The Grand Entrance Gate Is At The Top Of A Handsome Flight Of Steps
Forty Yards From The Torii.
A looped white curtain with the
Mikado's crest in black, hangs partially over the gateway, in
which, beautiful as
It is, one does not care to linger, to examine
the gilded amainu in niches, or the spirited carvings of tigers
under the eaves, for the view of the first court overwhelms one by
its magnificence and beauty. The whole style of the buildings, the
arrangements, the art of every kind, the thought which inspires the
whole, are exclusively Japanese, and the glimpse from the Ni-o gate
is a revelation of a previously undreamed-of beauty, both in form
and colour.
Round the neatly pebbled court, which is enclosed by a bright red
timber wall, are three gorgeous buildings, which contain the
treasures of the temple, a sumptuous stable for the three sacred
Albino horses, which are kept for the use of the god, a magnificent
granite cistern of holy water, fed from the Somendaki cascade, and
a highly decorated building, in which a complete collection of
Buddhist Scriptures is deposited. From this a flight of steps
leads into a smaller court containing a bell-tower "of marvellous
workmanship and ornamentation," a drum-tower, hardly less
beautiful, a shrine, the candelabra, bell, and lantern mentioned
before, and some very grand bronze lanterns.
From this court another flight of steps ascends to the Yomei gate,
whose splendour I contemplated day after day with increasing
astonishment. The white columns which support it have capitals
formed of great red-throated heads of the mythical Kirin. Above
the architrave is a projecting balcony which runs all round the
gateway with a railing carried by dragons' heads. In the centre
two white dragons fight eternally. Underneath, in high relief,
there are groups of children playing, then a network of richly
painted beams, and seven groups of Chinese sages. The high roof is
supported by gilded dragons' heads with crimson throats. In the
interior of the gateway there are side-niches painted white, which
are lined with gracefully designed arabesques founded on the botan
or peony. A piazza, whose outer walls of twenty-one compartments
are enriched with magnificent carvings of birds, flowers, and
trees, runs right and left, and encloses on three of its sides
another court, the fourth side of which is a terminal stone wall
built against the side of the hill. On the right are two decorated
buildings, one of which contains a stage for the performance of the
sacred dances, and the other an altar for the burning of cedar wood
incense. On the left is a building for the reception of the three
sacred cars which were used during festivals. To pass from court
to court is to pass from splendour to splendour; one is almost glad
to feel that this is the last, and that the strain on one's
capacity for admiration is nearly over.
In the middle is the sacred enclosure, formed of gilded trellis-
work with painted borders above and below, forming a square of
which each side measures 150 feet, and which contains the haiden or
chapel. Underneath the trellis work are groups of birds, with
backgrounds of grass, very boldly carved in wood and richly gilded
and painted. From the imposing entrance through a double avenue of
cryptomeria, among courts, gates, temples, shrines, pagodas,
colossal bells of bronze, and lanterns inlaid with gold, you pass
through this final court bewildered by magnificence, through golden
gates, into the dimness of a golden temple, and there is - simply a
black lacquer table with a circular metal mirror upon it.
Within is a hall finely matted, 42 feet wide by 27 from front to
back, with lofty apartments on each side, one for the Shogun and
the other "for his Holiness the Abbot." Both, of course, are
empty. The roof of the hall is panelled and richly frescoed. The
Shogun's room contains some very fine fusuma, on which kirin
(fabulous monsters) are depicted on a dead gold ground, and four
oak panels, 8 feet by 6, finely carved, with the phoenix in low
relief variously treated. In the Abbot's room there are similar
panels adorned with hawks spiritedly executed. The only
ecclesiastical ornament among the dim splendours of the chapel is
the plain gold gohei. Steps at the back lead into a chapel paved
with stone, with a fine panelled ceiling representing dragons on a
dark blue ground. Beyond this some gilded doors lead into the
principal chapel, containing four rooms which are not accessible;
but if they correspond with the outside, which is of highly
polished black lacquer relieved by gold, they must be severely
magnificent.
But not in any one of these gorgeous shrines did Iyeyasu decree
that his dust should rest. Re-entering the last court, it is
necessary to leave the enclosures altogether by passing through a
covered gateway in the eastern piazza into a stone gallery, green
with mosses and hepaticae. Within, wealth and art have created a
fairyland of gold and colour; without, Nature, at her stateliest,
has surrounded the great Shogun's tomb with a pomp of mournful
splendour. A staircase of 240 stone steps leads to the top of the
hill, where, above and behind all the stateliness of the shrines
raised in his honour, the dust of Iyeyasu sleeps in an unadorned
but Cyclopean tomb of stone and bronze, surmounted by a bronze urn.
In front is a stone table decorated with a bronze incense-burner, a
vase with lotus blossoms and leaves in brass, and a bronze stork
bearing a bronze candlestick in its mouth. A lofty stone wall,
surmounted by a balustrade, surrounds the simple but stately
enclosure, and cryptomeria of large size growing up the back of the
hill create perpetual twilight round it. Slant rays of sunshine
alone pass through them, no flower blooms or bird sings, only
silence and mournfulness surround the grave of the ablest and
greatest man that Japan has produced.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 20 of 112
Words from 19546 to 20552
of 115002
