es, that his race may not
become extinct. According to Japanese records, the present dynasty,
including about 130 Kin-reys, has been maintained in a direct line for
above twenty-four centuries. The person of the Kin-rey is so sacred,
that no ordinary mortal may see any part of him but his feet, and that
only once a year; every vessel which he uses must be broken
immediately; for if another should even by accident eat or drink out
of it, he must be put to death. Every garment which he wears must be
manufactured by virgin hands, from the earliest process in the
preparation of the silk.

The adherents of the aboriginal Japanese religion, of which the
Kin-rey is the head, adore numerous divinities called Kami, or
immortal spirits, to whom they offer prayers, flowers, and sometimes
more substantial gifts. They also worship Kadotski, or saints--mortals
canonised by the Kin-rey--and build temples in their honour. The laws
concerning personal and ceremonial purity, which form the principal
feature of this religion, are exceedingly strict, not unlike those
imposed on the ancient Jews. There are several orders of priests,
monks, and nuns, whose austerity, like that of Europe, is maintained
in theory more than in practice.

Three other creeds, the Brahminical, the Confucian, and that which
deifies the heavenly bodies, have many adherents; but their priests
all acknowledge a certain religious supremacy to exist in the Kin-rey.
There is universal toleration in these matters; every citizen may
profess what faith he chooses, and change it as often as he chooses,
without any one inquiring into his reasons; only it must be a
spontaneous choice, for proselyting is forbidden by law. Christianity
alone is proscribed, and that on account of the political mischief
said to have been effected through its adherents in the seventeenth
century. There is a law, by which no one may hire a servant without
receiving a certificate of his not being a Christian; and on
New-Year's Day, which is a great national festival, all the
inhabitants of Nangasaki are obliged to ascend a staircase, and
trample on the crucifix, and other insignia of the Romish faith, which
are laid on the steps as a test. It is said that many perform the act
in violation of their feelings. So much of the religious state of the
empire Golownin elicited in conversation with Teske and others; but
everything on this subject was communicated with evident reluctance;
and though in the