408 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



issuing from an opening shell, and is figured sometimes with his hands clasped, or holdinga 

 lotus flower, a fly-trap, or some other symbol. A pleasant feature in the aspect of the otherwise 

 gloomy burial places, disfigured by the coarse and grotesque art of a corrupt superstition, is the 

 abundance of flowers which are plentifully distributed about. These are placed, freshly culled 

 from dav to day, in cups and troughs of water, which are deposited before the tombs and idols. 

 Offerings of other kinds are also frequently found near the various statues of Buddha and his 

 kindred deities. 



The tombs and monuments, as with us, are inscribed with epitaphs ; but such is the moisture 

 of the climate, that they are soon covered with moss and rendered illegible. Some of the fresher 

 ones, however, could be decij^hered, and it was observed that, as in our own practice, the rank, 

 merits, and date of death of deceased, were usually recorded. That the good deeds of the 

 departed may live after them, there is often a summary of their meritorious works during life, 

 among which we read that some have recited one thousand, two thousand, and even three 

 thousand volumes of the canonical books, an amount of pious performance which entitles them, 

 say the eulogistic Japanese epitaphs, to heavenly felicity. An invocation, " Oh, wonderful 

 Buddha !" generally prefaces the inscriptions. In the grave-yard of the Rio-shen-zhi, there is 

 a sort of pantomimic record of the deceased, where, in a fenced enclosure of bamboo^ there is a 

 sepulchre of two personages of rank. Their statues and those of their families and servants 

 are represented as if holding an audience, which indicates the rank of the deceased. 



Near the recent graves and tombs narrow boards or wooden posts are placed, on which 

 extracts from the canonical books are written, exhorting the living to add to their stock of good 

 works by diligently repeating the pages of those excellent volumes, or vicariously performing 

 that necessary duty, by getting the jDriests to do it for them, and not neglecting to pay the 

 customary charges. The canonical books supply many of the other inscriptions with various 

 quotations, aptly chosen to extol the felicity of the departed, or to inculcate the shortness of life 

 and the vanity of this world ; one of the latter, when translated, read thus : 



" What permanency is there to the glory of the world? 

 It goes from the sight Uke hoar-frost before tlie sun. 

 If men wish to enter the joys of heavenly light 

 Let them smell a little of the fragrance of Buddha's canons." 



Another was this : " Whoever wishes to have his merit reach even to the abode of the demons, 

 let him with us, and all living, become perfect in the doctrine." And again : " The wise will 

 make our halls illustrious and the monuments endure for long ages." To them all was added 

 a significant hint, that these hopes and aspirations were to be secured in their objects by the 

 prompt payment of the contributions levied on the living. At Yoku-hama, in addition to these 

 various Japanese inscriptions, there were boards upon which were written charms in the 

 Thibetan or complicated Chinese characters, the purport of which the writers themselves do not 

 profess to understand, but all appeared to believe they were efiectual in warding off malignant 

 demons from disturbing the dead. 



The nine Buddhist temples are all situated in the suburbs, back of the town ; and on the 

 acclivities or summits of the hills, which bound them in the rear, there are shrines and 

 pavilions erected within groves of trees, which are approached by a flight of stone steps. In 

 the interior of these pavilions and shrines are rude images, or merely inscrij^tions, dedicated lo 

 the tutelary deities of the spot. Their purpose is to afford facility to those living near, or to 



