Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1921-12-29

ing them In the nuIuclOuS ASeA
stores on each side. Katori templ
is. like places of heather worship Il
the Old Testament, on "high hill,
and it is two or three miles from thu
city of Sawara. By the time We
were out of town 1900 leaflets
were gone; the crowd on the roac
had become very numerous. Mos'
of the pilgrims were afoot like our.
| selves. The auto bus was whisklns
some along more rapidly and lot OF
people were going to the temple on
| bicycles. Onward we went till al
last we reached the great hill and
proceeded up to a point we'll toward
the top where we were sidetracked
and went out along the hillside and
little up grade till we came to a
tea house, or common residence,
open for the accommodation of pill
grims. Here were the tracts 62,-
600; here Fujimori and some of his
family and others from Takahagi,
his home. / was for getting to the
tract business at once, for hundreds
were pouring in at the front en-
trance, but Fujimori, a japanese
preacher converted in Detroit many
years ago, seemed not in rush.
After while we went to the work
carrying large supply of stock up
to the tori at the entrance. But
need to stop and introduce you to a
tori or gate as they are some
times called But they are not gates
at all, just good places to hang gates.
And they are not arches, unless an
arch can be fiat or straight on top.
This is the way to make one. Plant
two posts, say, 10 feet apart and>10
or II feet tall. Through mortise
in each post about foot and half
below the top, thrust beam and
place another beam on top of the
two posts. That's a tori. Some
times 20 feet or more. Some are
wood, others are stone. The tori
at Katori temple is made of wood
and the uprights look like trees, and
indeed they are sections of trees
| The cross beams are old and the
birds have built in an opening in one
of them. At the foot of the right
hand pillar of this tori we stacked
our reserve stock, part Of it, of the
| leaflet, "The Great Invitation" This
was a translation from a leaflet
widely circulated at home and in
good favor with Bro. Hiratsuka who
helped prepare it for publication in
Japanese. Out of 500 sent us by
the Portland Ave. congregation in
Louisville, we had $4,000 of these
made and the printer put in an extra
thousand without charge. Bro. Yo-
ko, one of Hiratsuka's fellow elders
at KamitomiZaka church in Koishi
kawa ward, Tokyo, was on hands tc
help. He, McCaleb, Mrs. James and
the writer made up the battery
which Bro. Fujimori left at the front
entrance. Others were inside the
grounds and at other points with
supplies Of literature, and the people
continued to pour in. Sometimes il
kept four of us busy to supply them
at other times fewer could keep UP
with the work.
After while Bro. F. came along
and released me and Mrs. James for
rest. We took it by going inside
the grounds to see what was there.
covered the sellers of goods we're
there just as we had seen numbers
Of others with their little stands
along each side of the way just out
side the gate" We went on till we
came to the temple which was by no
means as large as the one at Martha
visited the day before There was
not so much of the spectacular, but
we were interested in watching the
worshipers. Instead of big contri-
button box 18 feet long, as we had
seen at Narita, they had covered the
porch and steps with white muslin
and small box, perhaps two feet
long, was sitting on the porch" but
the people were tossing their money
simply in that direction. This was
the frst time had ever seen it rain
money, but there was gentle but
rather steady shower as the poor
blinded heather came up with their
copper coins of small value, about
Y cent, and tossed them toward the
box. Some may have fallen in the
box, but many dropped on the
porch; some were on the steps; and
a few we're out on the pavement four
or FIVE feet from the bottom step.
The temple is located in fine old
forest of great trees which we might
mistakenly call pines. Were they
not cedar? But how tall! Some OF
the party tried to count the rings or
a section of one which had been
sawed up, and thought it was about
500 years old. After watching the
worshipers tossing their money;
gently clapping their hands few
times, and taking the attitude ot
prayer, we went on around through
| tho nnercha q ndising grouns somewhat