o subjects of the Mikado. "It is the least
exacting of all religions." When this is once understood, there ceases to
be anything surprising in the fact of two religions--of which Shintoism was
one, and the other a creed so accommodating as Buddhism--running, side by
side, for centuries in the same country, and being professed
simultaneously by the same people, until the two were so closely
interwoven that it became scarcely possible to distinguish their
respective elements. In the eighteenth century an attempt was made to
restore Shintoism to its primitive simplicity, and to mould it into a
philosophical system which might minister to the higher aspirations of
humanity. But the movement was a failure, and the Ryobu-Shinto, or "double
religion,"--the combination, that is to say, of Shintoism and
Buddhism--continued as before. It was only so lately as the year 1868 that
any important change took place in the religious history of Japan. In that
year, Shintoism--for reasons wholly political--was adopted as the State, or
"established" religion; Buddhism having always been the religion favoured
by the Shogunate, and the ancient nobility whom the Shogun represented.
Upon this, every temple was required to declare itself either Shinto or
Buddhist, and to remove the emblems and ornaments peculiar to the
discarded cult, whichever that might be. That no little excitement and
dispute followed upon this proclamation, will be readily understood;
especially when we bear in mind that, for several hundred years, Buddhist
and Shinto clergy had taken their turns of officiating in the same
buildings and at the same altars.(4) A grant of some L60,000 a year was
made by the Government for the maintenance of the Shinto temples and
shrines, which are said to number in all about 98,000, and to be dedicated
to no less than 3,700 different Genii, or Kami. Already, however,
Shintoism has lost the greater part of the importance into which it was
brought at the time of the Revolution; and, apart from the fact that it is
supported out of the imperial revenues, and that the presence of its
principal officials is required at certain of the state functions, its
general position has in no way improved. The people still practise the
observances of both religions alike; the only difference being that, to
effect this, they have now to visit two temples instead of one. A new-born
child, for instance, is taken by its parents to both Shinto and Buddhist
temples,