The log cabin Democrat., 1907-05-30
Where Religion is Cheap.

there
 Where Religion is Cheap.
 The next morning the Americans. who were quite accustomed to creating a stir by their appearance in native villages, went to Nagano, where is one of the most celebrated Buddhist tenn ples in, Japan, dating back to 670 A. D., although the oldest portion of the pres ent structure is only six centuries old. The high priestess of this temple is an aunt of the emperor. The temple area is crowded with statues and buildings of absorbing interest. 1 noticed one bronze Buddha of heroic size holding baby, and some devotee had put a modern bonnet, of cheap calico, on the latter's head. On several occa- sions I have seen images thus incon- gruously adorned.
 Thousands of devout pilgrims visit this temple, and the emperor himself has a sumptuOus suite Of apartments therein, although the ShintOists claim him as one of their number. In fact, he has rather impartially patronlzed both faiths; and thousands Of his SUD- iects do likewise. Ordinary pilgrims to the temple are kept outside the wire screen before the altar, but the missionaries. by the application Of the silver key which unlocks doors the world over, were omitted to closer view and a complete inspection. They were even taken down through the absolutely dark underground passage where the keys of paradise may be foInd. attached to a huge paddock And assuredly those young Americans found them, and rattled them loudly enough for all the celestial doorkeep- CTS to hear This trip in the dark IS supposed to purge the soul of sln' though, paradoXically enough, the priest who was our guide warned us that if we had any evil in our hearts when we entered we would come out changed into dogs, which IS the com mon belief. Of course this party emerged barking and growing like curs with tin cans to their talls'
 If must not be inferred that the mis- sionaries were disrespectful to the temDle or it's worshippers. They moved about. uncovered and unshod' and were genuinely interested In the bewildering explanations or Who WHO in this sect of Buddhism. Among the more than 30,000 ancestral taplets nlaced in one apartment l notlceu one +ho+ uas surmounted by the Harvard H.
 AS souvenirs of this trip l have written token from the hlgh priest that I have performed an early morn ing devotion at a certain shrlne' anu have received absolution rom hlm Ill nerson-although, as matter or lact' if was nearly noon when we were III tho temnle. and l never saw the hlgn nriest l bought the document rom a nriest in the temple office TOT one and a half cents. Similarly nave hrass charm from the imperlal hlgh nriestess (whom 1 did not meet, am sorry to say), guaranteeing proIectloh to my body from every klnd oi harAn' and all for the sum ot elght cents. Pelirion comes cheap in Japan. Sd" nriests emptying the money boxes which stand before each shrine, ana later stringing the coins together. These are all of copper, and or the lowest denominations, two sen, one sen. half sen, rin and haI rln' he last two are the commonest, and are worth respectively, one twentieth ana one fortieth of an American cent. These are now seldom used in com merce and are called temple money" The sen is worth one-half cent.
 The elaborate and costly Buddhist temple and Its ritual and priests was in sharp contrast with the impover- ished simple services which these un- uniformed missionaries had been hold ing; but the latter had confidence and a vitality which made one foresee the possibility of the overthrow of Buddhism by the plain gospel of the NaZarene.