Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 1.djvu/280

 prefixes mentioned above—which was taken by a patrician lad on emerging from childhood, the posthumous name was given by the Buddhist priests and inscribed on the tomb, and the art name was taken by a painter, an author, a musician, an artisan, or a professional expert of any kind.

Just as in the West it has always been a point of etiquette to avoid using the name of a person of rank to whom one addresses oneself, so in Japan, the post of an official, or the palace of a nobleman, or some other impersonal designation was always used in speaking to illustrious individuals. But that is a matter connected with the genius of the language rather than with the question of nomenclature.  —These gohei (sacred offerings), as they are called, have never ceased to be an important part of the paraphernalia of worship. They may be seen to-day suspended at the shrines, near the sepulchres of the dead and before the family altar. It is supposed by some that they originally served merely as means of accentuating the outlines of the rope fences enclosing a deified tree, and that, like all other objects employed for ceremonial purposes, they were subsequently endued with sanctity of their own. Another, and more probable, theory is that they were pieces of the cloth offered to the deities.  —Admirable translations of many of these rituals have been made by Sir Earnest SatowErnest Satow [sic], Mr. W. G. Aston, and Dr. Florenz.  —"Rock-house" (iwa-iye) or "demon's closet" (oni no setsuin) was the term applied to these caves by later generations.  —It is doubtful whether in the oldest form of building the pillars were not sunk in the ground without stone foundations.  —It would seem that a refined sense of tone existed among the early Japanese, for the records say that the Emperor Ojin, who reigned at the close of the third century, used ship-building wood for the body of the Wa-kin and that the instrument gave particularly melodious notes.  —Examples of adaptability of Chinese ideographs are innumerable. Thus, dempo (transmitted intelligence) is the exact equivalent of "telegram;" Kaikwan-zei (sea-gate tax) 