established the colony. He had given an endowment of 500 yen a year,
three-quarters of which was for the priest. This functionary had also
an income of 150 yen from a _chō_ of land attached to the temple.
Further he received gifts of rice and vegetables. I noticed that the
gifts of rice--acknowledged on a list hung up in his house--varied in
quantity from four pecks to half a cupful. Probably the priest bought
very little of anything. If he needed matting for his house, which was
attached to the temple, or if he had to make a journey, the villagers
saw that his requirements were met. And he was always getting presents
of one kind or another. "A man says to the priest," I was told, "'This
is too good for me; please accept it.'" The villagers on their side
sat and smoked in one of the temple rooms and drank his reverence's
tea for hours before and after service.[35]

The building of the temple was not only an act of piety but a work of
commercial necessity. The colonists on the reclaimed land would never
have settled there if there had not been a temple to hold them to the
place and to provide burial rites for their old parents. Not all the
people were of the same sect of Buddhism, but "they gradually came
together." A third of what a tenant produced went for rent and another
third for fertilisers, the remaining third being his own. The
population was 1,800 in 300 families. The average area per family was
2 _chō_ and colonists were expected to start with about 200 yen of
capital. Some unpromising tenants had been sent away and "some had
left secretly." Half of the people were in debt to the landlord--the
total indebtedness was about 15,000 yen--for the erection of houses
and the purchase of implements and stock. The rate was 8 per cent. In
the district 10 per cent. was quite usual and 12 per cent. by no means
rare. The co-operative society lent at the daily rate of 2-1/2 sen per
100 yen.