ies to China, at the close of the
ninth century, oversea trade declined for a time. But the inhabitants
of Tsukushi and Naniwa, which were favourably located for voyages,
continued to visit China and Korea, whence they are reported to have
obtained articles of value. Other ports frequented by foreign-going
ships were Kanzaki, Eguchi, Kaya, Otsu, and Hakata.

SUPERSTITION

Turning to the inner life of the people in the Heian epoch, we may
say with little fear of exaggeration that the most notable thing was
the increase of superstition. This was due in part at least to the
growth in Japan of the power of Buddhism, and, be it understood, of
Buddhism of a degraded and debased form. The effort to combine
Buddhism and Shinto probably robbed the latter of any power it might
otherwise have had to withstand superstition. Although men of the
greatest ability went into the Buddhist monasteries, including many
Imperial princes, their eminence did not make them better leaders and
guides of the people, but rather aided them in misleading and
befooling the laity. Murdoch in speaking of the beginning of the 12th
century says: "At this date, Buddhism in Japan from a moral point of
view was in not a whit better case than was the Church of Rome
between the death of Sylvester II and the election of Leo IX." An
interesting parallel might be drawn between Japanese and European
superstition, as each was consequent on the low standards of the
clergy of the times. The famous report of Miyoshi Kiyotsura, to which
we have so often alluded, spoke in no measured terms of the greed and
vice of the Buddhist priests. And the character of these hireling
shepherds goes far to explain the gross superstition of the tune. We
have told (p. 274) the story of the abbot Raigo and how the Court was
forced to purchase from him intercessory prayers for the birth of an
heir,--and of the death of the heir in apparent consequence of
Raigo's displeasure. Near the end of the ninth century one Emperor
made a gift of 500,000 yen for prayers that seemed to have saved the
life of a favourite minister. Prayers for rain, for prolonged life,
for victory over an enemy, were implicitly believed to be efficient,
and priests received large bribes to make these prayers. Or they
received other rewards: the privilege of coming to Court in a
carriage was granted to one priest for bringing rain after a long
drought and to another for saving the life of a sick prince in 981.
As men