About this time Gonjo set out for the province of Isoumis, and retired to the temple of Maki-no-wo Jama-Dera. In the 14th year of the nengo-jen-riak (A.D. 795), Kobou-Daysi was elected high priest of the temple of Fodaysi at Meaco, and assumed the name of Siokou-no-koukai.

On attaining this dignity, he represented to the god of this temple, that he had applied himself with zeal to the study of all that related to his worship, but that notwithstanding his endeavours to make himself thoroughly acquainted with the subject, he had still many doubts which the deity alone could remove. The god listened to his prayers, and sent to him in a dream a spirit who uttered these words:

"The great book of hymns, Day-Biron-sanna-sienben-Kasi, is genuine thou wilt there find numberless wonderful things."

The difficulty was to find out this book. The Japanese saint long sought it in vain; at length he discovered it in the province of Yamatto, near the Todo, or great tower, on the east side. In the intoxication of his joy, he read it with avidity, and there found the solution of several of his doubts; but many of the passages still remained obscure, and to obtain an explanation of them he determined to visit China.'

An opportunity soon occurring, he went to China, and had intercourse with the chief priests there, received valuable presents of their MSS., was initiated in their doctrines, and consecrated by aspersion of water, resembling baptism:

In the third month of the first year of the Chinese nengo (A.D. 806), our saint returned to Japan, and arrived there in the first year of the nengo-daydo, in the reign of Fysjo-ten-o, the fiftyfirst Daïri. He was accompanied in this voyage by Fatjebana-noFaja-nari, renowned, even in this remote country, for the beauty of his writing.

It was then that he assumed the name of Koubou, or Kobou. Historians relate, that all the priests having been summoned to court to preach in turn, Kobou took for the subject of his first sermon the immortality of the soul, on which the Japanese had till then but very confused ideas.

"Since our body was created by God," said Kobou, "my opinion is, that the soul of the just man must ascend to heaven, and return into the bosom of its Creator."

The other ecclesiastics denied the proposition, and raised all sorts of objections against him. Kobou then developed his idea, and explained his sentiments in the most precise terms. The Daïra, who listened to him with attention, said, that he perfectly comprehended the proposition and the explanations given by him, but he denied the very groundwork of the argument. Kobou then raised his clasped hands towards heaven and passed some time in profound meditation. All at once five resplendent rays were seen around his head. The Daïri, in deep emotion, prostrated himself with his face to the ground, and all the courtiers followed his example. The priests, thunderstruck at the sight of such

15

such a miracle, fell on their knees before Kobou, and ceased to dispute with him.

This event occurred during the reign of Saga-ten-o. As soon as the old Dairi was informed of it, he took Kobou for his master, and was, at his desire, baptized according to the rite of Siaka, a thing till then without example, and which has since fallen into disuse.

The new doctrine having quickly spread all over the empire, the Daïri conceived, that the translation of the books of Siaka into the Japanese language would be an inestimable benefit. Kobou in consequence published successively the book of hymns Day-metsgio, next the Boday-sinron, which treats of the state of the soul after death, and then the Siu-siu-sinron. From profound meditation on all the writings, both of his own sect and others, he discovered that the greatest scourges of mankind are:

Sigokf, or hell.

Gaki, woman.

The tjikusio, the man with a perverse heart, and

Sjoura, war.

Kobou composed the book intituled Siou-Tiou-Sinron, containing the ten fundamental tenets of the doctrine of Siaka, namely,

1. Izjo-ty-jo-zin, which teaches that the souls of the wicked pass, after death, into the bodies of sheep.

2. The Goudo-ji-zay-zin. This chapter teaches that the wisest men should not fail to be thankful to the gods for the advantage they enjoy.

3. The Joda-no-ji-zin. This chapter lays it down as a principle, that, in order to be happy in this life and in that to come, the righteous must keep his heart as pure as that of a child.

4. The Ju-joen-mouga-zin. Man must keep his heart as pure as he received it in the womb of his mother: and as he grows older, he must carefully preserve it from all stain.

5. The Batsou-go-in-sjou-zin. The soul of him who breaks these commandments will pass into the body of the basest villain.

6. The Tajin-dai-zjo-zin. The reward of him who applies with ardour to the study of the Day-zjo; that is to say, of all that is most sublime in the doctrine of Siaka, will be the transmigration of his soul into the body of one of the most virtuous priests of that sect.

7. The Cakf-sin-fou-zio-zin. It is necessary during this life to satisfy the heart respecting the state of the soul after death.

8. The Niosits-itji-do-zin. Every person who is well founded in the doctrine of Siaka ought to stifle in his heart every impure desire, and to keep devoutly the divine commandments.

9. The Gokoumou-si-zjo-zin. It is expressly recommended not to take up any particular opinions, but to place perfect confidence in the doctrine of Siaka.

10. The Fi-mits-ziogou-zin. The rich man, who has studied the nine preceding commandments, ought to found temples, and to provide them with all the utensils and ornaments necessary for divine service.

• Such

Such are the ten commandments on which is founded the doctrine of Siaka, that still continues to be taught by the priests of that sect.

During the reign of Zjun-wa-ten-o, the fifty-third Dairi, in the first year of the nango-fen-tjo (A.D. 824), and in the third month, there was an excessive drought through the whole empire. The Daïri ordered Kobou to offer up prayers for rain in the garden of Sinzenjen. An old priest, named Sjubin-Fosi, claimed the preference, which was allowed him on account of his great age. He accordingly began his prayers, and assured the people that there would be rain at the end of seven days. On the morning of the seventh day, the sky became overcast, and there was a violent storm, which gave the Daïri great joy; but the rain extended no farther than the capital, not a drop fell in the provinces.

Kobou then promised to procure by his prayers a general rain throughout all Japan in seven days. Nothwithstanding the fervour of his prayers, the atmosphere continued perfectly dry. He thence concluded that Sjubin-Fosi had, by his prayers, drawn all the deities of the waters to a single point, and in consequence told one of his disciples that Anno-Koudasti-Ruwo, the god of the waters, dwelt in a pond near the temple, directing him to watch to see whether he could perceive any traces of that deity on the surface of the water, which would be an infallible token of rain. The disciple repaired thither with Zinga, Sitsoujé, Zinkjo, and Zinsing. All five distinctly perceived the figure of a dragon, nine feet long, and of a gold yellow colour. Kobou lost no time in communicating the circumstance to the Daïri, who ordered Wakinomat-souna to offer a sacrifice to this deity. In the evening of the seventh day, the sky was all at once overspread with thick clouds; the thunder rolled on all sides, and the fall of rain was so heavy, that the pond overflowed, and it was feared that the altar itself would be carried away by the violence of the inundation. The rain continued throughout the whole empire for thrice twentyfour hours. The Daïri, highly pleased with the result, loaded the saint with valuable presents.

About the same time the pond, situated near the temple, in the province of Kawatje, having suddenly become dry, to the great regret of the priests, Kobou betook himself to prayer, then touched a rock with his finger, and a stream of pure water gushed from it. On this occasion the temple received the name of Riosen-si, which it still bears.

It is related that, one day, when he was addressing his prayers to Fondo, the god of heaven, a brilliant light, which seemed to proceed from Kobou's body, suddenly shone around him. Another time, while he was praying, according to the rite of Soui-soquan, the room in which he was seemed to be full of water. This shewed, according to the doctrine of Siaka, that his thoughts were fixed on the waters, while those of the priests of the other sects being engaged with terrestrial things, their prayers are consequently without efficacy. He had other manners of praying, which tradition has not preserved.'

Kobou

Kobou closed his honourable career on the twenty-first day of the third month at the temple of Kongo-Gousi, after passing seven days in prayer with his disciples to the god Mirokf. On the twenty-first, his speech failed him, and he closed his eyes.

The body of Kobou was not immediately interred, but deposited in the temple. His disciples, dividing themselves into seven parties, watched by him forty-nine times twenty-four hours, performing divine service according to the rites which he had instituted. His beard and his hair continued to grow, and the body retained its natural warmth. In this state they left him fifty days, then shaved his beard and head, and consigned his mortal remains

to the grave.

Kobou's disciples prayed without ceasing at his grave, over which they erected a sepulchral stone. Four days afterwards, the Daïri sent the officer of the funeral ceremonies of the court to make offerings, and took upon himself all the expenses of the obsequies. The funeral oration composed by the old Daïri Fysjoten-o, paid a due tribute to the virtues of the deceased.

It is asserted that, by taking a pencil in each hand, two others between his toes, and a fifth between his lips, Kobou produced five different kinds of writing at once. One day he undertook to renew the Gakf, a sort of inscription over the west entrance of the Daïri's court: the scaffold was removed, before he perceived that he had omitted a point or dot in the inscription; he then threw his pencil at the spot where the point was wanting, with such address, that the omission was supplied, to the great astonishment of the Daïri and all his courtiers.

This holy personage composed several works, the principal of which are the Fifouron, the Songo-Siji, and the Zio-rio-zin. The latter teaches another way of studying the tenets of Siaka.

On his return from China, Kobou brought with him eighty fragments of his favourite deity, several utensils employed by the Hindûs in their temples, two hundred and sixteen sacred articles, four hundred and sixty-one volumes, and a multitude of curiosities.

In the tenth month of the twenty-first year of the nengo-inji (A.D. 921), Daygo-ten-o, the sixtieth Daïri, sent an embassy to the temple of Kongo-bousi, for the purpose of honouring Kobou with the title of Daysi. Ever since that time he has been called Kobou-Daysi. His memory is held in such veneration, that, at the time of my departure from Japan, in the month of November, 1783, an edict was posted at the O-fa-to, or great stairs of the port of Nangasaki, enjoining the celebration of a great festival in honour of him throughout the whole empire. The day appointed for it was the twenty-first of the third month in the following year, which was the nine hundred and fiftieth from the death of Kobou.'

Such was the remarkable life of this extraordinary man ; and on this as on many other occasions it is difficult to distinguish fanaticism from craft, or to know when the zealot dreamed or when he acted a part. In the present day, a sort

of

of political priestcraft is very fashionable among the well-informed ecclesiastics in the East *; and while all the forms of external devotion are diligently observed, the religious functionaries consider the miracles of former days as impostures of policy, and the chronicles and legends of their faith as useful and salutary fables. Perhaps no circumstances can be so prejudicial to integrity of heart, and to energy of character, as the conviction that fraud can be of service to mankind, and that dogmas, however false, must be sacred if once they have become popular.

The amusing and peculiar nature of this publication would readily carry us much farther in our comments and quotations: "Sed fugit, interea, fugit irreparabile tempus,

Singula dum capti circumvectamur amore;"

and we must now withhold our hands.

The work closes with a catalogue of M. Titsingh's collections: from among which we trust that the public will soon be favored with his Flore Chinoise and Japanoise, and with his translation of the Annals of the Daïris, or ecclesiastical sovereigns of Japan; a detail which precedes his history of the present dynasty of the Djogouns in point of time, the first sovereign of this race having concluded the ravage which had been gradually made on the temporal sway of the Daïris. The Daïri, indeed, still is nominally the supreme in Japan, but his power is like that of the Popes in catholic Europe, existing rather from condescension to old opinions, and by courtesy and sufferance, than from any inherent strength.

Should the attention of the directors of the British Museum chance to be called to M. Titsingh's collection, we have little doubt that they would be able to make some addition to the stores of the valuable institution which is intrusted to their management, particularly in the department of medals and coins.

ART. II. Narrative of an Expedition from Tripoli in Barbary, to the Western Frontier of Egypt, in 1817, by the Bey of Tripoli; in Letters to Dr. Viviani of Genoa, by Paolo della Cella, M.D. Physician attendant on the Bey: with an Appendix, containing Instructions for navigating the Great Syrtis. Translated from the Italian, by Anthony Aufrere, Esq. 8vo. pp. 238. 10s. 6d. Boards. Arch. 1822.

DUR

URING a visit to the Sardinian consul at Tripoli, Dr. Della Cella (a native of Genoa) felt a laudable curiosity to explore that part of the northern coast of Africa, which,

*See some singular instances in the Memoirs of Mr. Martin, the missionary.

stretch