Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 5.djvu/209

 forth — are carried in and ranged before them, solemn music in Japanese style being performed the while. Thereafter the princes of the blood and all officials of the two highest ranks (shinnin and chokunin), as well as the peers of the "musk chamber" (Jakō-no-ma) and the "golden-pheasant chamber" (Kinkei-no-ma), enter, and when they are seated, the Emperor himself appears, and proceeding slowly to the shrines, bows his head, takes a branch of sakaki with pendent go-hei, and having waved it in token of the purification of sins, ignites sticks of incense and places one upright in each censer, thereafter repeating a ritual (noto). So long as the Emperor is present in the hall, all the officials remain standing. His Majesty then retires, and, on his departure, worship of the same kind, but without any prayer, is performed by a representative of the Prince Imperial, by the princes of the blood, and by the various officials, each in due order of rank. Finally, the offerings are removed, the shrines are closed to accompaniment of music, as before, and all retire. An interval of a few minutes succeeds, and then once more the officials of the Household Department resume their seats, preparatory to worship by the Empress Dowager and the Empress. The routine and rites are exactly as before, but the official worshippers are different. They now include nobles of all orders, officials of the two inferior grades (sonin and hannin), Shintō and Buddhist superintendents, and the chief priests of the Monto