Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 5.djvu/286

 "Inari," it is said by some sinologues to be that of a place, but the general belief in Japan makes it a contraction of ine-ninai or the rice-carrier. The fox is supposed to be an agent of the god; hence the stone foxes usually placed near the shrine.  —Mr. Percival Lowell has published a delightfully written volume on this subject.  —Kokoro dani Makoto no michi ni Kanainaba, Inorazu totemo Kani ga mamoran That is the code of Shintō ethics as summed up in the tenth century by Fujiwara no Michizane, the deity Tenjin of subsequent eras.  — "The Revival of Pure Shintō," Satow, in the Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Japan.  —It was believed that man depended on the wind for his breath.  —The Terrestrial Deities ruled over the "Unseen." They were the god O-kuni-nushi (who yielded the sovereignty of Japan to Ninigi), and his consort Suberi-hime. On them devolved the direction of everything that could not be ascribed to a definite author: as the tranquillity of the State, its prosperity, and the lives and fortunes of its people.  —Hirata Atsutane in "The Revival of Pure Shintō," Satow.  <section begin="Note 33" />.—"The Spirits of the dead," writes Hirata Atsutane in the Tama no Mihashira, "continue to exist in the unseen world, which is everywhere about us. They all become gods of varying character and degrees of influence. Some reside in temples built in their honour; others never leave their tombs. They continue to render services to their princes, wives, and children, as when in the body." Elsewhere he says: "You cannot hope to live more than a hundred years under the most favourable circumstances, but as you will go to the Unseen Realm of O-kuni-nushi after death and be subject to his rule, learn betimes to bow down before him." <section end="Note 33" /> <section begin="Note 34" />—The final use to which these pieces of wood were put is curious. They had to be exchanged every half <section end="Note 34" />