The Development of Religion in Japan

torii, or bird perch, before it,' it contains no idol or symbol except a mirror, and, in the great historic temples, the stored insignia; the priests are plain citizens who are versed in the ritual; the prayers are involved in form but simple in substance, and the divinities are the familiar objects of every-day contemplation?mountains, and sea, and sun, and rock, and tree. Around these gather the sacred memories of the dead, and connected with them are the traditions of the past The worshipper is conscious of adoration, reverence, wonder, dependence, but he is unable to tell the inquirer how or why. There is neither creed nor dogma nor required cere- 1 The meaning of torii is still a topic of learned discussion. monial, but a dim conviction and a vague emotion which make life the better worth living.1 But when from the mya we pass to the tera, how great the contrast! Instead of the simple torii are towering gateways, elaborate, ornate, with immense guardian statues, and within are a large and complicated structure and elaborate worship : gongs, bells, incense, / revolving libraries, pagodas, sacred wells, drum towers, images, pictures, carvings, litanies, and companies of tonsured monks. There are monasteries, nunneries, schools for priests, assembly rooms for congregations, 'holy days and seasons; magnificently illuminated copies of sacred books with everything for the satisfaction of the intelligence, the emotions, and the will. Shinto has, prope...