Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/74

 daughter of the Dragon king whose palace is at the bottom of the sea, and described by others as a sort of steersman spirit who guides the sequence of the years through the changes of the compass points. The average Japanese wastes no more brain fibre over the enlightenment of these arcana than the average Christian does over the orthodoxy of the Logos. It is a traditional part of the New Year's observances to fill with votive wine the sacred bottles (on-miki-dokuri) reserved for that purpose, and to flank them with plump dumplings of rice-flour, just as it is a duty of joy to build up at the threshold pillars of longevity and an arch of sweet atmosphere.

There is little in the way of fête or pastime to distinguish the first half of the second month. The innumerable shrines of Inari throughout the country are thronged with worshippers on the first "day of the horse" (hatsu-uma), generally about the 2d [sic] of the month; lights are placed in the pillar-lamps; flags are hoisted, and after praying for agricultural prosperity, the people feast on "red rice" (seki-han), the invariable dish at seasons of congratulation. This day, also, used to be counted specially auspicious for the commencement of children's studies, but modern civilisation has severed the old-fashioned connection between education and the cycles of stems and signs. Still, however, there are housewives so conservative of tradition that only on the second day of the second month will they consent