JAPAN
of historical conviction is that Buddhism is essentially a peaceful and adaptive creed; that it never demolishes other faiths but rather assimilates them. That is certainly true of Buddhism in the abstract, but its establishment in Japan was not unaccompanied by a sanguinary exercise of armed force. The question of invoking Buddha's succour on behalf of a sick emperor led to a fierce conflict between the three great political parties of the era, with the result that the opponents of the foreign faith suffered defeat. They had been led by one of the ancient princely families, which occupied a high place in the official hierarchy, and now the chiefs of the family were put to death, its estates confiscated to endow the first great Buddhist temple, and its members condemned to serve as slaves in the new place of worship.
Another factor that made for the spread of Buddhism was the zeal, almost fanatical, of the empress Suiko, who reigned during the epoch of Prince Shotoku's reforms. She issued edicts enjoining the adoption of the faith; ordered that all the princes of the blood and the Ministers of State should have images of Buddha in their possession, and conferred rank and rewards on sculptors of idols. Indeed, although the imperial ladies of Japan acted a noble rôle in her early history, their careers illustrate the truism that the emotional element of female character is a dangerous factor in state administration. During the
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