Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 1.djvu/203

 temple. It is observable that the ethical teaching of these miracles was good, however destructive their effects on the moral fibre of the nation. They were of course accompanied by an undergrowth of minor superstitions. A lover sleeping with his robe turned inside out, would certainly dream of the object of his affection. A man longed for by another or destined soon to enjoy a happy meeting, found the string of his under-garment loosen automatically. An itching eyebrow or a troublesome nose had its significance. A knot made on the twig of a tree remained tight or came untied according as a project was to succeed or fail. The house of a person who had set out on a journey must not be swept, nor must hair be combed there, for the space of three days. The traveller prayed at a cross-way or on a hill-top raising a periapt aloft in his hands. A voyage by sea was preceded by worship of the god of the wind. The grass of forgetfulness (wasure-gusa, the Day lily) was carried as a means of burying sad thoughts in oblivion, and a stumbling horse indicated homesickness on the part of his rider. All pure white animals or birds, a black fox, a forked lotus root or tree-branch,—these were held to be objects of the best omen. People procuring them and presenting them to the palace were liberally rewarded, and sometimes the imperial satisfaction took the form of a general amnesty or a change of the era's title.

With the growth of these superstitions faith