ore religious than the average home
in enlightened England or America, especially when compared with such
as have no family worship. There may be a genuine religious life in
these Western homes, but it does not appear to the casual visitor. Yet
no casual visitor can enter a Japanese home, without seeing at once
the evidences of some sort, at least, of religious life.

It is impossible for me to believe, as many assert, that all is mere
custom and hollow form, without any kernel of meaning or sincerity.
Customs may outlast beliefs for a time, and this is particularly the
case with religious customs; for the form is so often taken to involve
the very essence of the reality. But customs which have lost all
significance, and all belief, inevitably dwindle and fade away, even
if not suddenly rejected; they remain them; they leave their trace
indeed, but so faintly that only the student of primitive customs can
detect them and recognize their original nature and purpose. The
Butsu-dan and Kami-dana do not belong to this order of beliefs. The
average home of Japan would feel itself desecrated were these to be
forcibly removed. The piety of the home centers, in large measure,
about these expressions of the religious heart. Their practical
universality is a significant witness to the possession by the people
at large of a religious nature.

If it is fair to argue that the Christian religion has a vital hold on
the Western peoples because of the cathedrals and churches to be found
throughout the length and breadth of Christendom, a similar argument
applies to Japan and the hold of the religions of this land upon its
people. For over a thousand years the external manifestations of
religion in architecture have been elaborate. Temples of enormous
size, comparing not unfavorably with the cathedrals of Europe as
regards the cost of erection, are to be found in all parts of the
land. Immense temple bells of bronze, colossal statues of Buddha, and
lesser ones of saints and worthies innumerable, bear witness to the
lavish use of wealth in the expression of religious devotion. It is
sometimes said that Buddhism is moribund in Japan. It is seriously
asserted that its temples are falling into decay. This is no more true
of the temples of Buddhism in Japan, than of the cathedrals Of
Christendom. Local causes greatly affect the prosperity of the various
temples. Some are falling into decay, but others are being repaired,
and new ones are b