There are two accounts of the introduction of Buddhism into Japan; according to Siebold, in 552, Sching-ming-whang, king of Petsi—a Corean state, then a dependant and ally of Japan—sent to the court of the _mikado_, a bronze image of the Sakya Buddha, with flags, books, &c.; and a letter which said, “This doctrine is the best of any. It reveals what was a riddle and a mystery even to Kung-foo-tse. It promises us happiness and retribution, immeasurable and boundless; and finally makes of us an unsurpassable Buddhi. It is, to use a simile, a treasure containing all that human heart desires; affording all that is for our good. And this treasure possesses a twofold value, because it so completely adapts itself to the nature of our soul. Pray or make vows according to the disposition of your mind, you will want for nothing. The doctrine came to us from farther India. The king of Petsi imparts it to the realm of the _mikado_, in order that it may be there diffused, and that which is written in the book of Buddha be fulfilled. My doctrine shall spread toward the East.” This temple may have been one dedicated to _Rioboo-Synsu_ worship—Sintooism blended with Buddhism—and the female image was that of Tensio-dai-zin. Buddhism is regarded as a kind of safeguard against expelled and detested Christianity, and the lower order are all Buddhists. The Sintoo and Buddhist priests or bonzes, who constitute the clergy of Japan, are held in very little repute by the people, and this remote regard seems to be reciprocated by the clericals. Both classes, so far as I observed, lounge and gossip in their places of worship, attaching little or no sanctity to it, except it may be, when immediately engaged in their devotions. On one occasion I noticed a parcel of devotees in a temple, with a kind of sack surplice about their shoulders, engaged in their religious exercises, and while thus employed, some shaven-poll junior priests were very deliberately sweeping the floor-mats in their faces, as if giving them a practical illustration of throwing dust in their eyes. In passing from the front of one altar to another they invariably dropped the priests’ perquisite of copper cash in the well-locked boxes.