I was told that the Government does not encourage the erection of new temples.  Its notion is that it is better to maintain the existing temples adequately.  When I went to see a gorgeous new temple, I found that official permission for its erection had been obtained because the figures, vessels and some of the fittings of an old and dilapidated temple were to be used in the new edifice.  This temple was on a large tract of land which had recently been recovered from the sea.  The building had cost between 80,000 and 90,000 yen.  It stood on piles on rising ground and had a secondary purpose in that it offered a place of refuge to the settlers on the new land if the sea dike should break.

The founder of the temple was the man who had drained the land and established the colony.  He had given an endowment of 500 yen a year, three-quarters of which was for the priest.  This functionary had also an income of 150 yen from a cho of land attached to the temple.  Further he received gifts of rice and vegetables.  I noticed that the gifts of rice—­acknowledged on a list hung up in his house—­varied in quantity from four pecks to half a cupful.  Probably the priest bought very little of anything.  If he needed matting for his house, which was attached to the temple, or if he had to make a journey, the villagers saw that his requirements were met.  And he was always getting presents of one kind or another.  “A man says to the priest,” I was told, “’This is too good for me; please accept it.’” The villagers on their side sat and smoked in one of the temple rooms and drank his reverence’s tea for hours before and after service.[35]

The building of the temple was not only an act of piety but a work of commercial necessity.  The colonists on the reclaimed land would never have settled there if there had not been a temple to hold them to the place and to provide burial rites for their old parents.  Not all the people were of the same sect of Buddhism, but “they gradually came together.”  A third of what a tenant produced went for rent and another third for fertilisers, the remaining third being his own.  The population was 1,800 in 300 families.  The average area per family was 2 cho and colonists were expected to start with about 200 yen of capital.  Some unpromising tenants had been sent away and “some had left secretly.”  Half of the people were in debt to the landlord—­the total indebtedness was about 15,000 yen—­for the erection of houses and the purchase of implements and stock.  The rate was 8 per cent.  In the district 10 per cent. was quite usual and 12 per cent. by no means rare.  The co-operative society lent at the daily rate of 2-1/2 sen per 100 yen.