nly a profound change in customs, but also
became the seed of a rich crop of superstitions; since out of the
cremated bodies of the saints came forth the _shari_ or, in Sanskrit,
_sarira_. These hard substances or pellets, preserved in crystal
cabinets, are treated as holy gems or relics. Thus venerated, they
become the nuclei of cycles of fairy lore.

In A.D. 710, the great monastery at Nara was founded; and here we must
notice or at least glance at the great throng of civilizing influences
that came in with Buddhism, and at the great army of artists, artisans
and skilled men and women of every sort of trade and craft. We note that
with the building of this great Nara monastery came another proof of
improvement and the added element of stability in Japanese civilization.
The ancient dread which the Japanese had, of living in any place where a
person had died was passing away. The nomad life was being given up. The
successor of a dead Mikado was no longer compelled to build himself a
new capital. The traveller in Japan, familiar with the ancient poetry of
the Many[=o]-shu, finds no fewer than fifty-eight sites[34] as the early
homes of the Japanese monarchy. Once occupying the proud position of
imperial capitals, they are now for the most part mere hamlets,
oftentimes mere names, with no visible indication of former human
habitation; while the old rivers or streams once gay with barges filled
with silken-robed lords and ladies, have dried up to mere washerwomen's
runnels. For the first time after the building of this Buddhist
monastery, the capital remained permanent, Nara being the imperial
residence during seventy-five years. Then beautiful Ki[=o]to was chosen,
and remained the residence of successive generations of emperors until
1868. In A.D. 735, we read of the Kegon sect. Two years later a large
monastery, with a seven-storied pagoda alongside of it, was ordered to
be built in every province. These, with the temples and their
surroundings, and with the wayside shrines beginning to spring up like
exotic flowers, made a striking alteration in the landscape of Japan.
The Buddhist scriptures were numerously copied and circulated among the
learned class, yet neither now nor ever, except here and there in
fragments, were they found among the people. For, although the Buddhist
canon has been repeatedly imported, copied by the pen and in modern
times printed, yet no Japanese translation has ever been made. The
methods of