Japan: An Attempt at InterpretationHearn, Lafcadio
Religion
Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation
Hearn, Lafcadio
Japan -- Civilization
first mistaken for a new kind of Buddhism; and in the extant official
grant of land at Yamaguchi to the Portuguese mission, in 1552, the
Japanese text plainly states that the grant (which appears to have
included a temple called Daidoji) was made to the strangers that they
might preach [333] the Law of Buddha "--Buppo shoryo no tame. The
original document is thus translated by Sir Ernest Satow, who
reproduced it in facsimile:--
"With respect to Daidoji in Yamaguchi Agata, Yoshiki department,
province of Suwo. This deed witnesses that I have given permission to
the priests who have come to this country from the Western regions,
in accordance with their request and desire, that they may found and
erect a monastery and house in order to develope the Law of Buddha.
"The 28th day of the 8th month of the 21st year of Tembun.
"SUWO NO SUKE.
[August Seal]"*
[*In the Latin and Portuguese translations, or rather pretended
translations of this document, there is nothing about preaching the
Law of Buddha; and there are many things added which do not exist in
the Japanese text at all. See Transactions of the Asiatic Society of
Japan (Vol. VIII, Part II) for Satow's comment on this document and
the false translation made of it.]
If this error [or deception?] could have occurred at Yamaguchi, it is
reasonable to suppose that it also occurred in other places.
Exteriorly the Roman rites resembled those of popular Buddhism: the
people would have observed but little that was unfamiliar to them in
the forms of the service, the vestments, the beads, the prostrations,
the images, the bells, and the incense. The virgins and the saints
would have been found to resemble the aureoled Boddhisattvas and
Buddhas; the angels and the demons would have been at once identified
with the Tennin [334] and the Oni. All that pleased popular
imagination in the Buddhist ceremonial could be witnessed, under
slightly different form, in those temples which had been handed over
to the Jesuits, and consecrated by them as churches or chapels. The
fathomless abyss really separating the two faiths could not have been
perceived by the common mind; but the outward resemblances were
immediately observable. There were furthermore some attractive
novelties. It appears, for example, that the Jesuits used to have
miracle-plays performed in their churches for the purpose of
attracting popular attention.... But outward attractions of whatever
sort, or outward resemblances to Buddhism, could only assist the
spread of the new religion; they could not explain the rapid progress
of the propaganda.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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