Near It, As Near Most Temples, Is An
Upright Frame Of Plain Wood With Tablets, On Which Are Inscribed
The Names Of Donors To The Temple, And The Amount Of Their Gifts.
There is a handsome stone-floored temple to the south-east of the
main building, to which we were the sole visitors.
It is lofty and
very richly decorated. In the centre is an octagonal revolving
room, or rather shrine, of rich red lacquer most gorgeously
ornamented. It rests on a frame of carved black lacquer, and has a
lacquer gallery running round it, on which several richly decorated
doors open. On the application of several shoulders to this
gallery the shrine rotates. It is, in fact, a revolving library of
the Buddhist Scriptures, and a single turn is equivalent to a
single pious perusal of them. It is an exceedingly beautiful
specimen of ancient decorative lacquer work. At the back part of
the temple is a draped brass figure of Buddha, with one hand
raised - a dignified piece of casting. All the Buddhas have Hindoo
features, and the graceful drapery and oriental repose which have
been imported from India contrast singularly with the grotesque
extravagances of the indigenous Japanese conceptions. In the same
temple are four monstrously extravagant figures carved in wood,
life-size, with clawed toes on their feet, and two great fangs in
addition to the teeth in each mouth. The heads of all are
surrounded with flames, and are backed by golden circlets. They
are extravagantly clothed in garments which look as if they were
agitated by a violent wind; they wear helmets and partial suits of
armour, and hold in their right hands something between a monarch's
sceptre and a priest's staff.
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