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Show THE ARRIVAL Tokyo. Tokyo Is today a really European Eu-ropean city. The tourist In search of old Japan must go elsewhere. Change has been rapid; it will continue until all the old landmarks are gon6. To young Japan, dressing In European garments, aping European ways, badly bad-ly speaking some European language, all this change brings delight. For It, this Is Improvement. The young men date things "from the beginning of the Improvement of Tokyo." and love to say "some day, Tokyo, fine city." Of course, this Europeanization of Japan's capital must needs take place. There are features in it to which I do not at all object. The use of electric cars and of the electric light, for Instance, fit in with the natural life of the people, peo-ple, and their convenience and advantage ad-vantage warrant their introduction. So, too, the excellent system of public pub-lic telephones, a system far more complete com-plete and convenient probably than we have at any place in the United States, is appreciated and utilized by the commonest and poorest people. But when grace and fitness, convenience con-venience and use, are sacrificed with no commensurate gain, we protest. And, indeed, the fondness for foreign Ideas and foreign ways is blind and unreasoning. Thousands of things beautiful and convenient are being sacrificed for inferior, simply because these are foreign. European tirpss is so common as to attract no notice. Not only government officials and employes, em-ployes, school boys and university students, but clerks and business men wear the new costume. It is ugly in the extreme, but that makes little difference; dif-ference; it is the rarest thing in the world for the trousers to fit the legs, or through any amount of use to adapt themselves to the form of the wearers all this founts for nought so long as the fashion is foreign. We have been far too busy in settling set-tling our new home to do much sight seeing. We have, however, taken time for one baseball game and one religious re-ligious festival. The event of the hour was the presence of the Wisconsin Wiscon-sin team. Postal cards representing represent-ing them and their opponents and scenes from the games already al-ready played were displayed at every shop. The newspapers contained columns of notice and some most curious curi-ous and interesting pictures of incidents inci-dents in the contests. The first opponents op-ponents with whom our boys played were the team of the "Keio" university. The visitors lost both games. We saw the third game of the series, played with the boys of Waseda university. uni-versity. Thi institution includes, preparatory nd collegiate departments, depart-ments, and numbers some eight thousand thou-sand students. Its grade of work is high. It was founded by Baron Okuma, the well known opposition leader. In a certain sense it is the rival of the Imperial university, representing both in politics and spirit a non-administration party and constituency. The game was played at the playgrounds of the "Keio," to reach which we were forced to walk some little distance after leaving the street car line. Great numbers of people were on their way to see the game, and when we reached the gTounds it was difficult to find seats anywhere. The contrast between the two teams was quite marked. Several Sev-eral of the Wisconsin men are notably large and heavy fellows, but a consid-erable consid-erable range of size exists within the team; the boys of the Waseda team are far more uniform in size, and notably more slender and less heavy.. The local newspapers were all represented repre-sented by reporters; their tables set in a long line close by the field in front of the highest-priced seats of spectators, formed by far the most curious and novel feature of the scene. A great crowd of Waseda rooters with their red flags sat solidly together in one section of the grand stand. Our boys sadly needed encouragement from the audience, and had to do their own rooting. They succeeded In making ma-king two runs in the first inning and five runs in the second, after which the Japanese players held them down, and they made no further score during the game. The Waseda boys made runs only in the fifth inning, when they scored four counts. The Japanese umpire made several rulings which were questionable, none of which ever happened to be against the local team On the whole, however, they did not affect the score. It is very Interesting to see the readiness with which Japan has seized upon the new form of sport, and her enthusiasm over it. It Is typical of her readiness to borrow. After a hard day -of constant rain we came borne upon the evening of Ihe twelfth to find a postal card from a native friend calling our attention to the great festival to take place at Ikegami that night. Though tired and wet, we started off at once, and after an hour and a half we found ourselves our-selves at Omori station, with a mile and three-quarters between us and the temple. Our last street cars had been Jammed to the door, and when we dismounted, dis-mounted, we needed no guide to show the way. The station was blazing with arches of electric-lighted paper lanterns lan-terns in spite of the downpourlng rain. Swept along by the crowds we found ourselves upon o narrow street literally literal-ly packed with people, part of them going to, and part coining from the temple. All carried umbrellas. We plodded along through a sheet of mud and water. Both sides of the street were lined with shops and booths which were brilliantly lighted, and which offered food and drink, amusement amuse-ment and cheer, at cheap prices to the passers. Everywhere men, women and children were shrieking to pilgrims praisiug their wares. Paper lanterns, toys of all kinds, banners in honor of the saint and temple, cakes and sweets, tea. sake, hot fish, fried lobsters, lob-sters, boiled clams were everywhere in evidence. Only the fact that thousands thou-sands of men, women and children no larger nor stronger than ourselves, were plodding patiently onward toward the shrine, kept us going; time after time we felt inclined to turn back and seek our comfortable home; but we kept on and on and on, uncertain how much further we must go, and how much longer our discomfort must endure. Finally the road turned sharply to the right. The rain came down as never; the mud was ankle deep, and splashed to the knees with every step; but from the din we heard before us we were confident con-fident that we were near our destination. destina-tion. We crossed a little bridge, found ourselves on good stone pavement, pave-ment, and shortly stood at the bottom of the great stairway of 96 stone steps leading upward to the temple. Just as we reached the summit there was a lull in the downpour, and we stood at one side to look down the stairway. The festival is called the feast of one hundred thousand lanterns, and notwithstanding not-withstanding the bad night, thousands of lanterns certainly were out. A band of worshipers was Just approaching the foot of the stairway. At their head two lusty barelegged boys carried car-ried paper lanterns to lieht the nath- behind them came 20 worshipers, each with a drum upon which he beat vigorously vig-orously a lively afr which we learned to be the accompaniment to the famous fa-mous prayer or formula taught by Nichiren 650 years ago. Behind them came the bearers of the great lantern. lan-tern. This was 'made in fantastic form and decorated with paintings having reference to the teaching of the sect. It was surmounted by a great crown of trailing sprays of bamboo bam-boo loaded with tufts of white and pink tissue paper. It was flanked on both sides by smaller illuminations. The whole party began the ascent vigorously, and made no pause up the 96 stairs, if anything, increasing the energy of their movements as they ascended. Finally they reached the summit in a special spurt of vigor. The drums were beaten more vigorously, vigor-ously, the prayers sung more earnestly earnest-ly as they concluded the ascent and nearcd the sacrificial shrine. It was the most striking picture of vigorous and active energy that I have seen for a long time. But this group was but one of hundreds. We stood there long, looking at one after another as they came up the great stairway. The noise was so great that conversation was impossible. The little bands varied in size from three or four worshipers wor-shipers to parties of fifty or sixty; some were notable for their poverty and decrepitude, others for their extravagant ex-travagant display and physical vigor. Finally we followed one of the large bands up to the temple sacred to Nichiren; we stood behind them as they beat their drums before the saint, throwing their coppers into the collection col-lection box, repeating their prayers with earnestness. It is perhaps the most genuinely Japanese of all Buddhist Bud-dhist sects. The drum beating Is its characteristic. Nichiren is pre-eminently a favorite of Tokyo. It was here and hereabouts that the old saint lived and died, and the celebration which we witnessed is commemorative of the anniversary of his death, which took place 1282 at this spot. Nchiren was born at Kiminato on the Bay of Yedo in 1222. When 12 years old he became an acolyte of the Shingon sect and at 15 a priest. He quickly, however, became discontented discontent-ed with the teachings of that body, and had varir- ' miraculous revela tions. I( was at tl.ls u. - i In-adopted In-adopted the name of Nichiren, by which he Is called now, which has reference to his miraculous birth Like so many other saints and deities in all religions, his was an immaculate conception. In a dream his mother saw the sun resting upon a lotus flower, with the result that Nichiren was born. His life is full of miracles. He did not need to study the canon of sacred scripture, but received it at a moment of revelation. He composed a formula of four words Namu, myotic, myo-tic, renge, kyo the repetition of which Is the essence of his worship and the chief religious act of his sect. He was eternally getting into trouble with rulers in his lifetime, and always escaping es-caping from their efforts to destroy him. Thus, on one occasion he was sentenced to execution, but the knife of the executioner had no effect upon him. His greatest temple is at Mino-bu, Mino-bu, where he spent a considerable portion por-tion of his life. The one at Ikegami is perhaps the second in importance of the sectr which is a large one in its membership. Zeal and intolerance were the essence of Nichiren's character, char-acter, and zeal and intolerance form the marked characteristics of his followers fol-lowers to the present day. Nichiren was the very democrat of Buddhism. He not only taught the worship of the great Gautama, and other worship common to Buddhists, but extended divinity to all the world. According to his teachings, not only man, but animals, plants, and mud itself are capable of attaining to Buddhahood. After plodding and splashing for a mile and three-quarters through a liquid mud that would do credit to St. Louis, one can but feel grateful at his i discovery. Two days later with better weather we visited Ikegami once again, this time to secure some pictures. It is almost a typical Buddhist temple. After mounting the great stairway one passes under the heavy, elaborately decorated gateway of red painted wood, guarded by the two great Nio figures, into the temple courtyard. Before Be-fore us to the left is the main temple dedicated to Buddha himself, and known for that reason as the Shaka shrine. To the right is the founder's temple with a great Image of Nichiren High up behind the great tem pie are the priests' quarters. The old ones were destroyed by fire some years ago, but new one; have been, and are being, constructed. By chance we were taken through them, and the rooms were so large and lofty, so clean and beautiful, as to arouse our envy, and make us wish that we, too, were Buddhist priests entitled to occupy them. At the last one to which we were taken a delightful delight-ful surprise came to us. We looked out upon a scene of the. rarest beauty, the garden of the monastery. Its beauty lies largely in the fact that 11 is to a great degree unartificlal. A natural basin has been utilized, the further border of which rises in a lovely love-ly pine-covered ridge as a background Within this natural basin is a pretty pond, a little stream of water and rock work, partly artificial, planted with splendid .shrubs and trees. A scene of perfect peace and tranquility! What a contrast between the two aspects of our little street! Two days ago the din and bustle and confusion; con-fusion; today, the calm and peace and loneliness. Yet as we pass again between be-tween the double line of little shops and booths, now listless and deserted, we now and then come upon a bit of promise for the future. Groups of sruali boys, almost toddlers, are out upon the streets with toy banners and illuminated miniature lanterns and small drums and tin cans on which they beat, the while muttering: "Namu, myoho, renge, kyo." They are playing, but it is training for future celebrations of the "Festival of Ten Hundred Thousand Lanterns," and in these little fellows of four or five years old, we see signs of the same vigorous earnestness shown b;- the groups of pilgrims of the other night It is this same vigor and force and earnestness, the same devotion and blind enthusiasm, which hurled th bands of Japanese soldiers up the slopes at Port Arthur. The sect of Nichiren is militant and warlike. (Copyright. 1910. by tV. Q. Chapman.) |