KoYASAN, THE JAPANESE VaLHALLA 



653 



remains a treasure-house of ancient art. 

 Koyasan's first temple was but the cen- 

 tral one of a great group of monastic 

 establishments that were gradually built 

 round it, and the green grove rang with 

 the voices of many thousand priests 

 chanting the sutras night and morning 

 in a thousand shrines. To found a mon- 

 astery and mortuary temple on Koyasan 

 was an act of great merit and the height 

 of all religious ambition. It was the cho- 

 sen asylum of those who would forswear 

 the world, a refuge for retired and abdi- 

 cated rulers, and its cemetery became the 

 haven of heroes, the abode of saints, a 

 hall of fame. Riches and revenues, lands 

 and treasures, were heaped on the moun- 

 tain communities through all the ten cen- 

 turies before the Restoration. Every 

 distinguished name in Japanese history, 

 letters, and arts is graven there some- 

 where, either on the tombstone in the 

 great cemetery or on the tiny ihais, that 

 are ranged by thousands in the halls of 

 tablets attached to each monastic estab- 

 lishment. Night and morning big bells 

 toom and silvery gongs ring the call for 

 services for these departed spirits ; sacred 

 flames burn continuously near them, in- 

 cense rises, and fresh offerings are made 

 each day. 



POVERTY AFTER CENTURIES OF UNTOED 

 WEAETH 



Held sacred for eleven centuries, Koy- 

 asan knew only honor and an increasing 

 accumulation of wealth until the Restora- 

 tion, when, with the downfall of the Sho- 

 gim and the disestablishment of Budd- 

 liism, neglect and impoverishment came 

 to the priestly commune. The lands 

 were taken away, the rice revenue and 

 tribute ceased, visitors and pilgrims were 

 few, and the offerings scant. An anti- 

 Buddhist governor ordered the closing of 

 1,000 monasteries, whose buildings and 

 contents dropped away in mould and 

 ruin. The contemplative brethren, who 

 "had never known rice-winning, produc- 

 tion, nor industry of any kind, soon faced 

 starvation. Beside the riches in statues 

 and paintings with which Kobo Daishi 



himself had dowered the place, rulers, 

 princes, and worshiping visitors had 

 given it masterpieces of contemporary 

 art ; many rich collections were left the 

 temples to secure perpetual services for 

 the repose of the owners' souls, and the 

 treasures stored in the two thousand tem- 

 ples and their godowns were incalculable. 



The Restoration seemed to have 

 sounded the downfall of the great estab- 

 lishment. Old priests died of discour- 

 agement and hardships, some priests re- 

 turned to their families, others went out 

 to active lay life, and the diminishing 

 company on Koyasan's summit eked out 

 a bare existence. The occasional surrep- 

 titious sale of a painting or art object 

 from the enormous store of such gifts 

 accumulating and lying unused for cen- 

 turies supplied their immediate necessi- 

 ties. Enthusiastic purchasers boasted so 

 loudly at the capital of the treasures of 

 art they had acquired in temples in the 

 hinterland that suspicion fastened upon 

 Koyasan. An imperial commission was 

 deputed to visit Koyasan, investigate, 

 catalogue, and photograph what re- 

 mained — all such objects thenceforth to 

 become definite and inalienable "treas- 

 ures of the Empire." It was then that 

 the great fire of 1888 providentially de- 

 stroyed neglected monasteries and go- 

 downs suspected of spoliation. Koy- 

 asan's treasures have especially enriched 

 three great collections in America, and 

 serve a noble purpose in spreading 

 abroad the superior glory of oriental art. 



The remote, mountain-top monastery 

 and necropolis has best preserved its an- 

 cient atmosphere to this garish day of 

 progress ; has longest retained its sacred- 

 ness and seclusion, its atmosphere of old 

 Japan, and of true religious calm. In 

 those Druidic groves contemplation, med- 

 itation, and sacred offices seem naturally 

 the sum and end of daily life. It is the 

 most elevating, inspiring, and deeply 

 touching place of religious pilgrimage in 

 all Japan, and until the storm-time suc- 

 ceeding the Restoration, the rigorous 

 Buddhist rules forbade women to set foot 

 upon the sacred mountain — for which 



