JAPAN
grandeur: of chancels refulgent with gold and silver; of vestments glowing with rich colours; of majestic buildings resonant with the music of chaunted litanies; of cedar avenues and pine forests over which floated the voices of sweet-toned bells; of idols inviting artistic admiration rather than inspiring worshipful awe; of restfulness in life and of a eulogistic title and a carefully-tended tomb after death. Buddhism helped to develop the soldier's creed, but never played as large a part as the latter in shaping the nation's moral history.
The earliest outlines of Bushi-dō are to be found in metrical behests conveyed to their families and descendants by captains of the Imperial guard in ancient times.
I
God, who, casting wide
Heav'n's blue gates, stepped down
On Takachiho's crest;
Bow and shaft in hand,
Over hill and stream
Trod, o'er crag and moor,
Heading warriors stanch,
Quelling savage folk;
Till his pillared hall
On Unebi's plain
He set up at last,
Unebi or Yamato.
Heav'n's blue gates, stepped down
On Takachiho's crest;
Bow and shaft in hand,
Over hill and stream
Trod, o'er crag and moor,
Heading warriors stanch,
Quelling savage folk;
Till his pillared hall
On Unebi's plain
He set up at last,
Unebi or Yamato.
Offspring of that God,
Our Imperial Lords,
Our Imperial Lords,
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