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Updated: May 19, 2025
From this island there is no return, and the unhappy, incarcerated nobles, are compelled to support themselves by weaving silks, which are the most beautiful the country produces. A junk visits the island once a-year, when the silks are exchanged for provisions. The Sintoo faith and Buddhism are the prevalent religions of the Japanese.
There are dense forests, and lofty mountains covered almost to their summits with trees. No country has ever been subject to a more absolute despotism than that which exists in Japan. There are two emperors the Mikado, who is the religious chief of the empire, the head of the Sintoo religion; and the Tykoon, or Siokoon, who is the temporal emperor, and the real source of all political power.
His residence is at Yedo. He has under him various great princes or chiefs, many of whom are very powerful. Then there are noblemen of different ranks, who are chiefly employed as officers under the crown, or governors of imperial domains. Next to them are the Sintoo and Buddhist priests, the latter of whom are under a vow of celibacy. The soldiers come after the priests in rank.
Every Sintoo has the image of a patron 'kami, or 'saint, enshrined in his house, to which he lays open his necessities and confesses his shortcomings, and by whose intercession with the Supreme Being he trusts at his death to be translated to the regions of the 'kamis, as they designate their heaven.
The Sintoo worship is practised also among the Japanese, but its temples are less resorted to than those of Buddha. We saw a number of junks building. In shape they were like the Chinese, but none were more than a hundred tons burden. Canvas instead of bamboo is used for sails. The Japanese are decidedly a literary people.
He then commences his petition or confession; places an offering of money in a large trough-like receptacle for the purpose; takes a drink at the holy water font, and departs to his home chatting gaily to his neighbours as he descends the steps. The whole business occupies about five minutes. Sintoo temples have but little interior or body.
Purity of life and body is the leading feature of the Sintoo faith. The value attached to indulgences and charms is very great, and the sale of them contributes largely to the revenues of the Mikado. Charms are eagerly purchased by the lower orders, who carry them about their persons, and never let anybody touch them except themselves.
The car in the foreground bears the trophy of the wax-figure makers, whose trade is one of the most lucrative in Japan, as the Japanese not only perpetuate their celebrities by wax-work effigies, but the majority of the people, being professors of the Sintoo religion, have Lares and Penates of the same material, called 'Kamis, which are supposed to intercede on their behalf with the Supreme Being.
Arches of a curious and simple design, under which it is necessary to pass, are the distinguishing features of a kami or sintoo temple, and perhaps of Japan itself, as the pyramids are characteristic of ancient Egypt. Two uprights of bronze, stone, or wood, inclined to each other at the summits, and held in position by a transverse beam piercing the pillars at about three feet from their tops.
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