Once for all I will describe a Buddhist temple, and it shall be the
popular temple of Asakusa, which keeps fair and festival the whole
year round, and is dedicated to the "thousand-armed" Kwan-non, the
goddess of mercy.
Writing generally, it may be said that in
design, roof, and general aspect, Japanese Buddhist temples are all
alike. The sacred architectural idea expresses itself in nearly
the same form always. There is a single or double-roofed gateway,
with highly-coloured figures in niches on either side; the paved
temple-court, with more or fewer stone or bronze lanterns; amainu,
or heavenly dogs, in stone on stone pedestals; stone sarcophagi,
roofed over or not, for holy water; a flight of steps; a portico,
continued as a verandah all round the temple; a roof of
tremendously disproportionate size and weight, with a peculiar
curve; a square or oblong hall divided by a railing from a
"chancel" with a high and low altar, and a shrine containing
Buddha, or the divinity to whom the chapel is dedicated; an
incense-burner, and a few ecclesiastical ornaments. The symbols,
idols, and adornments depend upon the sect to which the temple
belongs, or the wealth of its votaries, or the fancy of the
priests. Some temples are packed full of gods, shrines, banners,
bronzes, brasses, tablets, and ornaments, and others, like those of
the Monto sect, are so severely simple, that with scarcely an
alteration they might be used for Christian worship to-morrow.
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