ghtest among dark surroundings. In
circumstances of tumultuous disorder and sanguinary ambition, these
great divines preached a creed which taught that all worldly things
are vain and valueless. Moreover, the priests themselves did not
practise the virtues they inculcated. They openly disregarded their
vow of chastity; bequeathed their temples and manors to their
children; employed hosts of stoled soldiers; engaged freely in the
fights of the era, and waxed rich on the spoils of their arms.

It is recorded of Kenju (called also Rennyo Shoniri), eighth
successor of Shinran, that his eloquence brought him not only a crowd
of disciples but also wealth comparable with that of a great
territorial magnate; that he employed a large force of armed men, and
that by dispensing with prohibitions he made his doctrine popular.
This was at the close of the fifteenth century when Yoshimasa
practised dilettanteism at Higashi-yama. It became in that age a
common habit that a man should shave his head and wear priest's
vestments while still taking part in worldly affairs. The distinction
between bonze and layman disappeared. Some administrative officials
became monks; some daimyo fought wearing sacerdotal vestments over
their armour, and some priests led troops into battle. If a bonze
earned a reputation for eloquence or piety, he often became the
target of jealous violence at the hands of rival sectarians and had
to fly for his life from the ruins of a burning temple. Not until the
advent of Christianity, in the middle of the sixteenth century, did
these outrages cease.

THE FIVE TEMPLES OF KYOTO

The Zen sect had been almost equally popular during the epoch of the
Hojo. They built for it five great temples in Kamakura, and that
example was followed by the Ashikaga in Kyoto. The five fanes in the
capital were called collectively, Go-zan. They were Kennin-ji,
Tofuku-ji, Nanzen-ji, Tenryu-ji, and Shokoku-ji. After the conclusion
of peace between the Northern and Southern Courts the temple
Shokoku-ji was destroyed by fire and it remained in ashes until the
time of Yoshimasa, when the priest, Chushin, persuaded the shogun to
undertake the work of reconstruction. A heavy imposition of land-tax
in the form of tansen, and extensive requisitions for timber and
stones brought funds and materials sufficient not only to restore the
edifice and to erect a pagoda 360 feet high, but also to replenish
the empty treasury of the shogun. Thus, temple