190 JAPANESE CUSTOMS AND HABITS. 



kept in the very best preservation, and the priests 

 are most comfortably situated. The voluntary con- 

 tributions which are collected at the shrines and 

 temples are for the maintenance of the priests, and 

 amount to considerable sums. They are supposed to 

 adhere to celibacy, as being the rule of their order ; but 

 they by no means do so. Part of every temple is 

 always set aside ready for the traveller or wanderer, 

 and the charge for this most comfortable accommoda- 

 tion is very little indeed. 



Visiting these temples for the purpose of propitiat- 

 ing the ruling spirit of Buddha is left almost entirely 

 to the women. Men very seldom interfere in these 

 matters, being quite satisfied with their wives and 

 daughters doing so. 



The centre of the Shinto religion is at Ise, in the 

 province of Yamato. Here a temple of perfectly plain 

 uncarved wood, of the Cryptomeria jwponica, is erected 

 to the invisible spirit. As before mentioned, no figure 

 is ever used to represent Shinto, whose existence is 

 everywhere, watching over the well-being of everything, 

 but always in an unseen form. 



The road leading to the temple passes through a row 

 of houses on either side, where all kinds of mementos 

 of the place can be bought and taken home by the 



