ul whether changes did not creep in with the lapse of
ages. Most Shinto temples throughout the country were served by
Buddhist priests, who introduced the architectural ornaments and the
ceremonial of their own religion. Thus was formed the Ryobu Shinto--a
mixed religion founded on a compromise between the old creed and the
new, and hence the tolerant ideas on theological subjects of most of
the middle-lower classes, who worship indifferently at the shrines of
either faith."

The third period began about 1700. It was introduced by the scholarly
study of history. "Soon the movement became religious and
political--above all, patriotic.... The Shogunate was frowned on,
because it had supplanted the autocracy of the heaven-descended
Mikados. Buddhism and Confucianism were sneered at because of their
foreign origin. The great scholars Mabuchi (1697-1769), Motoori
(1730-1801), and Hirata (1776-1843) devoted themselves to a religious
propaganda--if that can be called a religion which sets out from the
principle that the only two things needful are to follow one's natural
impulses and to obey the Mikado. This order triumphed for a moment in
the revolution of 1868." It became for a few months the state
religion, but soon lost its status.[CB]

_Buddhism_ came to Japan from Korea _via_ China in 552 A.D. It was
already a thousand years old and had, before it reached Japan, broken
up into numerous sects and subsects differing widely from each other
and from the original teaching of Sakya Muni. After two centuries of
propagandism it conquered the land and absorbed the religious life of
the people, though Shinto was never entirely suppressed. "All
education was for centuries in Buddhist hands; Buddhism introduced
art, and medicine, molded the folklore of the country, created its
dramatic poetry, deeply influenced politics and every sphere of social
and intellectual activity. In a word, Buddhism was the teacher under
whose instruction the Japanese nation grew up. As a nation they are
now grossly forgetful of this fact. Ask an educated Japanese a
question about Buddhism, and ten to one he will smile in your face. A
hundred to one that he knows nothing about the subject and glories in
his nescience." "The complicated metaphysics of Buddhism have awakened
no interest in the Japanese nation. Another fact, curious but true, is
that these people have never been at the trouble to translate the
Buddhist canon into their own language. The pri