the merit to be acquired by the invocation of his
name, there is found in the temples in which he is worshipped an
image which receives even more veneration than his. That
colossal female effigy, with the many heads and countless
 42 Religion in Japan

hands, before which a number of votaries, composed largely

of women, are kneeling in prayer, is meant to represent the
mighty Avalokitesvara, or—to substitute for the Sanskrit the
less formidable titles by which she is known in China and
Japan,—the all-powerful Kwanyin or Kwannon. Here, again, we
are confronted with a devotion the origin of which is wrapped in
uncertainty, but which, closely connected with the doctrine of the
Western Paradise, seems to have arisen some three centuries after
the commencement of our era. At the present day, it is spread
extensively over Thibet, Mongolia, China, and Japan; but it is
unknown to the countries of Southern Buddhism. With regard to
the meaning of this great image before us, Kwannon is commonly
explained to be the reflex or spiritual son of Amitabha Buddha,
sent by him to earth to preside on earth over the Buddhist faith,
[065] and appearing, at first in male and subsequently in female shape.
But the probability is that the various personages, with whom
Kwannon is supposed to be identified, had merely a fictitious
existence; and that in her statues, we see simply an apotheosis
of Mercy, an allegorical Mater Misericordiae, whose many eyes
and hands are intended to signify the unremitting vigilance and
the untiring energy with which she ministers to all sorrow and
distress.20
The island of Pootau, off Ning-po, in the Chusan Archipelago,
is the great centre of Kwannon worship; the most popular of the
many legends concerning her associating her with this locality,
and offering an explanation of her thousand heads and hands
more clumsy even than is the manner of such myths. The
20
Avalokitesvara=“The Lord who looks down from heaven.” The female
form taking the place of the male is, no doubt, due to the idea of the woman's
being supposed to be the more compassionate nature; just as, too often in the
Christian Church, the Blessed Mother has, for a like reason, been made to
encroach upon the prerogatives of her Divine Son. Instances are recorded of
the Chinese, when conversing with Europeans, giving the name of Kwanyin to
the statues of the Blessed Virgin in the Roman Churches. (Davis' The Chinese,
chap, xiv.)
III. Buddhism In Japan. 43

island belongs to the Buddhist priesthood, and is a great resort

of pilgrims. In Japan, the shrines and statues of Kwannon
are to be met with everywhere: many of her images being of
enormous size, richly gilt and beautifully wrought. Sometimes
the statues are kept concealed from view, either on account
of alleged miraculous properties, or for some other reason of [066]
special sanctity. The highly-venerated image, for instance, at the
Asakusa temple, Tokio, is never shown; it is only two inches
high, and is accredited with supernatural qualities. But of all the
shrines of Kwannon, it may be doubted whether the impression
created by any is greater than by her temple of San-ju-san-gen-do
at Kyoto, where no less than 33,333 images of the goddess may
be seen. Of these a thousand are gilded statues, five feet in
height, and ranged in tiers along a vast gallery. The remaining
effigies are depicted on the foreheads, hands and nimbi of the
larger ones. The temple and its contents originated in the votive
offering of a Mikado of the twelfth century for recovery from
sickness.

The Altar of San-Ju-San-Gen-Do.

 44 Religion in Japan

[067]
IV. Buddhism And Christianity.
46 Religion in Japan
IV. Buddhism And Christianity. 47

Guardian Nio.

The Buddhist temples in Japan are for the most part built on
a much grander and more elaborate scale than those belonging
to the Shinto worship. The roofing is not of thatch, but of tiles;
and instead of the torii, the entrance is through a Sammon, or
two-storied gateway, in the recesses of which stand two huge
figures of ferocious appearance. These are called Nio, and their
office is to guard the sacred precincts from the approach of evil
spirits. These images are commonly seen spotted all over with
pellets of paper. “A worshipper writes his petition on paper, or
better still, has it written for him by the priest, chews it to a
pulp, and spits it at the divinity. If, having been well aimed, the
paper sticks, it is a good omen.” Passing through the Sammon,
and proceeding in a straight direction—often between rows of
votive stone-lanterns—the visitor soon arrives at the two largest
buildings of the temple group. One of these is the Hondo, or main
shrine; while the other may be either the Hall of the Founder
of the particular sect to which the Temple belongs, or it may [068]
contain a colossal image of Amida, and be specially dedicated to
his worship. Sometimes, again, this second building is known as
the Refectory, from the spiritual nourishment supplied there in
the form of sermons, for which the preacher takes as his text some
passage of the Sutra, or, it may be, some saying of Confucius.21
21
I have not thought it necessary in this little volume to introduce the
subject of Confucianism. Even in China it is less a religion than a system
of philosophy—political, social, moral. It may, however, be remarked that
the writings of Confucius are highly esteemed in Japan, and that, in the past
at any rate, they have had a considerable influence in forming the thought
and character of its people. The ethics of Confucius being materialistic,
i.e. concerned with the things of this present life, and the Buddhist ethics
being mainly spiritualistic, the two mutually supplement each other. The
great Confucian Temple at Yeddo was until 1868 the chief University of
Japan. Now,—so entirely have the Western systems of education supplanted
the teaching of the Chinese sage,—the building has been converted into a
Museum.
 48 Religion in Japan

Removing our boots, which we leave at the foot of the wooden

steps, we ascend to the Hondo, and, if need be, push aside the
sliding-doors of paper-covered woodwork, which afford access
to the building. Should no service chance to be in progress, a little
company of priests, acolytes, &c., will probably be found, seated
on the matting with which the floor is covered,—engaged in the
perusal of book or newspaper, or chatting together over miniature
cups of tea, and, if it be winter-time, spreading their hands to
receive the grateful warmth of the hibachi.22 Beside them, on the
[069] floor, is arranged a miscellaneous assortment of sacred pictures,
leaflets, candles, incense-sticks, charms, and other articles; any
of which may be purchased by a very modest expenditure. As
we enter, we observe that several pairs of eyes are fastened on
us in undisguised curiosity; but our low salutation is promptly
responded to, if indeed it has not been anticipated, and one of
the group will courteously come forward to supply us with any
assistance or information we require. Before the railing, which
encloses the sanctuary, two or three worshippers are kneeling in
prayer; and these also examine us for a while with close attention.
Or, it may be that at the time of our visit some religious function
is proceeding. If so, the clergy with their servers are found within
the chancel, clad in gorgeous yellow robes, and genuflecting now
and again before the images which stand above the richly-vested
altar. Outside the sanctuary rails, the congregation is assembled
in greater or less numbers, according to the importance of the
day. Around is a profusion of lights and flowers; while the
air is fragrant with the fumes of incense. The prayers, which
the officiating priest recites in monotone, are in Pali, a form of
Sanskrit; and if an air of perfunctoriness pervades his devotions,
let it be remembered that every day, month after month, and
year after year, he may be found chanting these same litanies,
[070] of the significance of which he has but the vaguest idea. Not,

22
Charcoal-brazier.
IV. Buddhism And Christianity. 49

however, that he is without belief in their efficacy; nay, it may

be that his very ignorance of their meaning causes the words he
utters to have, in his eyes, a transcendent value. Above the high
altar, in seated posture on lotus-blossoms,23 are three colossal
images, cunningly wrought and richly gilded, and bearing on
their countenances an expression of placid repose. Perhaps, it is
the Triratna, or Three Jewels, that these represent, the Trinity of
Buddha, the Law, and the Order. Or, possibly, this is Buddha,
in his triple forms of existence:—as Sakya-muni, the form under
which he lived as man among men; as Amitabha, his metaphysical
existence in Nirvana; as Avalokitesvara, his reflex in the world
of forms, his spiritual son, generated to propagate the religion
established by him during his earthly career. Or once again, these
three images may portray the Buddhas of the Past, Present, and
Future:—Gautama who was, the historic founder of Buddhism;
Kwannon, or Avalokitesvara, the head of the present Buddhist
hierarchy, the Buddha who is; and Maitreya, or Meroku, the [071]
deliverer yet to come, the rehabilitation of past Buddhas foretold
by Sakya-muni. Now and again one may meet with a Buddhist of
superior intellectual attainments, who would explain the acts of
worship he offers to these images, as signifying merely reverence
for Gautama's teaching; but to the multitude, as has been seen
already, the images represent distinct and all-powerful deities.
Indeed, the people are encouraged thus to regard them by their
ecclesiastical superiors; it being one of the methods of Buddhism
thus to adapt its teaching to the capacity of dense and ignorant
minds. And thus it comes about that a religion, commencing
with agnosticism, meets the “craving for divinity,” so deeply
23
“The only reason I can ascertain for the constant recurrence of the lotus in
Buddhist art and ceremonial is the idea of its being the symbol of purity. Its
scent and aspect are alike delightful, and though rooted in mud and slime it
abhors all defilement. If, therefore, men would but take it as their model, they
would escape all the contamination of this corrupt world. Every man, it is said,
has a lotus in his bosom, which will blossom forth if he call in the assistance
of Buddha.” Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, Vol. i. p. 292.
50 Religion in Japan

implanted in the nature of our race, by passing into what is,

practically, a deification of humanity.
IV. Buddhism And Christianity. 51
 52 Religion in Japan

Pagoda at Nikko.
Leaving the Hondo, we next proceed to explore the grounds
and remaining buildings connected with the temple. This lofty
Pagoda, for instance, several stories high, is erected over some
holy relic,—perhaps the vitrified remains of the founder, after
cremation. A little further on, we come to the Rinzo, or Revolving
Library, containing an entire set of the Buddhist scriptures. As
these consist altogether of some 6,700 or 6,800 large volumes,
it is clearly impossible for any one person to read them all.
This, however, need not be regretted seeing that whatever merit
[072] might be obtained by a complete perusal, is freely extended to
all, who will take the trouble to make this huge stand revolve;
the structure being so arranged that a single push is sufficient
for the purpose! The Rinzo was an invention of a Chinese
priest, and is said to date from the sixth century. Owing to
their costliness they are rarely met with; and the only two I
remember seeing were at Asakusa, Tokio, and at Ikegami, the
head-quarters of the Hokkai sect. Elsewhere in the grounds we
come upon the Shoro, or Great Bell,—used not for summoning
the faithful, but for the purpose of invocation and worship;—the
Koro, or Drum-tower; the Emado, or “Ex-voto” Shed, the walls
of which are covered with pictures, charms, and other offerings;
cisterns for the purpose of ceremonial purification; a printing
and publishing department; and, perhaps, a grotto with ghastly
representations of the sufferings endured in the Buddhist hells.
Usually, too, to be found in the sacred precincts, is a specimen
of the Ficus religiosa, or sacred tree, under which Sakya-muni
attained his enlightenment. At the rear of the temple buildings
are situated the priests' apartments,—often a quadrangle enclosed
by a colonnade,—the reception-rooms of which are beautifully
decorated with kakemonos. Here the visitor is sometimes invited
to a light repast of tea, cake, and fruit; the priests waiting on him
[073] the while with the most courteous attention. And here may I
be permitted to say a word about the Buddhist priests of Japan
IV. Buddhism And Christianity. 53

as I found them? They are commonly spoken of as lazy and

ignorant, mercenary and corrupt; and it is to be feared that with
regard to many, especially of the lower orders of the clergy,
this witness is true. But speaking of those with whom I came
into direct contact—the priests, for the most part, attached to the
more important temples—I feel bound to say, that the impression
I formed of them was, on the whole, a distinctly favourable one.
With countenances often indicating close spiritual application,
they appeared to perform their sacred duties with reverence and
attention; while of the disinterested kindness and hospitality I
received at their hands, as well as of the courtesy and patience
with which they replied to my numerous questions, I would speak
in terms of grateful appreciation.
 54 Religion in Japan

Plan Of Buddhist Temple At Ikegami, Near Tokio.

(Head-quarters of the Hokkai or Nichiren sect.) The path to the
left from the Entrance Gate leads to the Main Temple; that to
the right to the Founder's Hall. To the right of the plan are the
Drum-tower and Pagoda. Behind the Main Temple is the Rinzo
or Revolving Library; and in the lower left-hand corner of the
picture is the Reliquary. The two small buildings in the
foreground are the Belfry and the Emado. In the background are
the Priests' Apartments and Reception-rooms.
A visit to a Buddhist temple, however, can hardly fail to
suggest to any, who are at all familiar with the observances
of the Roman ritual, a comparison to which we have already
referred,—I mean the striking resemblance between the Buddhist
ceremonies and such as have found place in the Christian Church.
The high-altar with its haloed statues, flowers, candelabra, and
ever-burning lamps; the side-altars, similarly adorned, above
one of which, it may be, is seen the image of Maia, the mother
[074] of Gautama, bearing her infant-son in her arms; the priests,
tonsured, mitred, arrayed in their rich vestments, and attended
by their acolytes; the people, bending low in adoration, or telling
their rosaries as they pray; the tinkling of bells and the perfume of
incense; the dim light of the sanctuary, and the monotonous chant,
in the unknown tongue, of the litanies uplifted for living and
for dead:—these are only some of the points of correspondence
with Roman Catholic observances which meet us in almost every
Buddhist temple. Indeed, to attempt to specify such resemblances
in detail would prove a laborious task. But while the similarity to
which I refer is far too close and remarkable to be accounted for
by mere coincidence, its explanation is by no means easy. Some
would solve the difficulty by referring to the unquestionable fact
that many of the ceremonies practised in the Christian Church are
adaptations of ancient heathen rites: a leading captive of captivity
of which, as it seems to me, Christianity has far more reason to be
proud than ashamed. But though the Buddhist observances are,
IV. Buddhism And Christianity. 55

without doubt, of considerable antiquity, this explanation cannot

be said to be adequate to the requirements of the case. Far more
satisfactory is the theory that ascribes the phenomenon to an
early contact of China with some form of Christianity—probably
Nestorianism—and to the readiness which Buddhism has ever
exhibited to extend its influence by a conformity to other faiths. [075]
The problem, however, is one which we must, to a great extent,
be satisfied to leave unsolved; the most eminent authorities in
Orientalism having confessed themselves baffled. It is only the
fact of the resemblance that admits of no dispute.
56 Religion in Japan
IV. Buddhism And Christianity. 57

A Buddhist Priest.
It is curious to notice the different effects produced by an
observation of the Buddhist ceremonial on the minds of Roman
Catholic missionaries upon their first arrival in the East. By some
its likeness to their own ritual has been regarded as a manœuvre of
Satan, designed for the hindrance of Christian truth; while others
have regarded the resemblance with satisfaction, as calculated to
diminish the difficulties of their work. Without entering further
into this question, I may be allowed to express the conviction that
an elaborate ceremonial forms at any rate no necessary factor
of Christian work in Japan. So far from this being the case,
I was informed, on no prejudiced authority, that, the breach
once made with the old associations, converts are disposed to
regard anything tending even remotely to suggest them as more
of a hindrance than a help; and this view finds support in the
large number of adherents gained by several of the Protestant
Missions, with whom anything in the way of ceremonial is
reduced to a minimum. On the other hand, must be remembered
the very successful work accomplished in Japan, alike by [076]
the Roman and Orthodox Churches, whose combined total of
some 65,000 adherents is more than double that of the various
Protestant sects,—the Churches of England and America, with
4,000 members, not being included in this computation.
Hitherto, I have referred only to the resemblance outwardly
existing between the ceremonies and observances of Christianity
and Buddhism. But an extension of the comparison results in
what is, at first sight, an even more startling similarity between
incidents recorded of Gautama Buddha, and events in the life
of Jesus Christ, as narrated in the Gospels. Thus, we are told
that Gautama was born of a virgin mother; that angels appeared
at his nativity; that an ancient seer prostrated himself before
him, and saluted him as one come down from heaven; that,
as a child, he confounded his teachers by the understanding
he displayed, and the questions which he asked; that, assailed
 58 Religion in Japan

by the Evil One24 with the keenest temptations,—including the

offer of Sovereignty over all the world, if he would renounce his
mission,—he yet emerged victorious from all; that once, being
on a mountain, he was enveloped in a cloud of heavenly light;
that he went down into hell; and that he ascended into heaven.
[077] Indeed, the Christian may be pardoned if, for the moment, he
feels completely staggered at all that he finds advanced on behalf
of Sakya-muni; and if his perplexity only begins to give place
to relief, when he discovers that there is absolutely no trace of
such extraordinary coincidence in the early Buddhist writings,
and that there is no reason for supposing that these alleged events
in the life of Gautama were ever heard of until the Christian era
was already several centuries old.
We have now, as far as our limits permit, made an examination
of Buddhism with especial reference to Japan. But before leaving
this part of our subject, I would humbly, but very earnestly,
submit the question, Is there in Buddhism generally,—is there
in Buddhism as it exists in Japan at the present day,—nothing
upon which Christianity may profitably fasten, nothing to which
Christianity may properly appeal? Is that great proclamation of
Christian tact, which, eighteen centuries ago, the Apostle Paul
delivered on the Areopagus at Athens, “Whom ye ignorantly
worship, Him declare I unto you,” one that cannot, more often
than it does, find a place on the lips of our missionaries of
to-day? Is the position a useless one to take, that both the faiths
of Jesus Christ and of Buddha agree in this, that either has for its
object the amelioration of man's lot, here and hereafter, and his
release from the curse of suffering; only, as we believe, with this
[078] great difference, that the founder of Christianity was possessed
of resources to which Sakya-muni laid no claim? These are
questions which were constantly presenting themselves to my
mind during my visit to Japan; but they are questions also which
24
Buddhists believe in the existence of a personal wicked spirit, named Mara,
whose object is to solicit men to evil.
IV. Buddhism And Christianity. 59

I heard asked more than once by men who had closely studied
the whole subject and were deeply interested in mission work.
But whatever the true answer to these questions be, of this we
may be certain: that by no reckless denunciation of a creed, of
the very elements of which the denouncer is content to be in
ignorance, will any victory of Christ's Cross be achieved. Be
the errors and shortcomings of Buddhism what they may,—and
we must, to be honest, pronounce them in our judgment to be
many and great,—it is, at least, a system of very great antiquity,
in whose strength thousands of millions of our fellow-creatures
have lived and died, both better and happier. Men cannot be
expected lightly to abandon their allegiance to such a faith as this,
nor would it be to their credit if they did; while in Christianity,
even when faithfully represented, there is very much calculated
to perplex and estrange one who has been trained in the tenets
of Buddhism. Moreover, however little he may agree with
them, the Buddhist holds that the religious convictions of others
are entitled to respect, and that their feelings should never be
wounded, if this can be avoided; it is only natural that he, in his [079]
turn, should be quickly alienated by unsympathetic treatment. I
was told by an English resident of long standing that infidelity
is largely on the increase in Japan, especially among the men
of the upper and middle classes; and that among the causes of
this was certainly to be reckoned the contemptuous and merely
destructive attitude towards Buddhism, with which some—let us
hope they are the very few—would think to serve the cause of
Jesus Christ. “Depend upon it,” it was said to me, “it is irreligion
that commonly succeeds to the vacant place, not Christianity.
Carlyle was right when he said, ‘Better even to believe a lie than
to believe nothing.’ ” And Buddhism is not all a lie!
“The perishing heathen.” Many of us have been revolted by
such expressions when heard at home. But it is only when one
is living in the midst of the people of whom they are spoken,
that it is possible to realize the full horror of their meaning.
 60 Religion in Japan

That men, women, and little children, who are distinguished by

so many good qualities,25 and who—with, as we believe, such
immeasurably inferior opportunities—present, in many points,
[080] so favourable a contrast to ourselves, should be condemned to
a future of hopeless and unending misery, for not believing that
of which, it may be, they have not even heard, or heard only in
[081] crude, distorted statement—can any man really think this, who
recognizes the providence of a Father of Love; nay, I will dare to
say, of a Deity of bare Justice? And yet language thus fearfully
misrepresenting the Faith of Christ is still used by some who are
called by His name; and that it is used is known by the people of

the old Daimios and two-sworded Samurai of Japan. ‘Give us an industrial

race, not idlers nor loungers, enervated by a luxurious climate, but men who
delight in toil, laborious husbandmen, persevering craftsmen, shrewd men of
business;’ and such are the Japanese agriculturists, who win two harvests a year
from their grateful soil—such are the handicraftsmen there, whose work is the
envy of Western lands; such are the merchants, who hold their own with us in
commerce. ‘Give us men of culture, with noble traditions, but not so wedded to
the past that they will not grasp the present and salute the future;’ and such are
the quick-witted, myriad-minded Japanese, who, with a marvellous power of
imitation, ever somehow contrive to engraft their own specialities upon those
of Western lands. Witness their Constitution, their Parliament, their 30,000
schools in active operation; witness their museums and hospitals; witness their
colleges and universities. ‘But,’ you would also have said, ‘give us a race
whose women are homespun and refined, courteous and winsome, not tottering
on tortured feet, nor immured in zenanas and harems, but who freely mingle
in social life, and adorn all they touch;’ and such, without controversy, are the
women of Japan. Above all, ‘give us a reverent and a religious people, who
yet are conscious that the religion of their fathers is unsatisfying and unreal,
and who are therefore ready to welcome the Christ of God;’ and such are the
thoughtful races of Japan.”
25
Cf. the following extract from the speech of the Bishop of Exeter at the
IV. Buddhism And Christianity. 61

Japan.26
But again. There is, I have observed, much in the scheme of
Christianity calculated to prove a stumbling-block to those who
have been educated in the doctrines of Buddhism. Let me proceed
to state some of the difficulties that would be experienced, some
of the objections that would be raised, by a Buddhist of a certain
amount of intellectual capacity, when confronted with the claims
of the Christian Faith.
Thus, (a) the Bible. “We are unable,” the Buddhist would
say, “to recognize in your Old and New Testaments an inspired
revelation. Why should we accept your Scriptures, with all
their alleged miracles and supernatural occurrences, when you [082]
reject ours? Besides, you are not agreed among yourselves as to
inspiration, authenticity, translation, interpretation. Some of you,
again, are for diffusing the Bible broadcast, others would keep it
in the background. Again, the Christian doctrine of immortality
appears to us entirely absent from the pages of the Old Testament;
while even the Jews, ‘God's chosen people,’ refuse to see in the

Annual Meeting of the C.M.S. 1892:—“If you had been asked to sketch an
ideal land, most suitable for Christian Missions, and when itself Christianized
more suited for evangelistic work among the nations of the far East, what, I
ask, would be the special characteristics of the land and people that you would
have desired? Perhaps, first, as Englishmen or Irishmen, you would have said,
‘Give us islands, inseparably and for ever united, give us islands which can
hold their sea-girt independence, and yet near enough to the mainland to exert
influence there.’ Such is Japan—the Land of the Rising Sun. ‘Give us a hardy
race, not untrained in war by land and sea; for a nation of soldiers, when won
for Christ, fights best under the banner of the Cross—for we are of the Church
militant here on earth: give us brave men;’ and such are the descendants of
26
See on this subject Study VI in the late Dean Plumptre's The Spirits in
Prison. The Christian can scarcely doubt that Gautama has, long ere this, fallen
at the feet of the Crucified,—knowing at last the Name whereby he has been
saved,—and has heard from the Divine lips the gracious approval, waiting
to be bestowed on all men of good-will, of whatever age, of whatever land,
who have “worked righteousness,” and have faithfully responded to whatever
measure of light and opportunity has been accorded them by God.
 62 Religion in Japan

New Testament the fulfilment of the Old.”

(b) The Old Testament. “We cannot regard the story of
Creation, as given in the Book of Genesis, as anything more
than a myth, containing a germ of truth. Neither can we accept,
as historically true, the story of the temptation in the Garden of
Eden. And yet, upon this is made to rest your whole theory of
the Fall, of Original Sin, and of Christian Redemption. As for
the history of the Jewish people, we can see in it nothing but one
long story of cruelty and bloodshed; how can a Creator, a God of
Love, be supposed to have permitted and approved such things?”
(c) The Incarnation. The whole doctrine of the Incarnation is
full of difficulty to the mind of an Oriental; not because of its
strangeness and novelty, but owing to his very familiarity with
stories of miraculous birth in his own legends.
(d) The Atonement. “Why should Jehovah require the sacrifice
of His own Son?” This is a difficulty that would present itself
[083] with especial force to the Buddhist; by whom all life is held
sacred, and whom such texts as “Without shedding of blood there
is no remission,” fill with repugnance. The explanation offered
by Buddhists themselves of the Christian doctrine of Atonement
is, that its origin must be sought in the fact that, from the most
ancient times, the idea of sacrifice, and of human sacrifice, has
existed; and this explanation they go on to apply to the Holy
Eucharist.
(e) Eternal Punishment. “How,” it is asked, “is your doctrine
of Everlasting Punishment consistent with that of the Remission
of Sins? And how, on the other hand, is not your scheme of
salvation ethically wrong, if it allows people, after sinning all
their lives, to be forgiven on their death-beds, that so they may
enter a Paradise, wherein good and bad alike have a place?”
(f) Faith and Belief. “What right have you to ask us to believe
anything that does not accord with science and experience, when
you have no better opportunities of knowing than we?”
(g) Christian Ethics. “Some of these—e.g. the doctrine of the
IV. Buddhism And Christianity. 63

Sermon on the Mount—we admit to be good; but they are not

peculiar to Christianity—our own teaching is very similar. In
other of your ethics, we see only an ignoble and selfish storing
of treasure; it appears to us that a good action, done for the sake
of reward or gain, must entirely lose its merit.” [084]
(h) Missionary Work. “We do not claim that our religion is the
only way of salvation, but readily recognize the good points in
other systems as well. You, on the contrary, appear to hold that
there is no other way but your own; and indeed it is only on this
supposition that we can understand the strenuous efforts which
you make to bring us to abandon our religion for yours.”27
It forms no part of my purpose to discuss these objections;
which, let me add, are merely representative, and by no means
exhaustive. With many of them we are already familiar at home;
and the Japanese, I would mention, are fully aware of the unbelief
prevalent in England, and well acquainted with its arguments.
Indeed, few English people, it is probable, have any idea how
closely their history and their literature are studied by nations
living at the other side of the globe, who are to them simply [085]
“the heathen.” Some, again, of the above objections would seem
to have been suggested by imperfect and distorted statements of
Christian truth. I have thought it worth while to refer to them, in
the hope that the fact of such questions being raised may serve
to impress upon us these two important points:—(i) the need of
27
I may observe that the language, not only of the New Testament, but of the
Athanasian Creed, was quoted to me in this connexion by a Buddhist priest
in Japan. I endeavoured to point out to him,—how far convincingly I cannot
say,—what at the present day at least is generally recognized amongst us; that
for the Christian Church to warn her own children, in terms the most emphatic
just because the most loving, against becoming entangled in the deadly errors
prevalent at the time when the Creed was drawn up, is a thing wholly distinct
from passing any sentence of eternal condemnation on, or, indeed, expressing
any opinion as to the future state of, such as live and die without ever having
been brought to a knowledge of the Faith. I added, of course, that any
acquaintance with the claims of Christianity is a responsibility for which we
believe all will have to give account.
 64 Religion in Japan

missionaries, at the present day, being not only men of holy and
devoted lives, but also fully equal in intellectual equipment and
culture to our home clergy; and (ii) the fallacy of trusting to the
circulation of the Bible, as an instrument of mission work, unless
it be accompanied—or rather preceded—by the teaching of the
living agent.
It must not, however, be imagined that the obstacles to the
progress of the Gospel in Japan are wholly, or even mainly,
of the character I have referred to. Another great hindrance is
most unquestionably presented in the large number of competing
sects and organizations, which, here as in other countries where
mission work is being carried on, address the people in the
name of Christianity. It is true that Buddhists themselves are
divided into numerous sects and schools; but between these
there can scarcely be said to be anything of party animosity
and strife. It will, indeed, be heard with satisfaction that the
feeling towards one another of the various Christian bodies in
[086] Japan is, speaking generally, free from bitterness; and that each
would appear desirous of doing its own work, in the wide field
before it, without interference with the efforts of others. “The
feeling here,” it was observed to me, “is nothing like so bad
as it is at home.”28 And as in England bigotry and suspicion
are steadily giving place to mutual toleration and respect, so
may we hope that, both in our colonies and abroad, counsels of
charity may more and more prevail. Still, at the best, so long as
Romanists, Orthodox, Anglicans, and Sectarians adhere to the
positions they at present occupy, so long must any real unity of
action be impossible; neither can peace be sought by surrender
or compromise of principle. But meanwhile there is, of course,
28
I doubt if the speaker, in his long absence from England, quite realized the
extent to which, of the last few years, bitterness and intolerance have effaced
themselves, at any rate within the limits of the Church of England; or was
aware of the marked improvement that is exhibited amongst us in dealing with
such matters of controversy as still remain.
IV. Buddhism And Christianity. 65

a lamentable want of compactness among the converts—as a

recent writer in the Japan Mail, remarked “they are more like
scattered groups of soldiers than an army”;—while the perplexity
occasioned to those we are seeking to convince is terrible and
great.
The following extract from Miss Bickersteth's recently-
published Japan as we saw it (Sampson Low, 1893), draws
an able contrast between the religious condition of Japan at
the present day and the position of Christianity in the time of [087]
St. Francis Xavier. “It was impossible not to be struck with
the present complication of religious matters in the country as
compared with the days of Xavier. Then, on the one side,
there was the Buddhist-Shinto creed, undermined by no Western
science, still powerful in its attraction for the popular mind,
and presenting a more or less solid resistance to the foreign
missionary; and, on the other, Christianity as represented by
Roman Catholicism, imperfect truly, but without a rival in
dogma or in ritual. Now the ranks of Buddhist-Shintoism are
hopelessly broken; the superstition of its votaries is exposed by
the strong light of modern science, and their enthusiasm too often
quenched in the deeper darkness of atheism. Christianity, though
present in much greater force than in the days of Xavier, is,
alas, not proportionately stronger. The divisions of Christendom
are nowhere more evident than in its foreign missions to an
intellectual people like the Japanese. The Greek, the Roman, the
Anglican churches, the endless ‘splits’ of Nonconformity, must
and do present to the Japanese mind a bewildering selection of
possibilities in religious truth.”
To refer to but one other hindrance to Christian progress in
Japan—which, although the last mentioned, is by no means the
least serious—I mean the estimate formed by the natives of the [088]
practical influence of the Christian religion upon English people
and upon other nations professing it. Applying to Christianity
the test of its results, they urge that it has, at any rate, only
 66 Religion in Japan

very partially succeeded. For instance, the Japanese comment

upon the fact that numbers of Englishmen in Japan never attend
the services of their Church; and that the lives of many of
them display a flagrant disregard for the principles which should
regulate the conduct of Christians. Without, however, denying
either the justice of these charges, or the reasonableness of the
mood which advances them, I think it may be urged with fairness
that the influence of Christianity on us as a nation cannot rightly
be estimated in this particular way. As a rule, the Englishman
can scarcely be said to appear to advantage abroad. Too often he
assumes an attitude of insolent superiority to the people whose
guest he is; while the position in which our countrymen are placed
in a country like Japan—coupled with the freedom from restraint,
so much greater than at home—has, for reasons which we need
not now enter into, its peculiar difficulties. Neither is it by any
means certain that a Japanese, paying a short visit to England,
will gather any just impression of what hold Christianity has on
us as a people. In all probability the range of his observations
[089] will be very limited and superficial; his wanderings will be
chiefly confined to the great thoroughfares of the principal cities;
while the circle of his acquaintance will, it is likely, be equally
restricted, and equally unrepresentative of English life. Not that,
in saying this, we would seek to excuse ourselves, or deny that
there is far more truth than we could wish, and than there ought
to be, in the charges brought against us. We would merely
submit that there is another side to the picture which ought not,
in fairness, to be overlooked. Admitting as we must, for instance,
the great prevalence of infidelity in our England of to-day, there
is yet to be placed over against it,—and may I not add, drawing
it out into the light?—the increased activity of the Church during
this last half-century, the remarkable power she has exhibited of
adapting herself to meet the needs of her times, the influence
for good that she has not only been in the past, but remains
at the present day, in the nation at large, and in thousands and
IV. Buddhism And Christianity. 67

thousands of English homes. “By their fruits ye shall know

them”: and Christianity must not and need not deprecate the
application of that test to herself. Only, we would urge, that is
not a fair judgment, which takes account only of what the Church
of Jesus Christ has failed to do, without recognizing also all that,
in the strength of her Divine Head, she has been permitted to
accomplish.

[090]
 V. Christianity In Japan.
I propose now to place before my readers some account of
the various Missions at work in Japan. I am enabled to do
this the better from having obtained, in the course of my
visit, a useful table, compiled by the Rev. H. Loomis, of
the American Bible Society, Yokohama, giving statistics of the
different organizations up to the beginning of the year 1893.
The plan adopted by Mr. Loomis is to arrange his statistics
into three classes: (1) “Protestant Missions,” (2) “Catholic
Missions,” and (3) “The Greek Church in Japan.” Under the head
of “Protestant Missions,” are included the Church of England, the
Episcopal Church of America, a large number of other American
denominations, the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, the Swiss
Evangelical Protestant Mission, the Society of Friends, U.S.A.,
Universalists, Unitarians and others; while under the head of
“Catholic Missions” we find particulars of only one branch of
the Holy Catholic Church—the Church of Rome. This is not
the arrangement I should have made myself; but, as a matter
[091] of convenience, we will follow it more or less closely.29 It
is right to add that of the thirty “Protestant Missions” seven
are grouped together under the title of the “Church of Christ
in Japan,” and work, it would appear, in general harmony on
29
In the course of a letter appearing in The Christian of April 20, 1893,
the Rev. H. Loomis writes, “Let the forty thousand Christians of Japan but
dedicate themselves to the welfare of the country in all its relations, and the
true new Japan will be founded.” But Mr. Loomis himself has placed the total
membership of “Protestant Missions” at 35,500, of the Orthodox Church at
20,300, and of the Roman Church at 44,800. To which sixty thousand of these
does Mr. Loomis—presumably—refuse the title of “Christian”? and are we
justified in acting thus towards any who believe in the Holy Trinity, and have
accepted Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the World, Very God and Very Man?
V. Christianity In Japan. 69

Presbyterian principles. In the same way, the American Episcopal

Church, the Church of England—represented by both the Church
Missionary Society and the Society for the Propagation of
the Gospel—and the Mission of Wyckliffe College, Canada,
are associated together; leaving some twenty sects working
independently.30
Before, however, proceeding to an examination of Mr. Loomis'
table, we must briefly observe the past history of Christianity
in Japan. This dates from the arrival of St. Francis Xavier
in 1549, seven years after the country was discovered by the
Portuguese. For some while the missionaries were permitted [092]
to prosecute their work without molestation, and considerable
progress was being effected. A deputation of native priests
appealed to the Tycoon, but their remonstrances were unheeded.
With thirty-five religious sects already represented in Japan,
the country, he answered, might very well find room for a
thirty-sixth religion, viz. Christianity. Presently, however,
the Jesuits being followed by the Dominicans and Franciscans,
mutual factions broke out; while, elated by their success, some
of the missionaries began to adopt an attitude of high-handed
intolerance and interference. For the first time in their history,
the Japanese found themselves entangled in all the turmoil and
animosity of religious strife. In 1587 the first persecution of
the Christians took place, but apparently soon subsided. The
warning, however, was disregarded; and the fatal policy of
arrogance and oppression was still persisted in. Native priests
were put to death; Buddhist monasteries were destroyed; the
Inquisition was set up. In 1614 we find a Japanese embassy
despatched to Rome, in order, so it is said, to make an act of
submission to the spiritual supremacy of the Pope. Meanwhile
the Dutch, jealous of the position that was being gained by
the Portuguese traders, accused the Roman propagandists to the
30
Even Mr. Loomis' list does not appear to be exhaustive! The “Plymouth
Brethren,” e.g., are certainly represented at Tokio.
 70 Religion in Japan

Japanese authorities of aiming at a territorial ascendency; and

[093] that intrigues were actually being carried on by the Jesuits for
the overthrow of the Shogun there seems little doubt. In the
massacre which ensued several thousand Christians were put
to death. “Their unflinching devotion compels our admiration.
One may search the grim history of early Christian martyrology
without finding anything to surpass the heroism of the Roman
Catholic Martyrs of Japan. Burnt on stakes made of crosses,
torn limb from limb, buried alive, they yet refused to recant.
We are told of one Jesuit priest, Christopher Ferreya, who, after
enduring horrible tortures, was at length hung by his feet in
such a way that his head was buried in a hole in the ground
from which air and light were excluded. His right-hand was
left loose that he might make the sign of recantation. He hung
for four hours, and then made the sign; whereupon, with a rare
refinement of cruelty, he was appointed the president of the
tribunal before which Christians were brought for condemnation.
Then, after a lull, in 1637 thousands of Christians rose in armed
rebellion. After two months they were forced to surrender,
and 37,000 were slaughtered. Stern decrees were then issued,
forbidding the admission of any foreign vessel; an exception
being made in favour of the Chinese and Dutch. For more than
two hundred years, notice-boards stood beside highways, ferries,
and mountain-passes, containing, among other prohibitions, the
[094] following:—‘So long as the sun shall warm the earth, let no
Christian be so bold as to come to Japan; and let all know that
the King of Spain himself, or the Christians' God, or the great
God of all, if he violate this commandment, shall pay for it with
his head.’ For centuries the name ‘Christian’ would blanch the
cheek and pale the lip. Christianity was remembered only as an
awful scar on the national annals. But in the Southern Island the
smouldering fire was never quite extinguished; while, as recently
V. Christianity In Japan. 71

as 1829, six men and an old woman were crucified at Osaka.”31

At the time of the closing of the country to foreigners, an
exception was made of the one port of Nagasaki, the scene of
the final great massacre, when thousands of native Christians
were hurled from a rocky islet into the sea. Here, however, as
has been already mentioned, the Dutch were the only Europeans
permitted to trade; they being closely confined to the small island
of Deshima. In addition to having pay a heavy rental, they were
subjected to the closest espionage, not being suffered, under
any circumstances, to pass beyond the narrow limits assigned to
them. Several times in each year they were summoned before
the authorities, and required to tread under foot the Crucifix, and
other symbols of the Catholic Faith. Several of the trampling- [095]
boards employed on these occasions are still to be seen at the
Ueno Museum, Tokio. The Dutch, it would appear, quieted any
qualms of conscience by regarding their action as amounting to
an abnegation, not of Christianity, but of Romanism. It was not
until thirty years ago that intercourse between Japan and other
nations began to be resumed; and that, after a short period of ill-
feeling and suspicion, circumstances were brought about which
enabled both Roman Catholics and other Christians to work
without hindrance. In 1872 the interdict against Christianity was
formally removed; and the release from imprisonment and return
from banishment of hundreds of Christians took place.
Such is the past history of Christianity in Japan. It has,
indeed, its elements of glorious and heroic martyrdom, but it has
elements, also, on which few of us can look back without a deep
sense of shame. Let us trust that by this time the people of Japan
have come to understand that the conflict of their forefathers
was not with Christianity, but rather with Christians who had
forgotten “what spirit they were of.”
Turning now to the condition of Christian Missions at the
31
The above is an abridgement of a passage in the Conquests of the Cross
(Messrs. Cassell & Co.).
 72 Religion in Japan

present day, it seems right to commence with those of the

Roman Church. Not only has the Roman Church in Japan a
[096] history which extends over three hundred years, but it reckons
at the present time considerably more than double the number
of adherents claimed by any other Christian body. The Roman
influence has been particularly successful in the Goto Islands,
in the neighbourhood of Nagasaki, where the devoted labours
of the missionaries have won over a considerable portion of the
population.
To come to the statistics. These give one Archbishop, three
Bishops, seventy-eight missionary, and fifteen native priests,
with over 300 (native) minor clergy and catechists; 185 churches
and chapels, with 244 congregations. Seventy-six sisters of the
Order of St. Paul de Chartres are stationed in Japan, and there are
further nineteen native novices. Other statistics include seventeen
orphanages, with an average of over 100 children; twenty
Industrial Schools; eight Nursing establishments; a Hospital
for the Aged; and a Hospital for Lepers, with sixty-two inmates,
situated at Gotemba, at the foot of Fuji-san. The number of infant
baptisms for 1892 is given as, children of Christian parents 1,337,
and Heathen parents 1,166; these, with 2,806 adult baptisms, and
forty-five “conversions of heretics,” bringing the total of baptisms
and conversions for the year to 5,354. The work that is being
done by the Roman missionaries is commended on all sides; a
prominent feature in their methods being a consideration for,
and adaptation to, the habits and prejudices of the people, that
[097] greatly facilitate their progress, especially among the poor of
the country districts. The whole number of Roman Catholics in
Japan amounts, as has been said already, to about 45,000.
I pass on to speak of the condition of the Greek, or Orthodox
Russian, Church in Japan; whose relations with the Church of
England are here, as elsewhere, of a friendly though not, of
course, of a very intimate character. Its head-quarters are at
Tokio, where an imposing Cathedral, situated on high ground
V. Christianity In Japan. 73

and in a central position, has recently been erected. Unfortunately

our information in this case is very incomplete; but assuming the
correctness of the numbers before us, one is struck by the paucity
of missionary clergy, viz. one bishop and three priests. To
these must be added eighteen native clergy, and 128 unordained
teachers and workers. There are in all 219 congregations. The
number of adult baptisms in 1892 is given as 952; and the
total membership at the present time exceeds 20,000. Scanty as
these details are, they indicate much activity and progress. The
proximity of Russian territory to Japan—Vladivostock being only
some 700 miles N. of Nagasaki—is, of course, a circumstance
highly favourable to the Orthodox Mission.
Coming now to the various bodies arranged by Mr. Loomis
under the title of “Protestant,” we will take first the Nippon
Sei Kokwai, or Church of Japan, which is the name given to [098]
the union formed by the Missions of the American Episcopal
Church, the Church of England, and the English Church in
Canada. It is, however, only fair to say that the total number of
adherents of the Nippon Sei Kokwai are greatly less than half
the number claimed by the Presbyterian Churches, as also by
the Churches of the American Board's Mission. The Missions,
then, of the American Church and of the Church of England
are to a great extent worked independently of each other, each
being under its own Episcopal control; but at the same time,
the two Churches enjoy, of course, full intercommunion, and
are practically one,—often taking counsel together, and dividing
the various districts by mutual arrangement in such a way as
to make the best use of their resources. To the American
Church belongs the honour of being the first body to commence
Christian work in Japan in the present century; the Rev. C. M.
Williams, afterwards Bishop for Japan and China, establishing
himself at Tokio in 1859, and proceeding at once to translate
portions of the Bible and Prayer-Book, hold services for the
benefit of English-speaking people, and set on foot schemes for
 74 Religion in Japan

the study of our language. There are now twelve missionary

clergy at work, and twenty-one female missionaries; together
with seven native clergy and nineteen unordained workers and
[099] preachers. Of the twenty-seven organized churches only one
is wholly self-supporting. The number of baptisms in 1892
was, adults 208, children fifty-eight; while the total membership
amounts to over 1,400, with a like number of children receiving
instruction in Sunday Schools. In 1873, Dr. Henry Laming was
appointed missionary physician, and arrived at Osaka, where he
has done and is still doing an excellent work. A good deal of
secular educational work is also carried on in connexion with the
mission.

Sketch Map of Japan.

We next come to the work of the Church Missionary Society,
which commenced operations in Japan in 1869. The Society has
now twenty-two missionary and seven native clergy engaged;
forty-two female missionaries, and sixty unordained preachers.
V. Christianity In Japan. 75

Of its sixteen organized churches one is self-supporting. The

number of baptisms in 1892 was, adults 267, children 121; and
the total membership at the present time amounts to 2,126, with
600 children in Sunday Schools.
The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel commenced
work in 1873; and has its headquarters at Tokio. The work of
the two Community Missions, founded by Bishop Bickersteth in
1887, is apparently included in the statistics assigned to the S. P.
G. in the table before us. At St. Andrew's University Mission,
five clergy—all of whom are University Graduates,—live in
community with several native students preparing for Ordination, [100]
while at St. Hilda's Mission, a staff of English ladies is engaged in
work, which includes schools, a hospital, and a home for mission
women. Both these Missions are supported by the “Guild of St.
Paul,”—a society which has branches all over England,—whose
occasional papers are full of interesting information. Several
other priests of the S. P. G. are engaged at various mission
stations; and these, with seven native ministers, make in all some
nineteen clergy at work in Japan. The adult baptisms in 1892
numbered 151, and the membership at the present time is given
as 784.
The Wyckliffe College Mission was sent out by the Canadian
Church in 1888. At present it provides only three clergy, who
are engaged at Nagoya, a flourishing commercial city situated
about midway between Kyoto and Tokio. Bishop Bickersteth,
however, in his recent Pastoral Letter, refers to its work in
hopeful and appreciative terms.
The total number of adherents of the Nippon Sei Kokwai will
thus be seen to be about 4,300 (with upwards of 2,000 Sunday
Scholars); and of these the Church of England can claim barely
3,000. At the same time evidence is by no means lacking that
the work is being carried on upon thoroughly sound principles
and along right lines; and there are many reasons for believing
that, with adequate resources, a future awaits it, under God, far [101]
 76 Religion in Japan

exceeding the calculations that might be suggested by its present

numerical strength. Some of the readers of these pages may,
possibly, be in greater sympathy with the general position of the
S. P. G. than of the C. M. S; but no consideration of this sort
should allow us to be inappreciative of the splendid work which
the C. M. S. has done in the past, and is still doing in non-Christian
countries. Its chief centre in Japan is at Osaka, another huge
commercial city, some twenty miles from Kyoto where there is a
considerable European settlement. Bishop Bickersteth—as does
also the American Bishop, Dr. Williams32 —resides at Tokio, the
capital; where the services at St. Andrew's Church, adjoining the
Episcopal residence, are such as may well gladden the heart of an
English Churchman, who finds himself 11,000 miles from home.
They include, I may mention, a Daily Celebration. A striking
feature of the Nippon Sei Kokwai is presented in its Biennial
Synods, three, if not four, of which have already been held. The
Synods are composed of clergy and laity, every congregation of
[102] twenty persons being entitled to send its representative; and they
indicate a stage of organization rarely, if ever, attained to by so
youthful a Church. In a word, what is being aimed at throughout
is not to Europeanize, but to Christianize; not to form a “branch
of the Church of England,” but to establish, on those lines of
Catholic and Apostolic Christianity which we believe the Church
of England faithfully represents, a Japanese Church, which may
be committed, as soon as ever circumstances allow, entirely into
the hands of the Japanese themselves.
The Bishop's Pastoral Letter to his Clergy (Advent 1892)
treats, among other matters, of the Marriage Law of the Church,

32
In the course of the present year (1893), the Rev. J. McKim has been
raised to the American Episcopate in Japan; Dr. Williams continuing to reside
at Tokio. It is also announced that two new Anglican Bishops are to be
consecrated for the Islands of Kyushu and Yezo respectively. One of these is
the Rev. H. Evington, Examining Chaplain to Bishop Bickersteth, who has
been connected with the C. M. S. Mission to Japan since 1874.
V. Christianity In Japan. 77

of Old Testament Criticism,—in the course of his comments upon

which, he makes the quotation, “The central object of our Faith is
not the Bible, but our Lord”—and of the Bishop of Lincoln's case.
It exhibits throughout a tone of earnest Catholicity, of sanctified
prudence, and of Apostolic charity. The Bishop's observations on
the confirmation by the Privy Council of the Lambeth Judgment
will be read with satisfaction by many:—
“The principle of allowed variety in matters of ritual has now
been authoritatively recognized. Such recognition is essential to
the welfare of a great and living Church in our day. Among
other good results which may follow from the decision, I cannot
but hope will be the liberation of the energies and interests of a [103]
great and historic party, hitherto far too closely confined within
the boundaries of our own country, for wider and more extended
work, above all in eastern countries. Its own position is now
legally secured. Any outstanding questions of ritual could be
speedily settled by the application to them of the same principles
which are embodied in the recent judgments. This is so plain
that probably no such decisions will be challenged. May it not
then be hoped that there will shortly be a marked cessation of
controversy at home, as for some years past we are told there has
been in our sister Church in the United States, and coincidently a
far more determined effort on the part of the whole Church than
has yet been known, inspired and sustained by the Holy Spirit of
Truth, to win the East to the Faith of Christ?”
We come next to the Church of Christ in Japan, another
amalgamation of religious bodies; comprising, in this case, the
Presbyterian Church of the United States, two or three other
American sects, and the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
By far the greater number of denominations engaged in Japan
are of American origin; and this is, practically, an American
work; the Scotch Presbyterians being represented by only two
missionaries with a single station, and only joining the Mission
in 1875—fifteen years after two of the American bodies had [104]
 78 Religion in Japan

commenced their work. The number of male missionaries in

connexion with this movement amounts to fifty-two; and to
these must be added fifty-three native ministers, 100 female
missionaries, and over 100 lay preachers and workers. Of
the seventy-four organized churches no less than one-third are
wholly self-supporting. Baptisms in 1892 were, adults 789,
children 100; and the total present membership amounts to
11,190, with over 2,000 children in Sunday Schools. The fact that
the Presbyterians of Japan have recently adopted the Apostles'
Creed as their Confession of Faith, in place of the formularies
with which their bodies have hitherto been associated, is hardly
the occasion for satisfaction that would at first sight appear; the
course in question being, I understand, to some extent due to the
prevalence of views similar to those held by a large number of the
Congregationalists of Japan, to which I shall presently refer. The
work of the Presbyterians however, must be accounted among
the most successful efforts for the evangelization of the country;
while they have had from the beginning the advantage of being
supported by men of national reputation and position.
We come now to the Kumi-ai Churches in connexion with
the American Board's Mission; i.e. the Congregationalists.
This work owes its foundation to a Japanese gentleman,—a
[105] Mr. Neesima,—who was converted to Christianity, whilst on
a visit to America. Its head-quarters are at Kyoto. Starting
in 1869—several years after the Presbyterians, their relations
with whom are of a cordial character,—the Congregationalists
very closely approach them in numerical strength. The Mission
is worked by twenty-six missionary and twenty-eight native
ministers; with fifty-seven female missionaries and 100 lay
agents. Of ninety-two organized churches one half are self-
supporting; a large proportion of the converts belonging to the
middle and upper classes. 1,096 adults were baptized in 1892 and
sixty-six children. Total adherents 10,700, with upwards of 6,000
children in Sunday Schools. In connexion with this Mission is
V. Christianity In Japan. 79

a large college, in which the greater number of the students are

Christians, and many of these candidates for the ministry; and
mention must also be made of two hospitals under the care of
missionary physicians. The above figures, without doubt, bear
witness to great energy on the part of the Congregationalist body;
and it is with regret that we find ourselves compelled to regard
them with somewhat modified satisfaction.
“Speaking generally, it cannot be too clearly felt that systems
which do not definitely teach the truths contained in the Apostolic
and Nicene Creeds, whatever benefits may accrue to individuals
from the moral teaching which they impart, are not merely [106]
negative in tendency and results, but retard the progress of the
Kingdom of Christ in Eastern lands.” Such are the weighty
words of Bishop Bickersteth,33 the occasion which drew them
forth being the adoption by the Congregationalists of Japan of
the following Declaration of Belief:—“We believe (i) in the One
God, (ii) in Jesus Christ who came on earth to save sinners, (iii)
in the Holy Spirit from Whom we receive new life, (iv) in the
Bible which shews us the way of salvation, and (v) in Baptism
and the Holy Supper, in punishments and rewards given by God
according to our merits, in everlasting life if we are righteous,
and in the Resurrection of the Dead.” Several of the clauses in
this statement are open to grave objection; but the fact that the
second clause was deliberately adopted in place of the words, “in
Jesus Christ, the Only-Begotten Son of God, Who suffered and
died to atone for the sins of the world”—an alteration which was
heartily welcomed by the Unitarians of Japan—is full of painful
significance. The Bishop, while expressing his thankfulness
that there are large numbers in the Congregationalist body, who
have no share in the prevailing scepticism, points out that in
dealing with others, with whom this is not the case, nothing
can be gained by any attempt at co-operation. “At such times a

33
Pastoral Letter to his Clergy, Advent, 1892.
 80 Religion in Japan

[107] severe exclusiveness may be the truest exhibition of a heartfelt

sympathy.”
To the remaining Missions at work in Japan we can only very
briefly refer. The American Methodist Episcopal Church has
eighteen missionaries and twenty-nine native ministers; fifty-
eight churches; and a total following of nearly 4,000, exclusive
of children in Sunday Schools. The Canadian Methodists
number over 1,800 adults; and the Baptist Missionary Union
(U.S.A.) about 1,300. Two other American sects place their
total at 500 each. The German Swiss Protestants number 240;
the “Universalists” seventy-eight; and the Society of Friends
(U.S.A.) forty-three. The Scandinavian Church, whose mission
has only recently commenced its work, has seven clergy engaged;
and the Unitarians are represented by two ministers—my only
reason for mentioning these last-named bodies together being
that no further particulars of either are to hand.
But it is time to be bringing these remarks to a conclusion. We
may, then, declare the total number in Japan of those professing
Christianity in any form—[I should, by the way, have mentioned
that the number of male converts would appear to exceed by
about one-third the number of women,]—to be not more than
100,000; while the entire population of the country is estimated
[108] at from thirty-eight to forty millions. In other words, not
more than one person in every 400 can be said to be, in any
sense, a Christian. I emphasize this fact, not because I think it
discouraging, but because it seems becoming the fashion for the
cause of Christianity in Japan to be spoken of as already won.
That Japan has still great changes and developments to undergo
in the near future scarcely admits of question. “The nation
is working out its spiritual redemption;” and, as Mr. Loomis
well says in his letter to The Christian before referred to, “As
Japanese society advances, there will be all the more a place for
Christian influence. The social problems of the people can only
find solution through religion.” We may well believe and hope
V. Christianity In Japan. 81

that, as time goes on, the true faith of Jesus Christ and of His
Church will more and more prevail. So, too, we may rejoice that
the foundations have been laid, and that some real and steady
progress has been effected; we may hope that more is, even
now, being accomplished by the leaven of influence than can at
present find place in tables and statistics. And yet, as we look the
position boldly in the face, we must see that elements to occasion
anxiety are by no means lacking; and especially must we see how
much more remains to be done that has already been achieved.
The possibility of some form of Christianity being adopted as the
national religion, is a matter as to the desirability of which it is
extremely difficult to express an opinion, until the proposition [109]
assumes a more definite shape than is likely for some time to be
the case.

That both Christianity and Christians are subjected to

searching criticism at the hands of the more educated natives
we have already seen; while, from time to time, tidings are
received of bitter opposition encountered by those engaged in the
work of evangelization among the poor of the country districts.
Moreover, in that spirit of accommodation to which we have
several times referred, as forming so striking a feature of the
system, Buddhism appears now to be striving to maintain its
position in Japan, by a re-statement of its doctrines in such terms
as to place itself in accordance with the modern systems of
philosophy, which have found such favour and acceptance with
the educated classes. At the same time, there is, without doubt,
a widespread persuasion throughout Japan—in many cases most
reluctantly arrived at—that the former ascendency of Buddhism
has for ever passed away. “A dull apathy as regards religion
has settled down upon the educated classes of Japan. The gods
of heathenism have crumbled to nothing before modern science
and civilization, and the glimmer of light and truth to which they
 82 Religion in Japan

pointed has gone as well.”34 Sometimes, again, Christianity is

spoken of by Buddhists in terms which encourage us to hope
[110] that there are those who, while they have not as yet taken the
decisive step, are still “not far from the kingdom of God.” Take,
for examples, these words of a Mr. Nakanishi. “It is the glory
of mankind that Jesus lived. Much that Christ taught will never
decay. Did Christ's teaching come from man, or from above
man? Every word, every phrase, of Christ should influence us.
In the Four Gospels, the noblest and wisest morality of the world
appears. So simple is it, so easily understood and applied. ‘Love
God and love man,’ as central principles, suffice to regenerate
society and lead men to heaven. Christ's character and teachings
stand for ever.”
With a brief reference to one or two further points suggested
by Mr. Loomis' table, I will bring this, my last chapter, to
a close. One of these is the distinction he draws—and it
is a distinction quite worth drawing—between married and
unmarried missionaries. Of course, the Roman clergy are all
unmarried, as are also the four missionaries of the Orthodox
Church; but when we come to the “Protestant Missions,” we
find the numbers of married and unmarried clergy to be 205
and thirty-seven respectively. Indeed, with the exception of the
Church of England, the Scandinavian Alliance, and the American
Methodist Episcopal Church, which supply six each, there is no
mission with more than two unmarried clergy, and several have
[111] not even one. Now it is certain that this is not the way in which
great mission work has been done in the past; but is the newer
way better than the old? Beyond observing that the presence of
female missionaries is in a very special degree needed in Japan,
be they the wives of the clergy or not, I will not presume to
answer that question myself; but I may, perhaps, be allowed to
record the opinion, emphatically expressed to me, of one who

34
Occasional Paper, Guild of St. Paul, Oct. 1893.
V. Christianity In Japan. 83

has lived in the East for a great many years, and is by no means in
sympathy with the compulsory celibacy of the Roman priesthood.
“It is,” he remarked, “far too hastily assumed that the fact of the
married missionary usually bringing another valuable ally to the
work sufficiently determines the question. But I am convinced
that, speaking generally, it is to the unmarried missionary that
wider opportunities of usefulness are extended. Nor is it merely
that his movements are entirely free and unhampered—that he
is exempt from domestic obligations and anxieties—that he has
more time for study—and that he is thrown more in the society
of his brother clergy. As a man's children begin to grow up,
educational and other considerations in connexion with these,
urge upon him the desirability of returning home, with the result
that, just as he has begun to master the difficulties of language,
and to enter into the thought and habits of the people, his place
is taken by a tyro, who, however well-meaning, cannot but have [112]
all his experience to gain.” No doubt, there is plenty of room
for both married and unmarried clergy in the mission field; but
the great preponderance of the married in the case before us
may well serve to suggest the consideration:—Might not more
of that large and possibly increasing number of unmarried clergy
in England be drawn to take part in a work of such fascinating
interest—“a work,” if I may once more quote the words of our
Bishop in Japan, “that must be done at once if it is to be done at
all.”
Another point that can scarcely fail to strike us as we examine
Mr. Loomis' statistics, is the large number of “dismissals
and exclusions” made by those bodies which supply information
under this head, and amounting in some cases to several hundreds
in a year. That such measures are not resorted to without grave
reason may be assumed, and that some exercise of discipline is
especially necessary in dealing with a young and nascent church
admits of no dispute. There is indeed every reason to hope that
by far the greater number of converts are actuated by an intense
 84 Religion in Japan

sincerity, and evidence of this is afforded in the self-sacrifice to

which they, in many ways, readily submit for the Faith they have
embraced. But, at the same time, it is probable that the numbers
in question indicate an even larger proportion of “failures,” than
[113] is the case with mission work generally; and that they point not
only to losses through “back-sliding,” but to many instances of
insincerity on the part of those professing conversion. It has been
remarked that it does not belong to the Japanese temperament to
“take things au grand serieux;” and this characteristic extends
to matters of religion. The young fellow, for instance, who, for
some reason or another, thinks it “worth his while” to conform
to Christianity for a time, will have the very smallest scruples
about doing so; and that, with a semblance of earnestness that
will baffle, at any rate for some time, the careful scrutiny to
which candidates are rightly subjected by most, if not all, of the
missionary bodies. The missionaries, I fear, are often imposed on;
and yet—anything, surely, is better than being over suspicious
and severe. After all, what we want to do is to show these
different nations to whom we go, that Christ and His Church,
and we, His members, do really care for them, alike in things
temporal and eternal. Our Faith, to be really preached, needs to
be boldly, hopefully practised. And especially in Japan, where
the only idea that such a phrase as “eternal life” would commonly
suggest is that of a series of painful and endless transmigrations,
must Christianity be ready to prove herself man's friend in the
things of this life, if she would be looked to with confidence for
the things that lie beyond.

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