Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/71

 rap on the doors of their houses for the purpose of scaring away these invisible visitors, and the Japanese have converted that profoundly sensible custom into a chorus which they chaunt to the accompaniment of the chopping-knives, making a merry pastime out of even this primevally simple performance.

From the eighth day of the month business is resumed, and on the 11th men of war make offerings of mirror-dumplings to their armour, and practise archery, using a target big enough to avert the misfortune of opening the year with a bad record. On the 14th the decorations of pine, bamboo, and rope are removed and burned together, but in their place willow wands finely split into flower-like forms (kezurihana) are fixed to the eaves. The cremation of the pine saplings and their companions is intended to drive away the mountain demons, who hate the crackle and sputter of fire, and to invite the cheerful principle while expelling the sad. The 15th is distinguished as the "chief-origin" day, and tradition requires that bean (azuki) broth should be eaten in every household, the bean being fatal to evil spirits. This day, too, and the 16th are servants' holidays. Men-servants and women-servants are allowed to visit their homes, a proceeding politely designated "the return of the rustics" (yabuiri). The New Year's ceremonials are now nominally at an end. Indeed, they may be said to have