The followers of Lao-tzŭ spread his fame among the Japanese islands also, where Sinto or Shên-tao, that is the Spiritual Tao, was known before Buddhism was introduced. Sir R. Alcock, however, says—“That there was an indigenous religion as old as their (the Japanese) history, one formed by and for themselves in long-past ages, the Sintoo, which survives to this day; that some ten or fifteen centuries ago or more, this was overlaid by the Confucian doctrines—a code of moral ethics, not a religion in the proper sense of the term—and about the seventh century both were in great degree supplemented by the Buddhist faith derived from China, we do know with tolerable certainty. But this is nearly the sum.”[6] Mr. Edkins has given a short but very interesting account of Taoism in Japan, derived principally from Kæmpfer. It is somewhat remarkable that as the Japanese have their spiritual chief or Mikado so the Chinese Taoists also have one, and each is supposed to be a present deity having a sacred title derived through many ages. The Chinese chief, however, is a much less powerful and important personage than the Mikado. The first of the Taoist patriarchs in China was Chang Tao-ling (張道陵) who lived in the time of the Han dynasty.[7] Lao-tzŭ appeared to him on the Stork-cry Hill and told him that in order to attain the state of immortality which he was seeking he must subdue a number of demons. Tao-ling in his eagerness slew too many, and Lao-tzŭ told him that Shang Ti required him to do penance for a time. Finally, however, he was allowed to become an immortal, and the spiritual chiefdom of the Taoists was given to his family for ever. The descendants of Tao-ling reside at the Dragon-tiger Hill near Kwei-hsi in the province of Kiangsi. It is apparently about this Chang Tao-ling that Edkins says—“Chang, one of the genii of Taouist romance, is believed to be identical with the star cluster of the same name, and he is represented by painters and idol-makers with a bow in his hands, shooting the heavenly dog.”[8] One title of this spiritual chief in China is Tʽien-shi, or Heavenly Teacher and the original patriarch seems to be worshipped in Japan under this name. Commodore Perry says that of the two and twenty shrines in the kingdom which command the homage of pilgrimage, “the great and most sacred one is that of the Sun-goddess, Ten-sio-dai-sin, at Isye.” Previously he had stated—“It is said that the only object of _worship_ among the Sintoos is the Sun-goddess, Ten-sio-dai-zin, who is deemed the patron divinity of Japan *** The Mikado is supposed to be her lineal descendant.”[8] Why, however, the deity should be a female and a Sun-goddess I do not understand.