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.
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