Near The Entrance There Is A Superb Incense-Burner In The Most
Massive Style Of The Older Bronzes, With A Mythical Beast Rampant
Upon It, And In High Relief Round It The Japanese Signs Of The
Zodiac - The Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Serpent, Horse, Goat,
Monkey, Cock, Dog, And Hog.
Clouds of incense rise continually
from the perforations round the edge, and a black-toothed woman who
keeps it
Burning is perpetually receiving small coins from the
worshippers, who then pass on to the front of the altar to pray.
The high altar, and indeed all that I should regard as properly the
temple, are protected by a screen of coarsely-netted iron wire.
This holy of holies is full of shrines and gods, gigantic
candlesticks, colossal lotuses of gilded silver, offerings, lamps,
lacquer, litany books, gongs, drums, bells, and all the mysterious
symbols of a faith which is a system of morals and metaphysics to
the educated and initiated, and an idolatrous superstition to the
masses. In this interior the light was dim, the lamps burned low,
the atmosphere was heavy with incense, and amidst its fumes shaven
priests in chasubles and stoles moved noiselessly over the soft
matting round the high altar on which Kwan-non is enshrined,
lighting candles, striking bells, and murmuring prayers. In front
of the screen is the treasury, a wooden chest 14 feet by 10, with a
deep slit, into which all the worshippers cast copper coins with a
ceaseless clinking sound.
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