Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 29, 1918.djvu/280

270 performed for special purposes. One of these ceremonies is held for the purpose of curing and preventing disease, and also for dispelling evil spirits. In one of these rites only monks who have undergone a special training may officiate. The monks are trained at a celebrated monastery of the Nicheren sect in Shinōsa.

According to one authority, the rosary in Japan plays an important part in the social as well as in the religious life of the people. In the tea-room there is always a hook on which to hang a rosary, and one of value, historical or otherwise, is much appreciated as an ornament for this room. It is said that rosaries were carried by all the soldiers in the Russo-Japanese war. The dead also have a rosary slipped on the wrist, whether they are buried or cremated.

A rosary that has been consecrated over the sacred flame and incense of a venerated temple acquires special value for the devout.

Muhammadan. The rosary used by the followers of Islam generally consists of ninety-nine beads with a terminal bead called the Imām, "leader." Its chief use is for counting the recital of the ninety-nine names of God, the Imām being sometimes used for the essential name, Allāh. This rosary is divided into three parts, thirty-three beads in each, by beads of another material or shape, or by tassels which are often made of gold thread or of bright coloured silks. A smaller rosary of thirty-three beads is very commonly used, and the devotee will go round this three times to get the full repetition of the ninety-nine names. At the present day the rosary is used chiefly by the older or more devout Muhammadans; among the younger people it is tending to become merely something to hold in the hand and finger during leisure hours.