The St. Johns herald., 1890-03-06
A BUDDHIST CEREMONY.
Services for the Reposo of Those Who Per
 fshed on the Oneida.

A
 Services for the Reposo of Those Who Per
 ished on the Oneida. A peculiar ceremony was performed on May 4. 1889, at the Ikegami tem- pie, Omori, in connection with the bones recovered from the sunken man-of-war Oneida, wrecked nine teen years ago in collision with tac Pacific and Oriental steamer Bombay The idea originated with Japanese firm of Wreckers, who purchased the wreck of the Oneida They recently concluded operations for the recover of salvage. During this work thez found a number of bones. These rem nauts of what had once been human life were first taken to the American Consulate and thence removed to the hospital, where they at present re main. They will probably be interre. in the plot in the Yokohama cemetery, where memorial stands over the ra- mains taken from the Oneida sooD after the collision.
 1 It was to these bones that the servic, bore relation. The ceremony may not accord with American or European ideas, but the source from which i emanated and the sympathetic spiTi, which conceived it must command the purest admiration 1t was the reccg- milton of estimable sentiment mani fested which prompted large number Of foreigners to attend as the perform ance of the rites at the ancient temple of Daishi-in. The promotion Of tho ceremony by the Japanese and the for eign presence accorded was warm evil dence Of the absence of national dis functions and of the possession Of con- mendable mutual religious tolerance. The sympathy was manifes 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 c. R. Great house, United States Consul-General, Admiral Belknap, twenty American naval officers, American men, of-war's men, and the French and Russian Coasuls-General.
 When tho guests had seated them selves in the beautiful temple seventy six priests entered, intoning a weird ob,r4 LO 4bo oooCr,yc,,i,,,oo+ of ro4i,y1 instruments, and afterward formed around the altar, where incense was burned and on which offerings Of bread were placed. At intervals flow CTS were also cast on the altar by the chief priests. This portion Of the service occupied about fifty minutes. At iUs conclusion Amenomori Nobun- ari Guently delivered an oratiOn in English, explaining the significance of the ceremony and the beliefs of the Buddhist.
 After tho address the priests filed out from the temple and conducted the foreigners to 8 point in the grounds where there had been erected a tablet standing thirty feet high. on which wero inscribed several Buddhist texts, the date when the Oneida wa5 lost, and the names of thoso who won't 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 beon 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 bag of sweetmeats, and then they departed. ed.-Japan Ga zette.