whole country every household should provide itself with a Buddhist
shrine and place therein a sacred image. When the pious Empress Jito
occupied the throne (690-696), the first proselytizing mission was
despatched to the Ezo, among whom many converts were won; and, later
in the same reign, another rescript directed that a certain
Sutra--the Konkwo myo-kyo, or Sutra of Golden Effulgence--should be
read during the first month of every year in each province, the fees
of the officiating priests and other expenses being defrayed out of
the local official exchequers.

ENGRAVING: PAGODA OF YAKUSHI-JI, NARA

During Mommu's time (697-707), Buddhist hierarchs (kokushi) were
appointed to the provinces. Their chief functions were to expound the
Sutra and to offer prayers. The devout Shomu not only distributed
numerous copies of the Sutras, but also carried his zeal to the
length of commanding that every province should erect a sixteen-foot
image of Shaka with attendant bosatsu (Bodhisattva), and, a few years
later, he issued another command that each province must provide
itself with a pagoda seven storeys high. By this last rescript the
provincial temples (kokubun-ji) were called into official existence,
and presently their number was increased to two in each province, one
for priests and one for nuns. The kokushi attached to these temples
laboured in the cause of propagandism and religious education side by
side with the provincial pundits (kunihakase), whose duty was to
instruct the people in law and literature; but it is on record that
the results of the former's labours were much more conspicuous than
those of the latter.

GYOGI

It is said to have been mainly at the instance of the Empress Komyo
that the great image of Todai-ji was constructed and the provincial
temples were established. But undoubtedly the original impulse came
from a priest, Gyogi. He was one of those men who seem to have been
specially designed by fate for the work they undertake. Gyogi, said
to have been of Korean extraction, had no learning like that which
won respect for Kanshin and Gembo. But he was amply gifted with the
personal magnetism which has always distinguished notably successful
propagandists of religion. Wherever he preached and prayed, thousands
of priests and laymen flocked to hear him, and so supreme was his
influence that under his direction the people gladly undertook
extensive works of bridge building and road making. Like Shot