Sir Harry Parkes showed us all their apartments, and the large
though subsidiary temple once used as a hospital, and we afterwards
went to see the service performed in the temple. A dozen bonzes, or
priests, were sitting round in a circle, chanting monotonously from
ponderous volumes, with an occasional accompaniment from a gong or
drum. Incense was being burned, vestments worn, processions formed,
and prayers offered to Buddha to intercede with the Supreme Being. The
accessories and surroundings were of course different, but the
ceremonial struck me as being much the same as that in use at Roman
Catholic places of worship. Mr. Simpson, however, thinks differently.
He says:
'I was only a month in Japan, and that is far too short a time for
anything like serious study; but I was much struck by the temples, and
I find I have some notes in my book comparing them with the Jewish.
How any direct connection could possibly exist, is far beyond my
powers of conjecture; but I will state the points of resemblance, and
leave others to inquire further and collect additional information.
Wood and bronze to this day furnish the material of which temples are
constructed in Japan, with stone as a base. Such also were the
materials of Solomon's temple. There are enclosures round each court
or shrine, and sometimes these courts are three in number.
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