and thirteen hundred and eighty-five priests, monks and nuns in Japan.  Many of the most famous temples, which are now full of wealth and renown, trace their foundations to this era of Sh[=o]toku and of his aunt, the Empress Suiko (A.D. 593-628), who were friendly to the new religion.  Sh[=o]toku may be almost called the founder of Japanese Buddhism.  Although a layman, he is canonized and stands unique in the Pantheon of Eastern Buddhism, his image being prominently visible in thousands of Japanese temples.

Legend, in no country more luxurious than in Japan, tells us that the exotic religion made no progress until Amida, the boundlessly Merciful One, assuming the shape of a concubine of the imperial prince who afterward became the Mikado Yome, gave birth to Sh[=o]toku, who was himself Kwannon or the goddess of mercy in human form; and that when he grew up, he took to wife an incarnation of the Buddha elect, Mahastana-prapta, or in Japanese Dai-sei-shi, whose idol is honored at Zenk[=o]ji.

The New Faith Becomes Popular.

Then Buddhism became popular, passing out from the narrow circle of the court to be welcomed by the people.  In A.D. 623, monks came over directly from China, and we find mentioned two sects, the Sanron and the J[=o]jitsu, which are no longer extant in Japan.  In about A.D. 650 the fame of Yuan Chang (Hiouen Thsang) the Chinese pilgrim to India, or the holy land, reached-Japan; and his illustrious example was enthusiastically followed.  History now frequently repeated itself.  The Japanese monk, D[=o]sh[=o], crossed the seas to China to gaze upon the face and become the pupil of that illustrious Chinese pilgrim, who had seen Buddha Land.  Later on, other monks crossed to the land of Sinim, until we find that in this and succeeding centuries, hundreds of Japanese in their frail junks, braved the dangers of the stormy ocean, in order to study Sanskrit, to read the old scriptures, to meet the new lights of learning or revelation, and to become versed in the latest fashions of religion.  We find the pilgrims returning and founding new sects or sub-sects, and stimulating by their enthusiasm the monks and the home missionaries.  In the year A.D. 700 the custom of cremation was introduced.  This wrought not only a profound change in customs, but also became the seed of a rich crop of superstitions; since out of the cremated bodies of the saints came forth the shari or, in Sanskrit, sarira.  These hard substances or pellets, preserved in crystal cabinets, are treated as holy gems or relics.  Thus venerated, they become the nuclei of cycles of fairy lore.