Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-04-06
49, OPENING OF A MISSION IN JAPAN $50

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ana ms church has frequently raised
IN one year from half a million to a
Illllloh dollars II IL called the Nlshi
ilohBWandi temple, and IL Is wonder
IN lhe richness Of its interior decora.
uon' II has hundreds of rooms walled
WIN gold leaf and II contains hundreds
OF screens painted By the Iapanese
masters famous lcft-handcd artist
OF Japan, Jingoro. did most Of the cary-
ing Wllhln II. and IL rs ccled in some
pioces with black and gold lacquer. and
us trimmings are Of wonderfully carved
orass' II has q bell almost as big
as small seaside cottage and thls
Is rung by big log Of wood, which IL
hung outside OF the bell tu rome ant
can he pulled back 80 that Il VIII strlkc
the bell ON the rebound II has one
audience room WnIch takes nearly .00o
yardS OF mating 70 cover IL. aud the
orass lanterns which hang from the
great ratters of this room are each az
Dlg as hogshead. This church is
one of the most liberal Of the Budd.
hists. and during a talk ! had with the
priest ! found his views We're very
much the same as those Of Unitarian
christianity lie was not In favor
OF monopoli2ing the religions of Japan
ana said there was room enough for
both the Christians ind Buddhlsts to
work. He spoke English nuently and
ne told me that he had lived for two
years In England. He was very much
depressed as to the religious state Of
Japan, and said that the better classes
We're largely inndcls or agnostics. and
many who pretended 20 be- Buddhlsts
had no working faith In them / found
him broadmlnded In every respect. and
one thing which he said surprised me.
This was that his sect Of Buddhists did
not believe Niryana meant q state Of
soul humiliation. but that II meant on,
ly the humiliation OF all that was bad
and Of the continuance Of an that was
good I'm man He told me. however.
that only few Buddhists were as lib
eral az he was, and from what ] saw In
other narts Of the empire / am sure he
was correct.
MANY BUDDHIST sECTs,
There are almost as many Buddhist
scots In Japan as there are Christian
sects IN America. They all believe in
iAuANudf uul lilfg nave NlIItItUN ODf~
trines and different modes OF worship
There Is one sect which sell medicines
and charms which will protect you
against coughs, consumption, the devil
or the smallpox They sell all kinds OF
sand, which Is supposed to make the
limbs Of the dead soft and flexible, so
they can be easily doubled In the box
Ike collins which are used 10y the Jap
"a. NJ.
sect, and they have between four and
FIVE thousand temples in Japan. The
Monte sect, the NiCherln and the JOdo
sect may be called the three most pow
erful branches Of japanese Buddhists,
The Montos worship Amida Buddha,
and they say that earnest prayer noble
thoughts and good works are the ele-
ments Of their faith II is 20 this sect
think, that these two big temples which
have described belong, and II has also
immense temples I'm Tokyo and else
where, The Nichren sect are the shout
ing worshipers Of the faith. They are
violent, and noisy, and they think that
all other scots except themselves VIII 20
straight TO hell The Jed0 sect do not
eat flesh and they Insist that their
priests should not marry. They pray
without ceaslng and spend a great part
Of their time squatting before bells Of
wood and brass on which they pound
in order to wake up the gods.
QUEER TEMPLES.
could M this paper with the curious
things found about the Buddhist tenn
pies. There are little wooden gods for
babies diseases. around which the chill
dren's bibs are tied, and there are gods
which are supposed TO help babies In
teethng. There are some which are
good for the stomach. ache, and others
which will cure sore eyes. In some OF
the temples there are sacred ponies
which you may feed with holy beans at
one cent a plate and gain religious
credit thereby. These are, ] think,
however. more connected with the Shin
TO temples and, by the way, there Is
one famous white horse al the temple
Of Ise which is supposed to be gifted
with supernatural powers According
10 the stories current In japan, he has
a great deal TO do with the warlike
matters OF the empire and after the
Satsuma rebellion he disappeared ana
did not come back for three days. MS
return on the third day was, so the
japanese papers state, considered very
prophetic OF the success OF the EN-
perors cause During the recent
struggle with China he disappeared
again. and. after ten days, returned
looking fresh and well. The prophets
OF Japan state that this indicated ia
pan's victories over China, and that
The hostllitles would last three times
as long AT the satsuma rebellion.
CHRISTIANITY IN JAPAN.
There is no part Of the east where the
missionaries do more work than III
Japan. and they have, as ] said, stirred
the Buddhists into action. Many OF the
Japanese do not like the idea that their
country should be field for missionary
labors. and some OF the people thlhk
that such mission work as is done
shouid be done by native pastors NOT
long ago the question OF foreign ms
sions came up In parliamentary IL was
argued from one standpoint that the
missionaries ought TO be tolerated De.
cause they brought a great deal OF
money into the country. IL was staleu
In the papers at that time that theIe
were $50 foreign missionaries IN japan
and they averaged at least 500 per
month. making a total OF $4,000 per
month spent by the missionaries IL WIZ
thus be seen that the Christian
churches annually spend in Japan al
least $4,000 a year, and these eXpendl-
lures the native papers thought ought
Ia be encouraged They stated that
there were 10000 Christians among the
Japanesc. and that there were l2'VVV
Japancse pastors. There are japanese
Who think that their people are destined
TO Introduce Christianity into emma
and Corea. and some favor the absofp-
ZION and combination Of the three re-,
ligions of Buddhism, Confucianism ana
The missionaries IN ia
pan are, In reality doing great deal OF
earnest work. The field is divided up
among the Catholics and the different
Protestant sects and there Is. In addl-
lion. a mission OF the Greek church
which has Loo baptized converts ana
which was established by the Russians
The Catholics have three bishops sixty.
eeven missionaries and about 'gvyo
members. The Protestants unlike
those OF other countries work 70 a
large extent. together and they have