Again the bugles rang out filling the valley with the inspiring music of the anthem “Save our Country”; rifles rattled to the salute and the army below stirred into life. It was the end. Sharp words of command followed the notes of the bugle and the troops marched away to their appointed places at the outposts and lines of defence. Meanwhile the officers were laying upon the altar the last tribute of respect to the _manes_ of their comrades. Upon a table near the shrine there were many small branches of pine to each of which was attached a strip of white paper. General Nishi strode forward and receiving one of these branches saluted the altar and laid upon it this emblem of sincerity and purity. Prince Kunni followed with other officers and the foreign _attachés_, each of whom paid this tribute to the men who had fallen in battle. Chapter XIX A BUDDHIST CEREMONY. When the priest of Shinto had bowed before the shrine and the last offering had been made, the soldiers marched away. But the service for the dead was not ended. Out of the little sacristy came a priest in robes of shimmering silk, and placed upon the altar flowers and a censer. The pine branches were removed, and, behold, the sanctury of the Sun Goddess became the shrine of Buddha. There was a time within the memory of men still young when they were worshipped in the same temple, for the Chinese missionaries who entered Japan in the Sixth Century accepted the Shinto deities as avatars or incarnations of Buddha, and the two faiths were so fused that the number of pure Shintoists and pure Buddhists was very small. By its doctrine and by its ritual Buddhism appeals to the heart and conscience, and for many generations it was the popular religion. But with the restoration of the Emperor the position was changed. If Japan had to adopt a foreign civilisation, she had, at any rate, a religion that was indigenous, and suited to the political conditions of the moment. Shinto proclaimed the divine origin of the Emperor, and its doctrine was implicit obedience to his decrees. Therefore, Shinto was made the national religion, and the temples were cleansed of idols and incense and gorgeous vestments.