The Sympathy of Benten 



IN Kyoto there is a famous temple called Ama- 

 dera. Sadazumi Shinno, the fifth son of 

 the Emperor Seiwa, passed the greater part 

 of his life there as a priest ; and the graves of 

 many celebrated persons are to be seen in the 

 temple-grounds. 



But the present edifice is not the ancient Ama- 

 dera. The original temple, after the lapse of ten 

 centuries, fell into such decay that it had to be 

 entirely rebuilt in the fourteenth year of Genroku 

 (1701 A. D.). 



A great festival was held to celebrate the re- 

 building of the Amadera ; and among the thou- 

 sands of persons who attended that festival there 

 was a young scholar and poet named Hanagaki 

 Baishu. He wandered about the newly-laid-out 

 grounds and gardens, delighted by all that he saw, 

 until he reached the place of a spring at which he 

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