Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/23

 of Ise to-day will be surprised to find that Lais opens her doors to the pilgrim almost within sight of the sacred groves, and that to accept her invitation does not disqualify him in his own eyes, or in the eyes of any one else, for the subsequent achievement of his pious purpose. A single act of lustration restores his moral as well as his physical purity, and with such an easy remedy in sight the sins of the flesh seem only transiently hurtful. It is not to be supposed, however, that unsightly excesses are obtrusive features of the matsuri. On the contrary, they are for the most part conspicuous by their absence. History's mention of them notes the exception, not the rule, and is referred to here merely as indicating that the gala spirit presided at these festivals twelve or fifteen centuries ago just as prominently as it presides now.

The people enjoy and exercise all the freedom of hosts at these big picnics. Having duly provided for the deity, or deities, in whose honour the display is primarily organised, the parishioners consider themselves at liberty to entertain any other guests they please to summon from the realm of spirits or the region of allegory. For the accommodation of each principal and each accessory deity there is a sacred palanquin, a mikoshi. It is a shrine on wheels; a shrine covered with black lacquer, undecorated save that the insignia of the inmate are blazoned in gold on the panels of the doors, and that the ends of the pillars and