Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 5.djvu/285

 racial distinctions, geographical conditions being alone responsible for such accidents. He refuses to accept any arithmetic of years when the calculators were men without cyclical signs or assisting script, and he concludes by declaring that if the ancestors of living men were not human beings, they arc more likely to have been animals or birds than gods,—by which last proposition he seems to indicate a belief in progressive evolution.  —This remarkable scholar and philosopher was born in 1730 and died in 1801. He is justly regarded by his countrymen as the greatest interpreter of their ancient faith. The brief review of his opinions given in the text is a summary of Sir Earnest Satow's analysis of his works in "The Revival of Pure Shintō."  —.  —Being constructed of wood, the buildings are so perishable that instead of resorting to a process of constant repair, new edifices are erected, on an alternate site, every second decade.  —The offerings varied, more or less, but generally included a bow, a sword, a mirror, a silk baldachin, "bright cloth, glittering cloth, fine cloth, and coarse cloth," saké jars, sweet herbs and bitter herbs, "things narrow of fin and wide of fin," etc., all of which, to use the language of the ritual, were "piled up like ranges of hills."  —These funeral orations often rise to heights of remarkable pathos, dignity, and beauty, and are read aloud by the chief priest in a manner at once simple and impressive.  —The language of these rituals is sometimes full of fervour and eloquence.  —Compare Mr. Alfred Wallace's account of the young lady's "double," inspected with a phosphorus lamp and afterwards embraced by a fellow of the Royal Society. <section end="Note 23" /> <section begin="Note 24" />—Closely resembling the "PottergeistPoltergeist [sic]" of the Germans, and having some affinities with the "Pixies" of Anglo-Saxondom. <section end="Note 24" /> <section begin="Note 25" />—From tori (a bird) and i (to rest, or perch). <section end="Note 25" /> <section begin="Note 26" />—Thousands of these miniature shrines are to be seen in the rice-fields or in the vicinity of hamlets. They are erected in honour of the Spirit of Food. As to the name <section end="Note 26" />