Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/37

 taining a Gion amulet suspended under its shelter. Two more wardrobe-bearers follow, and porters of umbrellas in baskets and of gold-lacquered luncheon-boxes bring up the rear. At the portals of the temple of Gion, a draught of holy wine (miki) and a "blessed amulet" (shimpu) are given to the virgin, whereupon she ceases to be a mere "young thing" (chigo) and becomes a "sacred child" (suiko). The tediousness of these details will serve, perhaps, to convey to the reader some faint idea of the elaborate code of conventionalities that has to be consulted at each point of such ceremonials. Everything is provided for by tradition; and every proviso must be observed.

If these huge metropolitan festivals show the general attitude of the national mind towards supernatural subjects, the smaller celebrations afford a still more accurate insight into the superstitions and daily ambitions of the people. Sometime in the Middle Ages, a great eagle made its appearance at Ajiki in the province of Shimosa, which lies on the eastern shores of Yedo Bay. The eagle, of course, typifies everything that is majestically aggressive and tenaciously acquisitive. It thus becomes to the Japanese a symbol of good fortune. The Shimosa people built a shrine in honour of their visitor, and covered the walls with votive tablets, depicting an eagle bestrid by a man in official robes—"a commoner rising to rank and office by the aid of wings that soar and talons that capture." By-and-by the capi-