LETTER XIX

Summary

Niigata, July 6.

There is a street here called Teramachi, or Temple Street. On one side, for nearly its whole length, there are Buddhist temples, temple grounds, and priests' houses, the other side is mainly composed of jôrôyas. These temples are mostly handsome and spacious. The panelled ceilings and the rows of pillars which support them are of the finely grained and richly coloured wood of the Retinospora obtusa. In all nearly one half of the area is railed off from the “laity.” In each the high altar is magnificent, and altogether free from frippery and meretricious ornament. The altar-pieces proper consist of an incense burner with a perforated cover in the centre, flower vases on either side, and candelabra placed to the right and left of the flower vases, all of bronze, and often designed after ancient Chinese patterns, the originals of which are said to have travelled from India with the early Buddhist propagandists. On the whole, the Niigata temples are ecclesiastical and devotional-looking, and if a few of the Buddhist insignia were removed, they might be used for Christian worship without alteration. Their brass vessels are very beautiful, and their chalices, flagons, lamps, and candlesticks are classical in form and severely simple.

On the altars are draped, standing figures of Buddha with glories round their heads, in gorgeous shrines, looking like Madonnas, and below them the altar-pieces previously mentioned, fresh flowers in the vases, and the curling smoke of incense diffusing a dreamy fragrance. Antique lamps, burning low and never extinguished, hang in front of the shrine.