ABSTRACT
Several lanterns are kept in reserve so that in case of repairs or anything happening to the flame lantern, the flame can be quickly transferred, priests from the various monasteries performing these religious duties, thus keeping the flame burning. The immense Koya-San cemetery is the most unique in Japan. It extends through a large grove of noble cryptomarias to the Toro-do, a building containing over 3000 lanterns, gifts of devotees. Shintoism is cult which embraces nature—and ancestor —worship. As to Buddhism in Japan, Indian religious men have remarked that devotion to Buddha was greater in Japan than in India, where the Sage was born. Protestant missions and Roman Catholic missionaries next began their work about 1859, and at first all missionaries met with the greatest obstacles —all Japanese being strictly forbidden to believe in the “Evil Christian Religion.” In Spring and Autumn, bands of pilgrims, robed in white, go their way through the countryside from temple to temple—an arresting sight.
