Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan Volume I Part 26

'Even the little hoys who, in playing, erected here and there heaps of sand, with the intention of dedicating them as Stupas to the Ginas,- they have all of them reached enlightenment.'--Saddharma Pundarika, c.

II. v. 81 (Kern's translation), 'Sacred Books of the East,' vol. xxi.

3 The original Jizo has been identified by Orientalists with the Sanscrit Ks.h.i.+tegarbha; as Professor Chamberlain observes, the resemblance in sound between the names Jizo and Jesus 'is quite fortuitous.' But in j.a.pan Jizo has become totally transformed: he may justly be called the most j.a.panese of all j.a.panese divinities. According to the curious old Buddhist book, Sai no Kawara Kuchi zu sams no den, the whole Sai-no-Kawara legend originated in j.a.pan, and was first written by the priest Kuya Shonin, in the sixth year of the period called TenKei, in the reign of the Emperor Shuyaku, who died in the year 946. To Kuya was revealed, in the village of Sai-in, near Kyoto, during a night pa.s.sed by the dry bed of the neighbouring river, Sai-no-Kawa (said to be the modern Serikawa), the condition of child-souls in the Meido. (Such is the legend in the book; but Professor Chamberlain has shown that the name Sai-no-Kawara, as now written, signifies 'The Dry Bed of the River of Souls,' and modern j.a.panese faith places that river in the Meido.) Whatever be the true history of the myth, it is certainly j.a.panese; and the conception of Jizo as the lover and playfellow of dead children belongs to j.a.pan. There are many other popular forms of Jizo, one of the most common being that Koyasu-Jizo to whom pregnant women pray. There are but few roads in j.a.pan upon which statues of Jizo may not be seen; for he is also the patron of pilgrims.

4 Except those who have never married.

5 In Sanscrit, 'Yama-Raja.' But the Indian conception has been totally transformed by j.a.panese Buddhism.

6 Funeral customs, as well as the beliefs connected with them, vary considerably in different parts of j.a.pan. Those of the eastern provinces differ from those of the western and southern. The old practice of placing articles of value in the coffin--such as the metal mirror formerly buried with a woman, or the sword buried with a man of the Samurai caste--has become almost obsolete. But the custom of putting money in the coffin still prevails: in Izumo the amount is always six rin, and these are called Rokudo-kane, or 'The Money for the Six Roads.'

7 Literally 'Western Capital,'--modern name of Kyoto, ancient residence of the emperors. The name 'Tokyo,' on the other hand, signifies 'Eastern Capital.'

8 These first ten lines of the original will ill.u.s.trate the measure of the wasan:

Kore wa konoyo no koto narazu, s.h.i.+de no yamaji no suso no naru, Sai-no-Kawara no monogatari Kiku ni tsuketemo aware nari Futatsu-ya, mitsu-ya, yotsu, itsutsu,

To nimo taranu midorigo ga Sai-no-Kawara ni atsumari te, Chichi kois.h.i.+! haha kois.h.i.+!

Kois.h.i.+! kois.h.i.+! to naku koe wa Konoyo no koe towa ko to kawari..

Notes for Chapter Four

1 Yane, 'roof'; shobu, 'sweet-flag' (Acorus calamus).

2 At the time this paper was written, nearly three years ago, I had not seen the mighty bells at Kyoto and at Nara.

The largest bell in j.a.pan is suspended in the grounds of the grand Jodo temple of Chion-in, at Kyoto. Visitors are not allowed to sound it. It was east in 1633. It weighs seventy-four tons, and requires, they say, twenty-five men to ring it properly. Next in size ranks the h.e.l.l of the Daibutsu temple in Kyoto, which visitors are allowed to ring on payment of a small sum. It was cast in 1615, and weighs sixty-three tons. The wonderful bell of Todaiji at Nara, although ranking only third, is perhaps the most interesting of all. It is thirteen feet six inches high, and nine feet in diameter; and its inferiority to the Kyoto bells is not in visible dimensions so much as in weight and thickness. It weighs thirty-seven tons. It was cast in 733, and is therefore one thousand one hundred and sixty years old. Visitors pay one cent to sound it once.

3 'In Sanscrit, Avalokitesvara. The j.a.panese Kwannon, or Kwanze-on, is identical in origin with the Chinese virgin-G.o.ddess Kwanyin adopted by Buddhism as an incarnation of the Indian Avalokitesvara. (See Eitel's Handbook of Chinese Buddhism.) But the j.a.panese Kwan-non has lost all Chinese characteristics,--has become artistically an idealisation of all that is sweet and beautiful in the woman of j.a.pan.

4 Let the reader consult Mitford's admirable Tales of Old j.a.pan for the full meaning of the term 'Ronin.

5 There is a delicious j.a.panese proverb, the full humour of which is only to be appreciated by one familiar with the artistic representations of the divinities referred to: Karutoki no Jizo-gao, Nasutoki no Emma- gao.

'Borrowing-time, the face of Jizo; Repaying-time, the face of Emma.'

6 This old legend has peculiar interest as an example of the efforts made by Buddhism to absorb the s.h.i.+nto divinities, as it had already absorbed those of India and of China. These efforts were, to a great extent, successful prior to the disestablishment of Buddhism and the revival of s.h.i.+nto as the State religion. But in Izumo, and other parts of western j.a.pan, s.h.i.+nto has always remained dominant, and has even appropriated and amalgamated much belonging to Buddhism.

7 In Sanscrit 'Hariti'--Karitei-Bo is the j.a.panese name for one form of Kis.h.i.+bojin.

Notes for Chapter Five

1 It is related in the same book that Ananda having asked the Buddha how came Mokenren's mother to suffer in the Gakido, the Teacher replied that in a previous incarnation she had refused, through cupidity, to feed certain visiting priests.

2 A deity of good fortune

Notes for Chapter Six

1 The period in which only deities existed.

2 Hyakusho, a peasant, husbandman. The two Chinese characters forming the word signify respectively, 'a hundred' (hyaku), and 'family name'

(sei). One might be tempted to infer that the appellation is almost equivalent to our phrase, 'their name is legion.' And a j.a.panese friend a.s.sures me that the inference would not be far wrong. Anciently the peasants had no family name; each was known by his personal appellation, coupled with the name of his lord as possessor or ruler. Thus a hundred peasants on one estate would all be known by the name of their master.

3 This custom of praying for the souls of animals is by no means general. But I have seen in the western provinces several burials of domestic animals at which such prayers were said. After the earth was filled in, some incense-rods were lighted above the grave in each instance, and the prayers were repeated in a whisper. A friend in the capital sends me the following curious information: 'At the Eko-in temple in Tokyo prayers are offered up every morning for the souls of certain animals whose ihai [mortuary tablets] are preserved in the building. A fee of thirty sen will procure burial in the temple-ground and a short service for any small domestic pet.' Doubtless similar temples exist elsewhere. Certainly no one capable of affection for our dumb friends and servants can mock these gentle customs.

4 Why six Jizo instead of five or three or any other number, the reader may ask. I myself asked the question many times before receiving any satisfactory reply. Perhaps the following legend affords the most satisfactory explanation:

According to the Book Taijo-Hos.h.i.+-mingyo-nenbutsu-den, Jizo-Bosatsu was a woman ten thousand ko (kalpas) before this era, and became filled with desire to convert all living beings of the Six Worlds and the Four Births. And by virtue of the Supernatural Powers she multiplied herself and simultaneously appeared in all the Rokussho or Six States of Sentient Existence at once, namely in the Jigoku, Gaki, Chikusho, Shura, Ningen, Tenjo, and converted the dwellers thereof. (A friend insists that in order to have done this Jizo must first have become a man.)

Among the many names of Jizo, such as 'The Never Slumbering,' 'The Dragon-Praiser,' 'The s.h.i.+ning King,' 'Diamond-of-Pity,' I find the significant appellation of 'The Countless Bodied.'

5 Since this sketch was written, I have seen the Bon-odori in many different parts of j.a.pan; but I have never witnessed exactly the same kind of dance. Indeed, I would judge from my experiences in Izumo, in Oki, in Tottori, in Hoki, in Bingo, and elsewhere, that the Bonodori is not danced in the same way in any two provinces. Not only do the motions and gestures vary according to locality, but also the airs of the songs sung--and this even when the words are the same. In some places the measure is slow and solemn; in others it is rapid and merry, and characterised by a queer jerky swing, impossible to describe. But everywhere both the motion and the melody are curious and pleasing enough to fascinate the spectator for hours. Certainly these primitive dances are of far greater interest than the performances of geisha.

Although Buddhism may have utilised them and influenced them, they are beyond doubt incomparably older than Buddhism.

Notes for Chapter Seven

1 Thick solid sliding shutters of unpainted wood, which in j.a.panese houses serve both as shutters and doors.

2 Tanabiku.

3 Ama-terasu-oho-mi-Kami literally signifies 'the Heaven-s.h.i.+ning Great- August-Divinity.' (See Professor Chamberlain's translation of the Kojiki.)

4 'The G.o.ds who do harm are to be appeased, so that they may not punish those who have offended them.' Such are the words of the great s.h.i.+nto teacher, Hirata, as translated by Mr. Satow in his article, ~ The Revival of Pure s.h.i.+ntau.

5 Machi, a stiff piece of pasteboard or other material sewn into the waist of the hakama at the back, so as to keep the folds of the garment perpendicular and neat-looking.

6 Kush-no-ki-Matsuhira-Inari-Daimyojin.

7 From an English composition by one of my j.a.panese pupils.

8 Rin, one tenth of one cent. A small round copper coin with a square hole in the middle.

9 An inn where soba is sold.

10 According to the mythology of the Kojiki the Moon-Deity is a male divinity. But the common people know nothing of the Kojiki, written in an archaic j.a.panese which only the learned can read; and they address the moon as O-Tsuki-San, or 'Lady Moon,' just as the old Greek idyllists did.

Notes for Chapter Eight

1 The most ancient book extant in the archaic tongue of j.a.pan. It is the most sacred scripture of s.h.i.+nto. It has been admirably translated, with copious notes and commentaries, by Professor Basil Hall Chamberlain, of Tokyo.