st priests who introduced into them the elaborate
ornaments and ritual of Buddhism. The result was a kind of hybrid
religion, the line of demarcation between the ancient and the imported
faith not being very clearly defined. Hence perhaps the religious
tolerance of the Japanese for so many centuries, even to Christianity
when first introduced by St. Francis Xavier. About the beginning of
the eighteenth century there was something akin to a religious
reformation in Japan in the direction of the revival of pure
Shintoism. For a century and a half subsequently Shintoism held up its
head, and eventually, as the outcome of the Revolution of 1868, which
marked a turning-point in the history of Japan, Buddhism was
disestablished and disendowed and Shinto was installed as the State
religion. Simultaneously many thousand of Buddhist temples were
stripped of their magnificent and elaborate ornaments and handed over
to Shinto keeping; but the downfall of Buddhism was merely of a
temporary nature. Nevertheless Shinto is, ostensibly at any rate,
still the State religion. Certain temples are maintained from public
funds and certain official religious functions take place in Shinto
edifices.

Buddhism, acclimatised though it has been in Japan for thirteen
centuries, is still a foreign religion, but it has played, and to some
extent still plays, an important part in the life and history of the
nation, and it has, as I have said, materially influenced the ancient
faith of Japan and in turn been influenced by it. I have no intention
of describing, much less tracing, the history of Buddhism, whether in
Japan or elsewhere. It is a subject on which many writers have
descanted and in regard to which much might still be written. There is
no doubt whatever that Buddhism as it exists to-day, whether in
Ceylon, India, China, or Japan, is widely different from the religion
of its founder. Many of its original doctrines were purely symbolical
and poetical. These have been evolved into something they were
certainly never intended to mean. That the principles of the Buddhist
religion are essentially pure and moral no one who has any knowledge
of it can deny. It preaches above all things the suppression of self,
and it inculcates a tenderness and fondness for all forms of life.
According to Griffis, "Its commandments are the dictates of the most
refined morality. Besides the cardinal prohibitions against murder,
stealing, adultery, lying, drunkennes