s Kukai during his lifetime).
He, too, visited China as a student of Buddhism, especially to learn
the interpretation of a Sutra which had fallen into his hands in
Japan, and on his return he founded the system of the True Word
(Shingori), which has been practically identified with the Gnosticism
of early Christian days. Kobo Daishi is the most famous of all
Japanese Buddhist teachers; famous alike as a saint, as an artist,
and as a calligraphist. His influence on the intellectual history of
his country was marked, for he not only founded a religious system
which to this day has a multitude of disciples, but he is also said
to have invented, or at any rate to have materially improved, the
Japanese syllabary (hira-gana).

THE SUBSERVIENCE OF SHINTO

That the disciples of the Shinto cult so readily endorsed a doctrine
which relegated their creed to a subordinate place has suggested
various explanations, but the simplest is the most convincing,
namely, that Shinto possessed no intrinsic power to assert itself in
the presence of a religion like Buddhism. At no period has Shinto
produced a great propagandist. No Japanese sovereign ever thought of
exchanging the tumultuous life of the Throne for the quiet of a
Shinto shrine, nor did Shinto ever become a vehicle for the
transmission of useful knowledge.

ENGRAVING: OKUNO-IN (Kobo Daishi's shrine) AT MT. KOYASAN

With Buddhism, the record is very different. Many of its followers
were inspired by the prospect of using it as a stepping-stone to
preferment rather than as a route to Nirvana. Official posts being
practically monopolized by the aristocratic classes, those born in
lowlier families found little opportunity to win honour and
emoluments. But by embracing a religious career, a man might aspire
to become an abbot or even a tutor to a prince or sovereign. Thus,
learned and clever youths flocked to the portals of the priesthood,
and the Emperor Saga is said to have lamented that the Court nobility
possessed few great and able men, whereas the cloisters abounded in
them. On the other hand, it has been observed with much reason that
as troublers of the people the Buddhist priests were not far behind
the provincial governors. In fact, it fared with Buddhism as it
commonly fares with all human institutions--success begot abuses. The
example of Dokyo exercised a demoralizing influence. The tonsure
became a means of escaping official exactions in the shape of taxes
or forced