Connecticut western news., 1880-06-16

every sound of busy life. The stiffness is op- presslve and grand in the extreme you seem to De passing through the aisles of vast | thedral, the immense pines and shinoka trees towering hundreds of feet above, and making sober twilight even in the brightest day. The temple is built upon an artificial plain, made by building immense walls on three sides, and the peak of the mountain is leveled of, making plain of about one acre in ex- l tent. There are three flights of granite steps | or stairs about 50 feet wide, and about 100 steps in each flight, leading up to the temple from the foot of the walls. It looks like an immense fortification. The gateway is about half a mile from the temple, and is & large structure. In a niche, or alcove on each side of the entrance, stands an immense image of | a man carved in wood, about fifteen feet high The work is well executed, and the images are called Sargin and Digin, meaning the guardl- an of the right and left. They stand with one hand uphfted, as though about to strike, and were supposed in former times, to keep out unworthy persons. They are nearly covered with paper pellets or spit balls. It is supposed | that a persons wish will be granted or real ized if the spit ball ,swhich they throw.) sticks to the image Everything around is as still as the grave, save the mournful sound of large bell, struck at long intervals by priest on | duty. These bells different from ours and of very deep soft tone. They are not swung | to ring. but struck with wooden beam, max ing duller and softer sound than & metal hammer. You can hear the bell long dis | tance notwithstanding. There is large tea house about half way up the stairs near the plateau on which the temple stands, and some people spend the two warm months of summer | there, it being much cooler than down on the plain. It is very interesting place. It shows the state of civilization of this people eight hundred years back. The beautiful carving and ornamentation in wood and copper adorning the temple are wonderful to see, when we remember the state of almost every other country in the world at that time. The temples more recently built, even those now building, are not more beautiful than the older ones. These people seem to have brought to this country high state of civilization. for they certainly have not made any very great progress in two or three thousand years, if you judge them as other nations, are judged, by their skill in architecture and science. There are very pretty flowers around the temple, a kind of Japonica which are now in bloom, and in the least exposed places bloom all winter. The flower is single, with large cluster of bright yellow stamins in the centre. The leaves of the flowers are some pink or light red, and some white. l was sitting on the steps of the Golden Ball temple, (which is a favorite resort of mine, the views from there being so grand) one day, and Japanese wo- man who had been decorating & monument with flowers, gave me spray of Japonica. The country is full of plants of the Japonica tribe, the tea plant being one of them. I wish you could see the mountains they are peaks sep arated from each other by immense ravines, and the mountains which tower up so high along the coast are but the foot hills to the mountains in the centre of the island. In the ravines where there are running streams, the whole fall and power is utilized for rice mills, where the hulls of the rice are pounded off. In one ravine which explored last Friday, the path is so steep they carry the rice up and down on cows backs.
 | Oranges are getting ripe enough to eat, but are quite sour yet. This country is looking like it does at home the first of September. The leaves are changing color, and the noun tains which are not covered with pines begin to look brown. still they tell me that this pleasant weather lasts until after Christmas. The nights are cool, but the days are warm enough to carry an umbrella to keep off the , sun. 1 never go out without my umbrella, fol if the sun does not shine brightly there is sure to be little shower. l walked out Saturday afternoon in company with my interpreter
 we went about six miles to the Negota temple It Is an immense place. The temple itself is very large, and the grounds are very extensive, with large trees lakes, and streams of water. There was festival being held there, and thousands of Japs were present. In the grounds you would see numerous picnic par ties with their provision out upon the ground, they sitting around enjoying themselves. and that is one of the chief enjoyments of the Japanese. The wrestlers are almost entirely naked, they have strong bandage around their loins and between their legs, otherwise naked. After going through some curious an- tics they squat down in front of each other, their faces almost together, and then they sit like two roosters about to fight. Suddenly they spring up and grab each other, and il possible, get hold oi the bandage. If they each get good hold, the contest is very se- were, for they are all strong men trained for the purpose, but if only one gets hold he soon throws the other out of the ring. These wrest. ers travel about the country as the shows do at home.
 There is 8 greatly mistaken idea which abounds at home, and in all Christian coun- tries about the eligion of the Japanese and Chinese. The missionaries and others send home an image, and that is shown to the peo- pie as the God they worship. but that is mis- take in great measure. It is symbol with them, the same as the cross with us, and the Virgin and relics with the Romanists. Buddha was great teacher of religion and morality, and his image is set up in all their temples, and his memory, or the remembrance of him, is sacred, but his image seems to be but a sign, and the great, good, and overruling spirit of which he taught, is worshiped through him, and the remembrance of him, and the code of morals which he gave them, and which he spent his life in teaching, are still taught by their priests and teachers. The Sciatu Buddhists pay but little attention punishments are in this life. We attribute the civilization of the Christian nation to the Bible, but here is very old nation who have attained high state of civilization from the teachings of Buddha, and in his morals the Japanese will compare favorably with England or the United States of America, and far ex- ceed in morality of the Roman Catholic coun- tries. The foreigners living among them, English German, French, Irish and American are disgrace to them, and far more immoral in every respect than the Japanese.
 I saw Japanese funeral yesterday. There were five priests one sat in a chair, and the others stood around him. The bier upon which the body was, was placed upon pe- destal between that and the priests was a table upon which were vases of artificial flow CTS, and chalice containing something that looked like sugar. While the priests chanted & funeral service, the relatives and friends marched in procession between the priests and the table. Each took little of the sugar, put some in their mouth, and sprin kled some on the table, winding their rosaries around their fingers in peculiar manner made a short prayer with their head bowed down to- wards the dead man. The whole ceremony was very dignified and solemn. Immediately after the ceremony the body was taken up to l the burning house and burned to ashes. think there is little doubt that the Romanists l got their idea of rosary from the Buddhists. | This sect seem to have great veneration for their dead friends. Their ashes is inclosed in | the base of monuments, which are in most cases very neat and pretty. The few cemete- res are kept in perfect order, flowers and green branches are put around the bul ial places almost every day, and kind of incense burned by the monument. In some cases 1 there is lamp kept burning most all the 1 time. The funeral service was conducted by the sound of bell. held in the hand of one of | the priests, (which forgot to mention.) He | struck upon the bell with & small iron rod, about the size of a lead pencil. The chanting would gradually die away until you could hear no sound, and then the priest would tap on 1 the bell, and the chant swell out loud and clear again. It was very pretty and solemn, but the burning I did not like so well.