The Boy Travellers in the Far East [Part First]: Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Japan and ChinaKnox, Thomas Wallace
General
The Boy Travellers in the Far East [Part First]: Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Japan and China
Knox, Thomas Wallace
China -- Description and travel -- Juvenile literature; Japan -- Description and travel -- Juvenile literature
Then he went on to explain that there is a formula of prayers on the
sides of the post, and sometimes on the wheel, and that for each
revolution of the wheel these prayers are supposed to be uttered. A
devotee passes, and, as he does so, he revolves the wheel; and for each
time it turns around a prayer is recorded in heaven to his credit. It
follows that a man with strong arms, and possessing a knack of making
the wheel spin around, can do a great deal more petitioning to Heaven
than the weak and clumsy one.
Fred thought that it would be a good thing to attach these prayer-wheels
to mills propelled by water, wind, or steam, and thus secure a steady
and continuous revolution. The Doctor told him that this was actually
done in some of the Buddhist countries, and a good many of the pious
people said their prayers by machinery.
[Illustration: ARCHERY ATTENDANT.]
They strolled along to where there were some black-eyed girls in charge
of booths, where, for a small consideration, a visitor can practise
shooting with bows and arrows. The bows were very small, and the arrows
were blunt at the ends. The target was a drum, and consequently the
marksman's ear, rather than the eye, told when a shot was successful.
The drums were generally square, and in front of each there was a little
block of wood. A click on the wood showed that a shot was of more value
than when it was followed by the dull boom of the drum. The girls
brought tea to the boys, and endeavored to engage them in conversation,
but, as there was no common language in which they could talk, the
dialogue was not particularly interesting. The boys patronized the
archery business, and tried a few shots with the Japanese equipments;
but they found the little arrows rather difficult to handle, on account
of their diminutive size. An arrow six inches long is hardly heavy
enough to allow of a steady aim, and both of the youths declared they
would prefer something more weighty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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