After
remaining in Korea for eleven hundred and twelve years, it was brought
to Japan. Mighty is the stream of pilgrims which continually sets toward
the holy place. A common proverb declares that even a cow can find her
way thither.
In A.D. 572 and again in 584, new images, sutras and teachers came over
from another part of Korea. The Mikado called a council to determine
what should be done with the idols, to the worship of which he was
himself inclined; but a majority were against the idea of insulting the
native gods by receiving the presents and thus introducing a foreign
religion. The minister of state, however, one Soga no Iname, expressed
himself in favor of Buddhism, and put the images in his country house
which he converted into a temple. When, soon after, the land was
afflicted with a pestilence, the opponents of the new faith attributed
it to the wrath of the gods at the hospitality given to the new idols.
War broke out, fighting took place, and the Buddhist temple was burned
and the idols thrown into the river, near Osaka. Great portents
followed, and the enemies of Buddhism were, it is said, burned up by
flames descending from heaven.
The tide then turned in favor of the Indian faith, and Soga rebuilt his
temple.
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