The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1902-07-19
QUEER JAP BELIEF.
Enthusiasts Willing to Become Vic
Tins. Of Horrible Superstition. .
Think the sacrtnce VIII Give
Strength to Engineering Projects.
I "Hupan7 Piuars' Resign
Themselves to Quick Burdal.

In old Japan people were sometimes
buried aEve-or, mere frequently, al
lowed themselves to be buried alive
at the Inauguration of any difficult
piece of engineering work, in order to
lmpart, as they thought, strength and
life to the undertaking. The: victims
OF the horrible superstition were
known under the suggestive titles Of
human pillars and many are the
quaint and wierd stories that have
been woven around this custom and are
recounted to this very day by Japan
ese grandmothers, writes Francis Nc
Cul1agh, in the Chicago Daily News.
No one woul d imagine that any
grown-up Jananese of the present day
would seriously believe in these tales,
much less offer to 'sadorn'' one of them
in Johnson's phrase--yet this is ex-
actly what two Japanese have just
done. 1t came about in this wise: The
Buddhists of Osaka recently opened
subscription lists for the erection of a
big belfry with a monster bell at Ten
noG temple, in the suburbs of tina city.
An old lady, fervent Buddhist, living
in the south island of Japan, got wind
Of the scheme and Immediately had a
letter. written to the high priest of the
temple intimating that she was will
ing to offer herself as a sacrifice of
the human piIlar' variety if the tenn
pie authorities did not object. Of
course, they did object, with the result
that NOT h n hoe hoo,, I'd IF
the old woman or her extraordinary
offer.
The second enthusiast was an ex-
priest of Osaka. Gwano Hayashi by
name, who was living comfortably
with his wife and two children and
who was 40 years old. One evening
last month policeman attached to
the Tennoji police station noticed
the figure of man, clad entirely in
white, proceeding cautiously toward
the temple. The lateness of the hour
aroused the suspicious of the police
man, who, on drawing nearer, no.
ticed that the stranger was carrying
on his back coffin. On the closer
approach of the policeman the stran-
ger attempted to run, but was soon
overtaken and led to the station.
An examination of the coffin re-
vealed ,singularly beautiful old
sword and a mortuary tablet. A let
ter addressed to the head priest Of
the temple, which was discovered on
the person of the prisoner, explained
exactly. what the latter had been
about to do with himself The man,
on being Intercepted, calmly con-
fessed that he had resolved to COM
NIT suicide that night in the tenn
pie premises in order, as he elegant
ly put it, Ito vitalize the collection
Of the bell funds and to give strength
to the belfry on it's completion"
The would1be suicide was perfect
ly sane and not illiterate; and the
police, assisted by the local Buddhist
priests, finally succeeded in making
him see his folly and in making him
[ promise to abandon his rash prof.
ect.
He was consequently released, but
insisted on leaving behind in the
hands Of the police his valuable
sword, an heirloom in his family and
an excellent specimen of the sword
smiths art. His reason for doing so
was that he could not trust himself
! with the weapon.