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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 1906)
'- - rrf4' .yp; ?i J- thoro arc higher schools supported by funds given by formor feudal lords or tlioao states. The education of girls Is not neglected, al though an a rulo the girls do not go as far in tholr sludloB as the boys. There arc a number of normal schools and seventy-nine nigh schools for girls, besides tho Peeresses' school and sev eral in-lvato Institutions. Tho Woman's univcr Hlty of Tokyo, situated near Wasoda college and under tho patronage of Count Okuma, has had 'a phenomenal career. Established only five years ago, it has now an enrollment of somo 'seven hundred, and is putting up several new buildings. , There are also a number of missionary 'schools and colleges. The Presbyterians support three boarding schools for boys and eloven for girls, besides (on day schools; the total attend ance at these schools is nearly twenty-three hun dred. The Congrcgatlonalists have a number of schools, tho largest, Doshisha college at Kyoto, being tho largest and most influential Christian institution In Japan. I had the pleasure of visit ing both this college and Kyoto university. Tho Methodists have eighteen boarding schools and nineteen day schools with a total at tendance of nearly live thousand. Their college at Kobe is a vory promising institution. Tho Baptists have a theological seminary, an academy, flvo boarding schools for girls and eight day schools, with a total attenaance of nearly a thousand. Tho Episcopal church has also taken an important part in educational work, while the Catholics (who were first on the ground) havo over sixty seminaries, schools and orphanages, with an attendance of somo six tnousand. Tho Japanese government supports more than twenty-five thousand primary schools, attended by more than five million boys ana girls; it sup ports more than two hundred and fifty middle schools with an attendance of nearly one hun dred thousand. While less than two per cent of tho primary students enter tho middle schools, mor than ten per cent of the middle school stu dents enter tho higher colleges. Although the figures given above give some idea of tho interest takon in education, they do not furnish an adequate conception of the en thusiasm with which a large number of these students pursue their studies. Nearly fifty young men called upon mo or wrote to me asking to be taken to America that they might continue their studies. Many of the leading men in Japan today are graduates of American or European colleges. Tho physicians have siiown a prefer ence for German schools, whilo to engineers and politicians our universities have ueen more at tractive. A pnrt of the friendliness felt toward loroigners can be traced to the ravors shown Japanese boys who left homo in search of knowl edge. Marquis Ito, one of the lirst of these owes much to an elder of tho Presoyterian church w " , ln wh08 llomo llG 1IVG1 a stu lent, and the marquis has over since been mak- thms UrnS WlUlneSS l a 5 Chris Marquis Ito's ca3e is not cxcentionnl nil over Japan are men who ho d in gmteful re membrance Americans and Europeans to whom they are indebted for assistance I met an an wLthG miblish0 of an influential pape? S twenty years ago, at the ago ot sixteen went to sea and in a shipwreck was cast upon one o? the islands in the south Pimm rr!! i tllG saw r rra accomplish what slolmn n women' could centurv wk L5 , s accomplished in half a SSheW'wTS thoestTwfi!1 '? the - and with the odiica t tan? 1 J J lGh she now hus people now enjoy a advantases which her lolsmTi berSe So?0?? TSh As a matter of f.lct wA lho State religion, hardly be called a roiiBVfSr'ir Sliintolsm can no priesthood and Si1 Ims no creed, really ancestor worslUr, l? 5 n,opa,s- xt time Immemorial it In;lni?C0l,,ef (lown om mortality, for Jo aice tra , bliof . m ll' nnd tows are nnld n Vi ' Ilts aro invoked .shrines that do e countrv tllQ nerless c countiy, These shrines are The Commoner. not usually in temples although sometimes Shin toism and Buddhism have been mixed together and ono temple employed for both shrines; as a rule, however, the Shinto shrine is in somo secluded spot on the "top of a hill or on a mountain Bide where a bit of natural scenery awakens a spirit of reverence. A gate of sim ple but beautiful design is placed at the point where the pathway to the shrine departs from the main road. We had read of these Shinto gates and had seen pictures of them, but we first saw one at Honolulu, itself the gateway to the Orient. No description can convey to the reader the im pression which this gate makes upon the traveler; its outlines aro so graceful and yet so strong that it seems an appropriate portal to a holy, place. The moral code of Confucius has also influ enced the thought of Japan. About fourteen hundred years ago the Budd hist religion was introduced into Japan by Chi nese priests, and it spread rapidly throughout the islands. Its temples were imposing, its cere monies impressive and the garb of its priests costly and elaborate. It did not root out Shin toism, it simply overwhelmed and absorbed it. The Buddhist temples, though not as popular as they once were, are still visited by millions of faithful believers and aro objects of interest to tho tourist. Most of them are old, one at Nara having been built about the year 700. It is in such an excellent state of preservation that one can hardly believe that it has stood the storms of twelve centuries. In the center of the temple is an image of Buddha and on either side the flgure of a huge warrior. There is also in this temple a God of War to which the Japanese were wont to pay their vows before going to battle. The devout Buddhist, approaching the imago or the founder of his religion, bows and mutters a prayer half audibly and, throwing his mite in a box or on the floor before the shrine, departs. There is usually a bell, or sometimes only a chain, hang ing above the place where prayers are said and the suppliant swings a rope against Che bell or shakes the chain before his prayer and claps his hands two or three times at its close. We in quired about the bell and received two answers: One, that it was to attract the attention of the god and the other that it was to awaken the con science of the one about to present his petition. Near the temple at Nara stands an ugly image which never fails to attract the attention of the visitor. It is literally covered with paper wads which have been thrown against It by worshipers at the temple in tho belief that their prayers would bo answered if the wads adhered to the image. There is also at Nara a huge bell, almost as old as the temple. This bell is about thirteen feet high, nine feet in diameter and eight inches thick. It hangs in a pagoda quite near the ground and when struck upon the side by a swinging log gives forth a sound of wonderful depth and richness. It was rung for us and as its mellow tones reverberated along the hills we were awed by the thought that a thousand years before our Declaration of Independence was writ ten, eight hundred years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, yes,, even seven hun dred years before America was discovered this old bell was calling people to worship. ? Th,e0 is at Nara an immense bronze imago of Buddha, even larger than the famous one at Kamokura, though not considered so finely pro portioned. The smaller one is forty-nine feet in height and nearly one hundred feet ln circum ference (both represent Buddha seated tailor fashion, on a lotus flower) and the larger one is almost twice as large as the smaller one. The lantern of stone or bronze seems to be as nee oBsary an adjunct to a Buddhist temple as the Shinto gate is to that form of religion. A Nam there are twenty-nine hundred stone lanterns of various sizes along tho walks that lead from one temple to another, and they are found in abun dance in other cities. The Korean lions are also aahuBnMMBl,c Wrship' Se animals wi ought in bronze or carved in stone guarding all temple doors They are not as ferocious in ai pearance as the Numidian lion ana they illus- nn,1,? ? laK' 0ne has his mou open ad the other has his mouth tightly shut and thev to "!' y e so gentle St they "vm'come old ami young, ami eat from the hand ' chosen , n a foXe! rS VOQTJME i NUMBER 6 mountains and stately trees . .adding to the at tractiveness of the place. There is a shaded avenue twenty-five miles long leading from tho lowlands to the temple and it is said that when other feudal lords were bringing stone lanterns, one poor daimio, unable to make so large a gift, offered to plant little trees along the way; these now three hundred years old, furnish a grateful shade for the pilgrims who visit this Mecca, and the poor tree planter is now known as "The Wise Daimio who went into partnership with Nature." The temple at Nikko is only about three centuries old and its decorations are the rich est and most costly to be founa in Japan. As the Buddhists and Shintoists worship together here, the temple is kept in repair by the govern ment and one can see the best in architecture and ornamentation that the temples exhibit. So famous is this temple and its environment that the Japanese have a phrase which when trans lated means, "You can not say beautiful (kekko) until you have seen Nikko." The most modern of the large temples is that at Kyoto. It was erected about thirty years ago on the site of one which haU burned. It is not so large as the original, but is a reproduction in other respects and is one of the thirty-three temples to which pilgrimages are made. Some estimate can be formed of the ardor of those who worship here when it is known that the immense timbers used in the construction of the building were dragged through tne streets and lifted into place by cables made of human hair contributed by Japanese -women for that purpose. One of these cables, nearly three inches in diam eter and several hundred feet long, is still kept in a room adjacent to the temple, the others having been destroyed by fire. Japanese women pride themselves upon their hair and arrange it with great care what a poem or piety what a strong sacrifice in these myriad strands of mingled black and grey! All of the Buddhist temples stand within a walled enclosure, entered through a gorgeous gate which contrasts sharply with the simplicity of the Shinto gate. The Buddhist gate has a roof resembling a temple roof and is often orna mented With animals, birds and fantastic figures carved in wood. As an illustration of the super stition to be found among the ignorant, the fol lowing incident is given: An American, Mr. Fred erick W. Home, who lives at Yokohama and who has built up a large importing business in Ame rican machinery, has a handsome new home modelled after a Buddhist temple. At one gable he put a devil's head. The servants of the man living next door threatened to leave because the devil looked over into that yard. But they were quieted when the neighbor put two brass cannon on his roof and pointed them at the devil's head. The story seems too absurd to believe, but we were shown the cannons when we called at Mr. Home's. But Buddhism is losing its hold upon the Japanese; its temples are not crowded as they once were; its ceremonies do not interest and its teachings do not satisfy the new generation. Christianity will appeal more and more to the educated element of the Japanese population. Al ready favor is taking the place or toleration, as toleration thirty years ago supplanted persecu tion. The Catholics, who have been the pioneers of the Cross in so many lands, brought Chris tianity to Japan through Portuguese missionaries about the middle of the sixteenth century. The success of the Jesuits was so pronounced that in thirty years they estimated tneir converts at one hundred and fifty thousand. In fact, the ad herents to Christianity became so numerous and so influential that the Shogun, Hideyoshi, began to fear for his temporal power and, having abso lute authority, he expelled the foreigners, closed the ports and established the policy of non-intercourse with other nationsa policy which was nna??dUn n, W WhQU tllG WaS opened to Christian missionaries it was found that some ten thousand men and women were still worshipping according to the forms of the 210C urch, although for two and a half centuries there had been no communication be tween them and the church outside. Even after the opening of the country to foreign commerce SSe wiS SOm I)ersecutIon of Christians and several thousand were imprisoned. But in 1873 Sw??nPS rre SQt, at liberfcy and the exiles SiS? i ? 4return; since that time there has nvnlnl8?10 i0118 freedom and many men piominent in official life have been devoted Chris ia"B,w rho most noted of these native Christians Sif!!'n Mta0h w,ho :f0' times chosen speaker of the popular 'branch of the Japanese congress or diet. He was an elder in the Pres- u i!n,in, Urch nnw whe,? ,!t Wfls sssested that it would advance his political chances to resign H tJU- JV