Japan and the Japanese, 
crowded, and adorned with visible representations of the 
gods worshipped. It is important to remember that at the 
restoration of the Mikado to his full power, in 1868, Shinto- 
ism was re-adopted or re-proclaimed as the state religion of 
Japan, while all other forms or doctrines were only tolerated 
as a matter of policy, in dealing with European nations. As 
the Mikado is supposed to be a lineal descendant of the 
gods, he is also looked upon as a god ; and the duty of 
implicit obedience to the Emperor, is the most important 
doctrine of this system. It is easy to understand, therefore, 
that this false faith becomes really a means of political 
power to the Japanese Government. In this system. Em- 
perors, warriors, heroes, and natural forces are worshipped; 
but no light is thrown upon the subject of a future state, 
nor is any revelation of comfort or consolation given by it 
to its devotees. The number of heroes thus deified and 
worshipped as gods, is enormously great ; indeed, some of 
the Japanese assert that the total is eight millions. Each 
village, town, river, lake, stream, city, mountain, and wood 
has its specified god and shrine. When a child is born, it is 
taken to the shrine of the village god, and dedicated to its 
service ; thenceforth, the god of that shrine becomes the 
child's patron, guide, and preserver. Each god has a yearly 
festival, while others have a number of particular festivals 
or prayer-days, on which the poor, deluded villagers go to 
the shrine, offer gifts, and pray in their singular fashion. 
This fashion is a most easy one, merely requiring the wor- 
shipper to clap his hands, two or three times, very loudly, 
in front of the shrine, and to bow his head to the ground. 
A worshipper of Shinto, on rising in the morning, will care- 
fully rinse his mouth, hands, and face with water, then bow 
humbly before the sun, as he rises in the eastern horizon, 
concluding his morning's devotions, probably by a clap of 
