. Things seen in Japan . into, as we have observed,means to him a love of country and thehighest form of patriotism, and in abjuringthis he would consider himself guilty of an 203 I Town Life in Japan unforgivable act of treachery. AmongstWestern nations one religion is often upper-most, and antagonistic to another, perhaps,practised in a less degree in the samecountry. In Japan there is no such an-tagonism between Shintoism and temples of both are often found sideby side, and ministered to by the samepriests. It is for much the same reason that theteachings of Confucius have thei
. Things seen in Japan . into, as we have observed,means to him a love of country and thehighest form of patriotism, and in abjuringthis he would consider himself guilty of an 203 I Town Life in Japan unforgivable act of treachery. AmongstWestern nations one religion is often upper-most, and antagonistic to another, perhaps,practised in a less degree in the samecountry. In Japan there is no such an-tagonism between Shintoism and temples of both are often found sideby side, and ministered to by the samepriests. It is for much the same reason that theteachings of Confucius have their hold uponthe Japanese mind, because of the fact thatthey are not antagonistic to the nativefaith. Confucianism supplied the code ofmorals with which Shintdism is not con-cerned, and it received an added welcomefrom the fact that it served in a measure toconfirm the idea of reverence for ancestors,the aged, and the dead, which was alreadyso integral a feature of the native faith. But whilst Buddhism is everywhere ap-204. Srt/eo Lofyiixh, Llideriijood &• U. Loiuion ■ \. MARVELLOUS SCULPT! RKS or HUDDHIST TP:MPLE OF is the courtyard of the temple. The platform at the left is for the sacred Town Life in Japan parent as the faith of the common folk,they have never in their hearts in professingit abjured, or intended to abjure, one jot ortittle of Shinto faith. Buddhism securedadoption only by taking into its ownpantheon the whole of the Shinto gods, andby representing itself as only a variety ofthe faith which already existed, and was sobound up with the national life. The soulof Japan, the Yamato damashii, remained,and remains, unalterable. The native festi-vals of the Japanese, in which their soulsdelighted, were converted into Buddhistsaints days, and by many the Buddhistreligion was adopted. But where it departedfrom the spirit which had been bred by theShinto faith, it failed utterly to gain a foot-hold in the hearts or minds of the Buddhism came
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