a long scroll in his hand, and another writing down with a pen his (Emma-o's) Judgment. I think, that like many other things, this idea of a judge with assistants, some reading the sins of the offender from scrolls in the form of flat pieces of wood, and others holding pens to take down the decision of the presiding judge, has also gone to Japan from China, because I saw similar scenes on a larger scale in China in a temple, which is spoken of as the East temple and which I had the pleasure of visiting on 30th March 1922. In a number of rooms in this temple, there were images depicting a council scene or a judgment scene with a presiding judge and a number of other councillors or assistants, some holding scrolls in the form of the above kind of a flat piece of wood and others holding pens in their hands. We thus see that such scrolls have then come to be the insignia of some high functionaries, assisting the cause of Justice. They have passed into the Church as emblems of priestly authority,

Rinzo or the Revolving library of some Buddhist temple in Japan.

Some Buddhist temples possess rinzos or revolving libraries. In my paper on "The Praying wheels " of the Tibetans as seen by me in three Tibetan gumpas or monasteries around Darjeeling, read before this Society, I have spoken at some length on what I have called, "a shortening process,"

1 Messrs. Chamberlain and Mason, in their hand-book of Japan (9th ed., p. 45), speak of this second assistant as holding “a pen to write down the sins of human beings," I think that this assistant's function is not to write down the sins, which are already on the scroll in the hand of the other assistant, and which function, therefore, it is unnecessary to repeat, but to write down the decision of the Judge, The scene is like that of Mithra (Meher Dâvar or Meher the Judge) of the Avesta, the like of which we see among the Egyptians and also among other nations, (Vide my paper on "The Belief about the Future of the Soul among the ancient Egyptians and Iranians. Journal B. B. R. A, S., Vol. XX, pp. 156-190." Vide my Asiatic Papers, Part I, pp. 137-46.)

2 Journal, Vol. X, pp. 88-94. Vide my Anthropological Papers, Part 1, pp. 85-91.

adopted by some religious communities in their prayers. The Tibetan wheels of prayer have their counterpart in the Rinzos or Revolving Libraries of some Buddhist temples of Japan. This is a wooden box, containing Buddhist scriptures, which is so constructed with a pivot, that you can easily turn it with a push. Just as in the case of the prayingwheel, a Tibetan worshipper is believed to say all the prayers written on the scroll of paper, put round the wheel and to acquire all the meritoriousness which can be derived by actually reading all the prayers, so a Japanese Buddhist is believed to derive the meritoriousness of reciting all the Buddhist Scriptures placed in the revolving box, by turning it on its pivot three times. The Revolving library of Japan goes a step further than the Tibetan wheel, because, generally, in the case of the wheel, it is only a few prayers from the scriptures that are written, but in the case of the Japanese library, it is a large part of the scriptures that are written. Suppose, that the whole of the Talmud, the Bible, the Koran, the Vedas or the Zend-Avesta is written on rolls of paper, put round a roller, and suppose that the roller is turned round thrice, and suppose that it is believed that thereby, a Jew or a Christian or a Mahomedan or a Hindu or a Parsee has recited all his respective scriptures. This supposition will give you an idea of the Tibetan Prayer-wheel and a Japanese Revolving box of Buddhist scriptures. Such revolving boxes are not common in all the Buddhist temples of Japan. They are rare. Fu-Daishi, a canonized or deified Buddhist priest of China, who flourished in the 6th century A.C., is said to have introduced it into Japan from China, where it may have entered in a modified form from Tibet.

Rice as offering.

One

As in many nations, rice, which forms the staple food of the Japanese, is held to be an appropriate thing for offerings. Daikoku, their god of Wealth, is represented with rice bales. In the gift-boxes placed in the temples, some people throw rice as well as money. On

the torii which are gateways forming a special feature of Japanese architecture, ropes made of dried rice plants are put up as offerings.

Cure of illness by touching an image.

Futatabi-san is the name of a temple on a hill, about 1,600 feet high, situated in the row of mountains which form a beautiful background to the city of Kobe and about three miles from Kobe. I had the pleasure of seeing it in the morning of 23rd April. A walk of gradual ascent by a beautiful valley on the side of the Suwa-yama hill (one mile from Kobe) takes us there within two hours and the descent via what is known as Hunter's gap, so called from a resident Mr. Hunter's property there, brings us to the foot of the hill within an hour. The temple is dedicated to Kobo Daishi and commands a good view of all the surrounding hills, and, among them, the hill known as "Aden," so named by Europeans on account of its giving from a distance the appearance of the contour of Aden and on account of its treeless condition. In that temple, we saw an image of Binzuru or Binduru, who was, at first, one of the 16 rakans (Sans. Arhân or Arhat) or the 16 disciples of Buddha, who are represented in various postures in Japanese painting and sculpture. He was a fallen angel like Satan, his fall being due to his violation of the vow of chastity by criticising the beauty of a woman. Owing to his fall, his image is not placed within the sanctum sanctorum of a temple but always outside. So, we saw it in the above temple also outside the sanctum, on our right when we stood facing the temple. Though thus fallen, he was conferred by Buddha the power of curing physical illness

1 Kobo Daishi (774-834 A.C.) was a known Buddhist Saint with whom Japanese tradition has connected a number of miracles. He is believed not to have been dead, but like Yudhishtira of India and Kaikhosru of Iran, to have retired from the world and is expected to reappear on the coming of Miroku, the Buddhist Messiah (Sans. Mâitrêya) who will come about 5000 years after Buddha's entry into Nirvana.

of men. So, the pilgrims or worshippers touched with their hands that portion of the body of this image, which corresponded to those parts of their body which suffered pain, and then rubbed their hands over their aching parts. If one had a pain in the foot, he touched the foot of the image; if he suffered in the hand, he touched the hand of the image, and so on. The constant touch of suffering pilgrims has worn out or polished particular portions of the image. We found that the forehead was the most often touched part of the image.1

Mirror plays an important part in the religious belief of the Japanese. So, many temples have mirrors, generally of polished metals. I saw such a

Mirror as a

sacred implement.

The use

mirror in the temple of Futatabi-san at Kobe. of mirror in temples is associated with a story of Ama-terasu, lit. the "Heaven-shiner," who is the Sun-goddess of the Japanese. She is believed to be the ancestress of the Mikados of Japan. The story is, that her brother, Susa-no-o, (lit. the impetuous male) having once insulted her, she retired into a cavern, thus throwing darkness upon the whole world. A number of gods and goddesses went to the entrance of her cavern and entreated her to come out and illuminate the world again. They added music and dancing to their entreaties to entice her out of the cave. These drew her to the entrance to see what the whole show was about, but still she did not come out. Then, one of the gods presented before her a mirror, and, seeing her own beautiful face in it, she was tempted to come out to show that face again to the world. The sacred dances of Japanese girls in the temples are said to have originated

1 This cure by touch reminds us of the supposed cure of leprosy by touching the garment of a king, believed in, even by men like the great Johnson. In China, in a temple, spoken of as the East temple, visited by me on 30th April 1922, two horse statues were pointed out to me, as possessing such power of cure. If you have a pain in your hand you are to touch the front legs of the horses; if you have a pain in your feet, you are to touch the hind legs, and so on.

from this story, wherein we see the dance and the music alluring the goddess out of her retirement. The sacred dance and music in the temples are believed to be a symbolic repetition of the entreaties to the goddess to favour the world with her gift of light.

Moralists thus explain the symbolic use of mirrors. If a man or woman, looking into a mirror, finds his or her face ugly, he or she must try to make up for the physical ugliness by mental or moral beauty. If she or he finds it beautiful, she or he must resolve, not to mar the beauty by any mental or moral ugliness.

Mirror plays some part in the Hindu rituals also. It is shown to the images of gods and goddesses. I think that its religious use of this kind began first with its use at the Snan or bath. On the bathing ghats of many cities, even in Bombay, you find the Brahmins keeping a mirror among the paraphernalia of their ceremonial requisites. The worshipper, after bathing and combing his hair, looks into the mirror handed by the Brahmin, to see, if he was properly dressed and combed, and if he had the religious mark or tillå properly made on the forehead. So, the showing of a mirror became, as it were, a part of the ritual. Then, from man to god was a further step. It began to be shown by the Brahmin to the image of a god which was marked, washed, dressed, flowered and scented for worship.

A FEW NOTES ON A FLYING VISIT TO JAPAN

PAPER III.-THE TEA-CULT OF THE JAPANESE.

BY DR. JIVANJI JAMSHEDJI MODI.

Read on 29th November 1922.

In my last paper on Japan, I dwelt upon its religion. The subject of this day's paper also may be said to be semi-religious. Tea, Flower and Landscape-gardening form the cults of the Japanese.