III. IZUMO’S GREAT TEMPLE 204 IV. KIZUKI’S BAY 211 V. IN MATSUÉ 214 VI. THE TWO SPIRITS 235 THE HEART OF THE PEOPLE I. TOKYO 243 II. EAST AND WEST 255 III. YONÉ’S BABY 257 IV. THE GRAVES OF THE RŌNIN 260 V. THE DOLLS’ FESTIVAL 263 VI. WITH DEATH BESIDE HER 266 VII. KYOTO’S SOIRÉE 269 VIII. NŌ 273 IX. A JAPANESE BANK-HOLIDAY 278 X. THE PALACE OF THE SON OF HEAVEN 282 XI. AND SHE WAS A WIDOW 285 GLOSSARY 293 THE FAITH OF JAPAN “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” _John_ xiv. Tenshi ni kuchi nashi hito o motte iwashimu. “Heaven has no mouth, it makes men speak for it.” _Japanese Proverb._ I DAI BUTSU (GREAT BUDDHA) The great God Buddha sits peaceful and still, a line of dark bronze against the blue sky, and the length of the garden is flooded with light. Two tall pink cherry-trees drop blushing snowflakes on to his broad shoulders, and the sound of running water is a liquid prayer. Under his heavy-lidded eyes he looks as one who saw not, or saw too well, and his slow smile is inscrutable and still. The mystery of it draws one nearer. What is thy secret, Great Lord Buddha? But the heavy-lidded eyes droop lower, and the slow smile is still. Only the cherry-trees send their pale pink petals floating downward into the bronzed lap. And the murmuring water runs more swiftly. Immutable he sits, and still; enduring, unchanging, though the sea destroy his temples and the earthquakes rock about his feet. Buddha on his lotus-leaf is still. And the generations of men rise up, and pass away, fretted with life’s fitful fever, and searching for his secret. Buddha is still, his slow smile unchanging, his heavy eyelids drooped. Is that thy secret, Great Lord Buddha? The mystery we passion-swept, ever-changing mortals can never penetrate? “God is the same, for ever. The _same_, and _for ever_.” And the murmuring water runs, the cherry-trees bloom and fade, the centuries pass away. Still the heavy-lidded eyes are drooped, the slow smile is inscrutable and still. Lord Buddha keeps his secret. Or is it only we who cannot read. II THE SHRINES OF ISÉ