Project Gutenberg's The Religions of Japan, by William Elliot Griffis

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Title: The Religions of Japan
From the Dawn of History to the Era of Meiji

Author: William Elliot Griffis

Release Date: March 31, 2005 [EBook #15516]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN

FROM THE DAWN OF HISTORY
TO THE ERA OF MEIJI

BY

WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS, D.D.

FORMERLY OF THE IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY OF TOKIO; AUTHOR OF "THE MIKADO'S
EMPIRE" AND "COREA, THE HERMIT NATION;" LATE LECTURER ON THE MORSE
FOUNDATION IN UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN NEW YORK

"I came not to destroy, but to fulfil."--THE SON OF MAN

NEW YORK

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

1895

COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

TROW DIRECTORY
PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY
NEW YORK

IN GLAD RECOGNITION OF THEIR SERVICES TO THE WORLD
AND
IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MY OWN GREAT DEBT TO BOTH
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK
SO UNWORTHY OF ITS GREAT SUBJECT
TO
THOSE TWO NOBLE BANDS OF SEEKERS AFTER TRUTH
THE FACULTY OF UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
OF WHOM
CHARLES A. BRIGGS AND GEORGE L. PRENTISS
ARE THE HONORED SURVIVORS
AND TO
THAT TRIO OF ENGLISH STUDENTS
ERNEST M. SATOW, WILLIAM G. ASTON AND BASIL H. CHAMBERLAIN
WHO LAID THE FOUNDATIONS OF CRITICAL SCHOLARSHIP IN JAPAN

"IN UNCONSCIOUS BROTHERHOOD, BINDING THE SELF-SAME SHEAF"

PREFACE

This book makes no pretence of furnishing a mirror of contemporary
Japanese religion. Since 1868, Japan has been breaking the chains of her
intellectual bondage to China and India, and the end is not yet. My
purpose has been, not to take a snap-shot photograph, but to paint a
picture of the past. Seen in a lightning-flash, even a tempest-shaken
tree appears motionless. A study of the same organism from acorn to
seed-bearing oak, reveals not a phase but a life. It is something like
this--"_to_ the era of Meiji" (A.D. 1868-1894+) which I have essayed.
Hence I am perfectly willing to accept, in advance, the verdict of smart
inventors who