Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-21
JAPANESE PRAY FOR CHILDREN
Priests Make Prayer for 1.-The Little
Dead Children Of America
Marian Bonsal. in the Housekeeper


So much has been written coroou,,..--
ihlhtary and commercial Japan thar tho
people OF America are prone to forget thar
In Japan there is, the same love of ,h. -.
and of children as there is with nc r.
TINS temple CTenojD / had an exnerienoa
Wnich is sacred and because II brought ,ba
OiIeht ana the Occident so close together
Gnu i seemed 10 make us all one and the sama
VIII chiIo-iove, am going to tell you.
Win my interpreter l visited the shrine
every day during my stay in Osaka. and a
priest, perceiving a foreign woman Inv CON
uast 10 the hundreds of japanese women
VINO knelt about the entrance invitad nc 20
enter So day after day as we annroacbad
the altar we removed our shoes made our or
ierings, and followed the brown-clad PRIESTS
INTO httle side chamber from which we
couid see both the worshipers men ana
children and mostly women al peonIe Of
tne humble classes-and the shrine itself
with ITS toys and lighted candles, its Thai.
ana It's sacred image of Amida Sami
And every day l requested nrayars
written on slips of wood, paper-white and
paper-tnn, ana cut in the shape of lotus
ieat at the end-such prayers as the hum
ureus OF mothers who crowded about tba
SHRINE, had made for their dead children.
except for this difference: the mothers Rad
written on theirs the mortuary names of
their children, and mine were for al ,ba
children of all the mothers who worshirn'1
tnere; The kind-faced priest who received
the SIPS gave them TO a second who recited
buuuIlst prayers over them, while "A third
pulled the rope which sounded the deem rich
bell. AS the prayers for their chjIdren
were chanted the mothers and fatbars
brothers and sisters listened reverently viii
bowed heads and clasped hands; then
turned slowly away to give room for those
coming later "'
Day after day as l sat on the mating I'm
the iittle side room, inhaling the incense.
listening TO the tolling and the chantInp
and watching the mothers faces becopoe
tender with the prayers for their dead chill.
dren, L would have long talks with tba
priests ABOUT y Jizo Sami. the God OF lit
tie children, especially of sick children ara
they told me of how he took care of then,
and was always kind and gentle Always
they would invite me to pull the bell rome
when the prayers were being chanted ard
never was / more sincere or truly reverend
than in that act.
When the morning of my last visit came
the good priests met me with three prayers
the ordinary number. / laid on the altar
the little copper coins that were the usual
offering, but the eldest priest took them
up and returned them to me graciously
To the interpreter he said:
Tell the American lady we have pre-
pared these prayers especially for her last
visit to TennoJt, and 1t would please US
much that no offering be made, for the
prayers are our gift"
had noticed that among the wooden
sips there was one different from the
others, different from all the thousands Of
others which were being made; instead OF
the end being cut in the shape of a lotus
leaf it cut in a simple triangle I
asked the reason and the priest answered:
THE first prayer we have made as usual
for the little children of all the mothers
who worship here; the second we have
made for all japanese children who have
died, and the third, of which you ask, We
have made for the little dead children Of
America"
1t was then that I realized as I never
had before one of the most pronounced
traits of Japanese character; one that
reaches its highest development in the
women-the love of children and the joy
Of service-a love that grows stronger and
purer and truer with passing years, and
a service whose passionate devotion carries
II beyond the marches of life into the
world of ghosts.