mage must be regarded as the pioneer of many similar objects
subsequently set up in Japanese temples.

Nevertheless, A.D. 552 is usually spoken of as the date of Buddhism's
introduction into Japan. In that year the same King of Kudara
presented direct to the Yamato Court a copper image of Buddha plated
with gold; several canopies (tengai), and some volumes of the sacred
books, by the hands of Tori Shichi (Korean pronunciation, Nori
Sachhi) and others. The envoys carried also a memorial which said:
"This doctrine is, among all, most excellent. But it is difficult to
explain and difficult to understand. Even the Duke Chou and Confucius
did not attain to comprehension. It can produce fortune and
retribution, immeasurable, illimitable. It can transform a man into a
Bodhi. Imagine a treasure capable of satisfying all desires in
proportion as it is used. Such a treasure is this wonderful doctrine.
Every earnest supplication is fulfilled and nothing is wanting.
Moreover, from farthest India to the three Han, all have embraced the
doctrine, and there is none that does not receive it with reverence
wherever it is preached. Therefore thy servant, Myong, in all
sincerity, sends his retainer, Nori Sachhi, to transmit it to the
Imperial country, that it may be diffused abroad throughout the home
provinces,* so as to fulfil the recorded saying of the Buddha, 'My
law shall spread to the East.'"** It is highly probable that in the
effort to win the Yamato Court to Buddhism, King Myong was influenced
as much by political as by moral motives. He sought to use the
foreign faith as a link to bind Japan to his country, so that he
might count on his oversea neighbour's powerful aid against the
attacks of Koma and Shiragi.

*That is to say, the Kinai, or five provinces, of which Yamato is the
centre.

**The memorial is held by some critics to be of doubtful
authenticity, though the compilers of the Chronicles may have
inserted it in good faith.

A more interesting question, however, is the aspect under which the
new faith presented itself to the Japanese when it first arrived
among them as a rival of Shinto and Confucianism. There can be no
doubt that the form in which it became known at the outset was the
Hinayana, or Exoteric, as distinguished from the Mahayana, or
Esoteric. But how did the Japanese converts reconcile its acceptance
with their allegiance to the traditional faith, Shinto? The clearest
available answer to this question