Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/32

 her religious devotion, she in reality parades her professional successes.

In describing these festivals, no lengthy mention has been made of the special deities worshipped. The omission is appropriate, for, as the reader has of course perceived, the religious element constitutes but an insignificant fraction of the fête in Japan. Sano and Kanda both revere Oana-muchi and Sukunahikona, immortal descendants of the Sun Goddess, and look for prosperity and happiness as the guerdon of these splendid matsuri. But another spirit is included among the objects of worship at the Kanda ceremonial,—the spirit of Taira-no-Masakado. This is a name heinously conspicuous in Japanese history as the name of the only subject whose hand was ever raised in open rebellion against his sovereign. Masakado's brief career of madness belongs to the annals of the tenth century. He fell doing battle with Taira-no-Sadamori on the plains of Shimosa, and his head was carried to Kanda for burial. Of such a hero is the effigy enshrined, with every mark of honour, among the divine niches at the Kanda festival. Mention has been made above of the fact that one of the tutelary ghosts in the Sano parish is Kumasaka Chohan, a burglar of medival notoriety. It may well be asked what kind of people they are that pay divine honours to the memory of arch traitors and villanous malefactors. The question has been thrust upon foreign attention of late