onsumed by fire. Yet that it had not suffered beyond the possibility
of reconstruction, and that it survived in the Ko-jiki was never
doubted until the days (1730-1801) of "the prince of Japanese
literati," Motoori Norinaga. The question of authenticity is still
unsettled.

Shotoku's name is further connected with calendar making, though no
particulars of his work in that line are on record. Japanese
historians speak of him as the father of his country's civilization.
They say that he breathed life into the nation; that he raised the
status of the Empire; that he laid the foundations of Japanese
learning; that he fixed the laws of decorum; that he imparted a new
character to foreign relations, and that he was an incarnation of the
Buddha, specially sent to convert Japan. The Chronicles say that at
his death nobles and commoners alike, "the old, as if they had lost a
dear child, the young, as if they had lost a beloved parent, filled
the ways with the sound of their lamenting."

THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM AND THE CONTROL OF ITS PRIESTS

The roots of Japanese Buddhism were watered with blood, as have been
the roots of so many religions in so many countries. From the day of
the destruction of the military party under the o-muraji Moriya, the
foreign faith flourished. Then--as has been shown--were built the
first two great temples, and then, for the first time, a Buddhist
place of worship was endowed* with rich estates and an ample number
of serfs to till them. Thenceforth the annals abound with references
to the advent of Buddhist priests from Korea, bearing relics or
images. The omi and the muraji vied with each other in erecting
shrines, and in 605, we find the Empress Suiko commanding all high
dignitaries of State to make 16-foot images of copper** and of
embroidery. Buddhist festivals were instituted in 606, and their
magnificence, as compared with the extreme simplicity of the Shinto
rites, must have deeply impressed the people. In a few decades
Buddhism became a great social power, and since its priests and nuns
were outside the sphere of ordinary administration, the question of
their control soon presented itself. It became pressing in 623 when a
priest killed his grandfather with an axe. The Empress Suiko, who was
then on the throne, would have subjected the whole body of priests
and nuns to judicial examination, a terrible ordeal in those days of
torture; but at the instance of a Korean priest, officials
correspon