when the image of Buddha was completed, it could not be brought into the Hall, and none of the workmen could suggest a plan of doing so. They were, therefore, on the point of breaking down the doorway, when thou didst manage to admit it without breaking down the doorway. For all these services of thine, We grant thee the rank of Dainin, and We also bestow on thee twenty chō of water-fields[1] in the district of Sakata in the province of Afumi." With the revenue derived from this land, Tori built for the Empress the Temple of Kongō-ji,[2] now known as the nunnery of Sakata in Minabuchi.
Autumn, 7th month. The Empress requested the Prince Imperial to lecture on the Shō-man-giō.[3] He completed his explanation of it in three days.
In this year the Prince Imperial also lectured on the Hokke-kiō[4] (XXII. 17.) in the Palace of Okamoto. The Empress was greatly pleased, and bestowed on the Prince Imperial one hundred chō of water-fields in the Province of Harima. They were therefore added to the Temple of Ikaruga.
A.D. 607. 15th year, Spring, 2nd month, 1st day. A Mibu Be[5] was established.
9th day. The following edict was made:—"We hear that Our Imperial ancestors, in their government of the world, bending lowly under the sky and treading delicately on the ground, paid deep reverence to the Gods of Heaven and Earth. They everywhere dedicated temples to the mountains and rivers, and held mysterious communion with the powers of Nature. Hence the male and female elements became harmoniously developed, and civilizing influences blended together. And now in Our reign, shall there be any remissness in the worship of the Gods of Heaven and Earth? Therefore let Our Ministers with their whole hearts do reverence to the Gods of Heaven and Earth."[6]
- ↑ i.e. rice-land.
- ↑ Diamond-temple.
- ↑ A Sutra or Buddhist Scripture called in Sanskrit the Çrīmālādevī-simhanāda.
- ↑ The Saddharma-pundarika-sūtra.
- ↑ See Vol. I. p. 280. Also Florenz, Part III. p. 24.
- ↑ This edict is pure Chinese, and sounds very strangely from an Empress who was devoted to Buddhism.
