Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/25

 pillar of great height supports a canopied bracket for the figure of the sacred guest to whom the dashi is dedicated. It is impossible to convey in words any adequate idea of the grace of proportion and sobriety of grandeur sometimes attained in the construction and ornamentation of these cars. As for the guests whose effigies are thus carried aloft, they belong, for the most part, to the galaxy of national heroes or the catalogue of industrial and commercial symbols. Each parish naturally has its own particular pets and its own special obligations.

For example, the festival of Sano, one of Tōkyō's great biennial carnivals, is held in a year designated by the sign of the cock and the monkey in the two cycles. Hence there is a dashi for each of these zodiacal conceptions. There are also dashi for Benten, the goddess of matrimony; for Kasuga Riujin, the god of the sea; for Shizuka Gozen, the brave mother of Yoshitsune; for Kamo, the Kyōtō deity; for Tomyo Ichirai Hoshi, the renowned priest; for Kumasaka Chohan, the prince of medival burglars; for Jingo, the conquering empress; for the treasure-ship with its crew, the seven Gods of Fortune; for Ushiwaka and Sōjōbō, the young hero and his holy fencing-master; for a hammer and a weight; for a big saw; for a tea-whisk; for a whaling junk; for an axe and sickle,—symbols of the crafts, trades, and occupations most affected by the inhabitants of the districts through