I was looking at a small gold-colored image of a naked child, standing, one tiny hand pointing upward, and the other downward, —representing the Buddha newly born. Sparkling with light he came from the womb, as when the Sun first rises in the east…. Upright he took deliberately seven steps; and the prints of his feet upon the ground remained burning as seven stars. And he spake with clearest utterance, saying, "This birth is a Buddha birth. Re-birth is not for me. Only this last time am I born for the salvation of all on earth and in heaven."
"That is what they call a Tanjo-Shaka," I said. "It looks like bronze."
"Bronze it is," he responded, tapping it with his knuckles to make the metal ring. "The bronze alone is worth more than the price I paid."
I looked at the four Devas whose heads almost touched the roof, and thought of the story of their apparition told in the Mahavagga. On a beautiful night the Four Great Kings entered the holy grove, filling all the place with light; and having respectfully saluted the Blessed One, they stood in the four directions, like four great firebrands.
"How did you ever manage to get those big figures upstairs?" I asked.
"Oh, hauled them up! We've got a hatchway. The real trouble was getting them here by train. It was the first railroad trip they ever made…. But look at these here: they will make the sensation of the show!"
I looked, and saw two small wooden images, about three feet high.
"Why do you think they will make a sensation?" I inquired innocently.
"Don't you see what they are? They date from the time of the persecutions. Japanese devils trampling on the Cross!"
They were small temple guardians only; but their feet rested upon
X-shaped supports.