Within There Was A Gorgeous
Shrine, And When An Acolyte Drew Aside The Curtain Of Cloth Of Gold
The Interior
Was equally imposing, containing Buddha and two other
figures of gilded brass, seated cross-legged on lotus-flowers, with
rows
Of petals several times repeated, and with that look of
eternal repose on their faces which is reproduced in the commonest
road-side images. In front of the shrine several candles were
burning, the offerings of some people who were having prayers said
for them, and the whole was lighted by two lamps burning low. On a
step of the altar a much-contorted devil was crouching uneasily,
for he was subjugated and, by a grim irony, made to carry a massive
incense-burner on his shoulders. In this temple there were more
than a hundred idols standing in rows, many of them life-size, some
of them trampling devils under their feet, but all hideous, partly
from the bright greens, vermilions, and blues with which they are
painted. Remarkable muscular development characterises all, and
the figures or faces are all in vigorous action of some kind,
generally grossly exaggerated.
While we were crossing the court there were two shocks of
earthquake; all the golden wind-bells which fringe the roofs rang
softly, and a number of priests ran into the temple and beat
various kinds of drums for the space of half an hour. Iyemitsu's
tomb is reached by flights of steps on the right of the chapel. It
is in the same style as Iyeyasu's, but the gates in front are of
bronze, and are inscribed with large Sanskrit characters in bright
brass. One of the most beautiful of the many views is from the
uppermost gate of the temple. The sun shone on my second visit and
brightened the spring tints of the trees on Hotoke Iwa, which was
vignetted by a frame of dark cryptomeria.
Some of the buildings are roofed with sheet-copper, but most of
them are tiled. Tiling, however, has been raised almost to the
dignity of a fine art in Japan. The tiles themselves are a coppery
grey, with a suggestion of metallic lustre about it. They are
slightly concave, and the joints are covered by others quite
convex, which come down like massive tubes from the ridge pole, and
terminate at the eaves with discs on which the Tokugawa badge is
emblazoned in gold, as it is everywhere on these shrines where it
would not be quite out of keeping. The roofs are so massive that
they require all the strength of the heavy carved timbers below,
and, like all else, they gleam with gold, or that which simulates
it.
The shrines are the most wonderful work of their kind in Japan. In
their stately setting of cryptomeria, few of which are less than 20
feet in girth at 3 feet from the ground, they take one prisoner by
their beauty, in defiance of all rules of western art, and compel
one to acknowledge the beauty of forms and combinations of colour
hitherto unknown, and that lacquered wood is capable of lending
itself to the expression of a very high idea in art.
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