Morning journal and courier., 1883-12-22
NIKKo, Japan, Nov. ]

the Sh0guns-The Religions of Japan Splendid Temples-The Gongs and Bells.
 NIKKo, Japan, Nov. 12. To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER: Passing out of the Hall of the Three Bud
 dhas passed splendid cylindrical copper
 column forty-two feet high. one of six in
 the island, and found myself in the main avenue. i was anxious to visit the tombs of
 the Shoguns, fyeyasu and Iyemitsu, which I
 had heard described as the mos. grandly inn posing private sepulchres in the world; so I
 pressed on toward the historical spot. Pass ing under granite to,ii or Shinto archwey erected by means of marvellous engineering in 1618, found myself in court full of novel monuments. On the left wes i've storied pagoda 1O4 feet high and eighteen feet square, which received half-hour's study. Everything was solid and imposing, but clad with that modest simplicity which is characteristic of Japanese taste in all mat ters
 Washing my hands in holy water, I rs. moved my shoes again, preparatory to enter ing the Niyo Mon, or Gate of the Two Kings
 This gate and the walls of the enclosure be- yord contained some of the most elaborate carvings and gildings in the empire. Within were granite lanterns five or six feet high, and bronze candelabrs, the gifts of various native and foreign princes who wanted to
 pay their tributes to the memory of Japan's
 greatest rulers Iyeyasu, the first Tycoon or Shogun, and Iyemitsu, the third. 1 sup.
 pose it would be customary to insert at this
 point mild treatise on the political past of Japan, tracing the rise and fall of the Sho- gunate,--the explosion of that strange ic- tion of spiritual and temporal sovereignty | cooperating in 8 dual government. The l reader is referred for this to any one of a l dozen works which handle the subject ade | Quately. The present article has simply to do with the anomalous pomp attaching to
 the final resting places of these two distin- | guished men, a pomp in keeping with the style of living affected by the Shoguns, but
 in sharp contrast with the simplicity which
 has always been characteristic of the Mika- | dos
 Turning to the right I paused 8 moment | before the temple for the sacred dances. On | a polished lacquered floor sat 8 priestess
 robed in white from her head-dress to her
 stockings She was painted ard powdered l to 8 painful extent, and wore the most
 mournful expression, l think, that ever | saw. It WAS cold, and the lacquered floor
 must have been anything but comfortable. |
 all alone day after day, with no one to speak
 to her from morning till night,-a most un- | wholesome life, I am sure. She coughed pitiably, and looked the picture of physical
 and mental misery. I tossed the equivalent | of one cent and eight mills upon the floor, and wearily rising she went through with the
 sacred dance. Now, I thought, I shall sec | some startling pirouetting,-a most unreli- eious performance. My inference was in-
 correct. The exercise through which she 1 went was as mournfully solemn as the little priestess herself. Every movement was dig | nifty of an order more spiritual than l had
 thought possible. Rowing her head several | times dejectedIy, she poised a rod of sacred | bells above it, the while waving 8 delicate | white Japanese fan in her other hand. Then | she com menced 8 slow but graceful march l about the room in 8 small circle, the polished | floor acting as perfect mirror to reAect her l every gesture. The exercise lasted only @ 1 minute. Every motion was slow, measured
 and weighty with dignity. There was DO ac
 compartment save the jingling of the bells. | and even that ceased as with bowed head and | closed eyes the little priestess sunk slowly in | a heap upon the floor again.
 l Strangely impressed with the exhibition l hurried on to the foot of magnificent flight | of stone steps which lead mp the hillside. Sleepy looking priests passed us through the
 massive gate and we began the ascent This 1 masonry was worthy of no less admiration
 than the temple appointments. On either
 side was retaining wall. about waist-high | within and twice as high on the outer edges, | owing to the elevation of the steps proper
 from the ground. The whole was overgrown
 with moss of the brightest green, which 1 lent, with the aid of the soughing orypto- l merias that lowered on either side to a dizzy
 height, an impression of melancholy gran
 deur to the remarkable scene which I have
 never experienced while visiting any other
 locality. There were about two hundred steps in all i; but the occasional landings and turns made the ascent seem doubly long. At
 the top were more gates, torii, an oratory, | and lastly costume vault containing all the costly robes armor and swords belonging to | Iyeyasu during his whole life. This vault
 was sealed and so was not permitted to gaze | upon it's gorgeous though time-eaten con-
 tents. Through massive bronze gate,
 which is locked to all tourists, could now see the magnificent tomb. It was bronze 1 urn, rendered hght-colored by the liberal ad-
 mixture of gold, of the size of barrel in
 Rirth but not so deep, surmounted by mas | sive canopy of the same light bronze. The
 whole sepulchre rested upon spacious gran
 ite foundation, surrounded by stone balus- l trade.
 l Here in this urn in sitting attitude the