Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/97

 spasm-shouts that men mistake for songs, and the twanging of the unmusical samisen, the out-door fêtes of Japan would be the acme of refined pleasure-seeking.

Among the ceremonies of the sixth month the principal takes place at twilight by river-banks, when Shintō priests set up cross-shaped periapts (gohei) and pray for the dispersal of evil influences, or into the stream thus purified cast miniature paper surcoats, shaped by the hands of worshippers and bearing the legend, "Peace be on this household" (kanai anzen). The growth of modern ideas tends to weaken the people's fidelity to these purely religious rites, which, indeed, might well be spared from the nation's customs. The same remark partially applies to the case of the sekku, on the seventh of the seventh month, for few persons now place faith in the cakes (sakuhei) which, eaten upon that day, were formerly supposed to avert ague; nor is the "marriage of the stars" regarded any longer with even traditional curiosity. Yet the latter legend once inspired a pretty ceremony. Four tables used to be placed in the garden,—especially in the park of the "Palace of Pure Freshness," for the custom was always favoured by the imperial family,—and thereon, flanked by smoking sticks of incense, vessels of water were set, to reflect the passage of the heavenly-river (ama-no-kawa, i. e. the Milky Way) by the Herdboy Prince (Tanabata) on his way to meet the Weaver Princess