TEMPLES AT HAKODADI. 



443 



phoenixes, cranes, tortoises, and other subjects associated witli the religious worship of Buddha. 

 The main floor is elevated six feet ahove the ground, and covered, as usual, with thick mats. 

 There are three separate shrines, each containing an image, the one in the nave heing the 

 largest and most highly adorned. A sort of architrave descends between the jiillars, so 

 contrived that, with the aid of folding screens, the shrines may be readily partitioned off. 

 There are six priests attached to the establishment, and their quarters and those which are 

 provided for visitors were models of neatness and cleanliness. The temples in Japan, as in 

 China, are often used for places of concourse or entertainment, and on such occasions the altars 

 and shrines are covered or removed, which so changes the aspect of the interior that no one 

 would suspect that he was in a liouse of worship. On the visit of the American squadron one 

 of the temples was appropriated for a bazaar — a worldly use that the ecclesiastics, so far from 

 objecting to, highly approved of, as it added considerably to their revenue, the rent of the 

 apartments being the perquisite on the occasion. 



In the enclosure before the Zhiogen-zhi there is a grove of large spreading cypresses, in the 

 shade of which there are several outer buildings, and a shed which covers six small stone 

 images of deities. On either side of the avenue which leads to the temple there are pairs of 

 stone candelabras, and near by the statue of a goddess with a child in her arms. A copper 

 nimbus or glory surrounds the heads of all these idols, and reminds the Christian visitor of what 

 he may have seen in some churches of his own country. 



Next to the Zhiogen-zhi, in a southerly direction, is the Zhetsa-zhi or True-acting monestary, 

 an older and somewhat dilapidated building. There are several small sheds in the yard in 

 front of this temple, one of which protects from the weather a subscription-box and a handsomely 

 sculptured stone candelabra. The priests have shown considerable taste in the cultivation and 

 arrangement of the garden and pleasure grounds in the rear of the building. 



Near the main street, which extends 

 along the bay, in an enclosure beautifully 

 shaded with willows and firs of remark- 

 able growth, is the Kono-zhi, or High 

 Dragon temple, so called from a large 

 dragon carved along the entablature in 

 front; there is also a carp fish, some six 

 feet long, skilfully cut out of wood, ex- 

 tending in an upright direction on the 

 right side of the porch. This temple is 

 a large edifice, and, although now falling 

 to decay, bears in its elaborate ornaments 

 and its expensive appointments signs of 

 having been once in great esteem. Within 

 the grounds which enclose it are various 

 richly adorned gateways, stone statues, 

 candelabras, and shrines, all showing more 

 or less skilful design and workmanship. 

 The fourth and last of the Buddliist tem- 

 idob near a Budahist Temple, uakodadi. ples is Called thc Sliiomio-zlii, or the mon- 



astery of Buddha's name, but presents nothing of especial interest to distinguish it from the others. 



