, chanting monotonously from
ponderous volumes, with an occasional accompaniment from a gong or
drum. Incense was being burned, vestments worn, processions formed,
and prayers offered to Buddha to intercede with the Supreme Being. The
accessories and surroundings were of course different, but the
ceremonial struck me as being much the same as that in use at Roman
Catholic places of worship. Mr. Simpson, however, thinks differently.
He says:

'I was only a month in Japan, and that is far too short a time for
anything like serious study; but I was much struck by the temples, and
I find I have some notes in my book comparing them with the Jewish.
How any direct connection could possibly exist, is far beyond my
powers of conjecture; but I will state the points of resemblance, and
leave others to inquire further and collect additional information.
Wood and bronze to this day furnish the material of which temples are
constructed in Japan, with stone as a base. Such also were the
materials of Solomon's temple. There are enclosures round each court
or shrine, and sometimes these courts are three in number. Hills or
groves are usually sites for a temple, the ascent to which is by a
long flight of steps; usually two flights give access to the shrine.
One is long, straight, and steep, for the men; the other, less steep,
but curved, is for the women. It will be remembered that it was the
great stairs at Solomon's temple that so impressed the Queen of Sheba.
Small shrines or miniature temples, called Tenno Samma, or "Heaven's
Lord," are carried on staves, like the Ark of the Covenant, at their
religious ceremonies. The inner shrine, or Holy of Holies, is small,
and a cube, or nearly so, in proportion. It is usually detached behind
the other portions of the temple, the door being closed, so that it
cannot be seen into, and it generally contains, not an image, but a
tablet, or what the Japanese call a "Gohei," or piece of paper, cut so
that it hangs down in folds on each side. In the early days of
writing, a tablet was a book, a stylus the pen. The stone on which the
law was inscribed was only a form of the book, and the Chinese
ancestral tablet, or other tablet, in a temple, is only a variety of
this book form. These "Goheis" are so common in Japan, and occupy so
important a place in all their temples, that I had a great desire to
know what they originally meant; but as on many questions of this kind
I could get no information, the