The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1878-03-23
The Biggest Statue in the World.

lhloto, Japan, Cor. San francisco Bulletin.l
We are now in the heart of Japan
The city was for many centuries tn,
Mikado's Capital, and until ten year.
ago, when the overthrow of the Shozur
left the Capital of that ruler dc fact,
open, its greater advantages led tn,
Mikado and his Cabinet to occupy it
This old Capital, at one time with a pop
ulatlon said TO have been 2,000,000 il
now reduced to 100000. | rose early
and was glad to find clear morning
| walked out at side door of the inn
and found myself in one of the ap
proaches to a Shinto temple. | wa
almost under one of the granite touli, o.
monuments. This one is about sixt,
feet high, and four stone lanterns at tn,
| corners of the square are of great size
and older than any | have yet seen
just as the sun was rising above tn,
eastern hill, | watched the men ant
women as they came in front of the
open temple door and threw their offer
ings in. Then clapping their hands they
fold them, bow their heads in devo
ton, and go away to the duties of tn,
day. For a moment the temple wa,
deserted, and man came out with hi
face turned full to the rising sun-tht
temple faced the south. He wen
through the same devotional exercise,
that | had just seen, but he remained
longer bowed with his head to the
ground, and exhibited more fervor.
We have visited several temples sit
uated on the hill-sdes, on the east side
of the plain on which the city il
spread out. The oldest and largest
known as Chionin, belongs to the
Joudo sect. tits very large and measur
ing in the front over two hun
dred feet. This sect never paint theil
temples, and this one presented dreary
aspect of weather-stained wood. Its age
is given as two hundred and seventy
years only, and it occupies the site of an
older one destroyed by fire. Stone step,
lead to the bell-tower, where hangs the
great bell, said to be the largest in
Japan. 1t is sounded on the 18th and
25th of each month. 1t is suspended
about seven feet above ground. The metal
at its rim is eleven inches in thickness
We saw another bell, in size little less
near the site of another temple, resting
on granite supports, on the ground neal
where it fell. The bridge leading to q
mountain temple is of great beauty. II
has two arches, and each arch double
one inverted under the other, SO that
the passage forms circles. The whole
including the balustrade, is of cut
granite. In strong contrast with their
religious establishments is the architec.
ture of the town. The streets are mar.
row and unpaved, the houses small
and squalid, and poverty is written
everywhere.
We have Just returned from visit tc
Nara, one of the old Capitals of the
Empire, distant about thirty-six miles
We drove at a brisk trot for an houI
before break occurred in the line OF
houses, when we crossed branch of the
Vii River by bridge about thousand
feet long. We entered long street of
what was once, thousand years ago, a
great city. Away up the slope of the
hill it is covered, wherever we went, with
walls and pavements rs indestructible
as the hill itself Granite stairs lead
into the wild forest, which now covers
the site of vast temples of wood-broad
avenues, whose rocky pavement was
worn smooth by the feet of devout
pilgrims before Christ was born.
Here was erected 1900 years ago, the
largest bronze figure the world has ever
known. 1t weighs four hundred and
fifty tons, and the third temple now
covers it without apparent injury to the
immense statue. We went around it,
but could not form an estimate of its
size. Our minister at Tokia told me
that it was sixty feet from the seat of
LOTUS leaves to the top of its head, and
that man could climb through the
nostril. An officer is said to have taken
a chip of the casting, and an analysis of
it gave five hundred pounds of gold in
the alloy. A great halo of gilded wood
sets off the dark features as they are re-
vealed in the shadows of the roof.
To day we rode to Lake Bewa, distant
about seven miles, and our route lay
along the great Tokadia. The road is
about twenty feet wide, well macadam-
lied, with the inevitable walled ditch on
either side. 1t is great throughfare
from Osaka to Toxic, and from the lake
to Kioto it was continuous stream of
travel, many cattle, and few horses
laden with goods of every description.
We entered the town at the south end
of the lake, and were taken to a flight of
stone stairs to climb to temple that
overlooked the lake. We assembled
them, found ourselves ON the plateau
excavated in the side of the mountain,
and turned to look upon the largest lake
in Japan. 1t is sixty miles in length,
but narrow at the south end. 1t is sur
rounded by rich alluvial lands. Our
guide next led us to see bell, which,
he told us, had not been rung in twelve
hundred years, and pointed to small
wooden building at the head of a fight
of wide stone steps. We looked in
through wooden bars, we'll worn by Gu
rious visitors, and saw supported on a
strong wooden table a bell about four
feet high, with bad crack, which
seemed to have been caused by fire.
1t had ON it few plain figures as orna-
nents. Our guide informed us that ii
was seventeen hundred years old, and
that it had hung in an ancient Shinto
temple that once stood where it now
lies. For five hundred years its tones
foated over the placid lake, and called
the people along its shores to worship
Then came a catastrophe, and twelve
centuries have passed.