Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1907-07-05
A JAPANESE LEGEND.
Gen. Grants Visit TO the Sacred Bridge
Of Mike.

II YOU had to guess this little boys
name YOU would naturally conclude from
the story Of his life that his name was
Samuel, for his father and mother looked
upon this only son Of theirs as a GIT
from heaven in answer to prayer, and
when he grew up he became priest and
lived in a temple
That certainly does sound like the
story Of Samuel But the divinity whom
,his little boys parents worshipped when
they prayed tprostrating themselves on
their foreheads before her carved image
was the japanese goddess called the
Thousand Handed Kwannon Goddess OF
Mercy And the name Of the boy was
Shodo Shouin.
Shodo Shonin even in his tiniest boy
hood. as the legend goes loved nothing
better than TO spend hours each day
worshipr1ng the gods. especially the
Thousand Handed Kwannon, whose sa-
cred cave in the mountains he chose for
his retreat as soon as he was old enough
to become a monk
one night in midwinter he dreamed
that he was called on a pilgrimage TO
certain distant and very high mountain
top where for a sign. he would ind
a sword lying on the ground. The deep
snow and painless wilderness checked his
advance when he tried to seek this
mountain top; but he never forgot his
dream. and some years later, after much
After overcoming many hardships and
toiling many days through the wilderness,
Just as he reached the foot Of the noun
tain Of his dreams he found to his dis
may that the way was barred by
broad torrent rushing over huge rocks
between high rocky banks He prayed
for help, and 10 on the opposite bank
there suddenly appeared a divinity Of
wonderful appearance and size. The d.
vinitv flung two blue and green snakes
across the river. and instantly long
rainbow -arched bridge was seen to form
itself across the stream. The moment
Shodo Shonin had safely crossed by IT.
however. the rainbow-arched bridge, blue
and green snakes and divinity all van
| shed as mysteriously as they had ap-
peared
Shodo Shonin found his mountain-top
whether he found the sword as well. no
one appears to know. and then he came
down the mountain 10 a place close to the
scene Of this miraculous crossing, where
he built shrines and temples to the va
rious gods and spent the remainder Of
his long and sanity life
The place received the name Of Nikko
Mountain Of the Suns BriGhtness). and
! from that time was n famous center OF
worship for the whole japanese nation,
much as Mecca has been for the Moham-
medans.
Nearly a thousand years passed by.
/ hut the story or SnOdo Snonln s mNacu-
/ lous crossing was never forgotten, and
when at last the emperors Of Japan
| chose Nikko as the imperial burying
/ place. they commanded that a rainbow
arched bridge should be built spanning
| the precious spot, so that they might
! cross by It on the occasion OF their an
| nual pilgrimage TO worship al the tombs
| Of their ancestors.
/ AS the Japanese believe their emperors
/ to be descended from gods, they now
! began to revere this spot as sacred in a
/ double sense. first because, according to
/ the legend, II was the scene Of the Won
| derful experience Of Shodo Shonin, and
| also because OF the rainbow arched
/ bridge being kept sacred to the use Of
/ a God-that is, the emperor himself
/ Centuries passed. ever more and more
sacred to the use Of the emperor alone
remained the rainbow-arched hridge-so
sacred that the common people, even If
they had not been forbidden under pain
Of death TO touch foot on IT, would have
been too fearful of the wrath Of the gods
! to dream OF doing so.
/ So YOU can imagine the secret conster-
nation felt by the common people when,
| on the occasion Of Gen. Grants visit 10
/ Nikko Gn the course Of his tour around