Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1889-08-21
A BUDDHIST CEREMONY.
Services for the Rcposs of Those Who Per.
ishod on the Ouefdu

BUDDHIST CEREMONY.
Services for the Rcpose of Those Who Per.
ished on the Oneida.
A peculiar ceremony was performed
on May 4, 1889, at the Ikegami tenn
pie, Omori, in connection with the
bones recovered from the sunken
man-of-war Oneida, wrecked nine
teen years ago in collision with the
Pacific and Oriental steamer Bomb bay.
The idea originated with Japanese
firm of wreckers, who purchased the
wreck of the Oneida. They recently
concluded operations for the recovery
of salvage. During this work they
found number of bones. These rem
nants of what had once been human
life were first taken to the American
Consulate aud thence removed to the
hospital, where they at present re-
main. They will probably be Inferred
in the plot in the Yokohama cemetery,
where memorial stands over the re-
mains taken from the Oneida soon
after the collision.
1t was to these bones that the service
bore relation. The ceremony may
not accord with American or European
ideas, but the source from which it
emanated and the sympathetic spirit
which conceived it must command the
purest admiration. 1t was the recog-
milton of estimable sentiment mani
tested which prompted a large number
of foreigners to attend at the perform
ance of the rites at the ancient temple
of Daishi-in. The promotion of the
ceremony by the Japanese and the for
eign presence accorded was warm evil
dence of the absence of national dis
tlnctions and of the possession of COM
mendable mutual religious tolerance.
The sympathy was mantle sted by
modes curious to Western canons of
religious observance, but the spirit
which inspired it is one of the finer
feelings none too common in the world
to-day.
Included in the party of one hun
dred and thirty Or one hundred and
forty who left Yokohama BY train to
attend the ceremony were G. R Great
house, United States Consul-General,
Admiral Belknap, twenty American
naval officers, American men, of-war's
men, and the French and Russian
Consuls-Genera
When the guests had seated them
selves in the beautiful temple seventy
six priests entered, intoning a weird
chant to the accompaniment of native
instruments, and afterward formed
around the altar, where incense was
burned and on which offerings of
bread were placed. At intervals flow
ers were also cast on the altar by the
chief priests. This portion of the
service occupied about fifty minutes.
At its conclusion Amenomori Nobun-
ari fuently delivered an Grafton in
English, explaining the significance
of the ceremony and the beliefs of the
Buddhist.
After the address the priests filed
out from the temple and conducted the
foreigners to a point in the grounds
where there had been erected tablet
standing thirty feet high. on which
were inscribed several Buddhist texts,
the date when the Oneida was lost,
and the names of those who went down
with her. This tablet was dressed in
beautiful floral framework. Here
the priests again formed round, burned
incense and offered up prayers
for those in whose memory the monu-
ment had been erected. This ended
the ceremony. The foreigners were
next escorted through the gardens,
taken through the temple, shown its
rich and costly relics of times and
deeds which have passed forever, each
presented with a bag of sweetmeats,
and then they departed. Japan Ca
zette.>