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.
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