M08 CONFUCIANISM l\ JAPAN. 



couiitiy, its chief deity is tln^ Sun-Goddess, worshipped 

 tlirough the Kami, or inferior divinities, counted by 

 hundreds and even thousands, at tlie head of wliich 

 they place the reigning- Mikado. Their temple, or 

 mias, the Japanese surround with groves and tombs ; 

 they do not profess to worship idols, althougli the 

 interior often abounds witli ininges of sacred and 

 celebrated men; tlie ])rinci])al ornament is the " Gohei," 

 a circular steel mirror, the syml:)ol of truth, placed 

 often in a box or bag on a kind of altar, also strips of 

 white paper with tlie names of varioTis divinities 

 wi'itten upon, — these are relics of Ise, the holy temple, 

 situated some 200 miles south-west of Tokio. 



Confucianism is here, as in China, confined to the 

 higher classes, but Buddhism, which was introduced 

 into Japan from India and the Corea as early as A.D. 

 69, has since the 6th century of the Christian era 

 become the principal religion, although it had made 

 very little progress previous to it. The two creeds of 

 the Sintists and Buddhists are now, however, so much 

 mixed up together that there is no very perceptible 

 difference either in the appearance of their temples or 

 their form of worship. In reality it is difficult to say 

 whether the Japanese have any well-defined religion; 

 especially the ujDper classes are mostly sceptics, whilst 

 pilgrimages to certain temples seem to be the almost 



