Page:Shinto, the Way of the Gods - Aston - 1905.djvu/111

Rh offerings. They also pulled out the nails of his fingers and toes, and banished him to the land of Yomi. Finally Ame no Koyane, the ancestor of the Nakatomi, recited his Oho-harahi or "Great purification" liturgy.

The above episode is the kernel of the mythical lore of Japan. Belonging to the class of light and darkness myths, it professes to give the origin of some of the principal ceremonies of the Shinto religion as they were practised at the Mikado's Court at the time when they became current. In addition to the Nakatomi and Imbe, some versions of the story show the Sun-Goddess surrounded by other officials, such as jewel-makers, mirror-makers, &c., obviously borrowed from the actual functionaries of the Court, and introduced with an eye to genealogical requirements. By a curious coincidence, the Smith-God attached to her train, like the Cyclops of Greek myth, has but one eye.

Ame no Uzume, the Dread Female of Heaven, who danced and gave forth an inspired utterance before the Rock-cave where the Sun Goddess was hidden, is the supposed ancestor of the Sarume (monkey-women) or female mimes attached to the Mikado's Court, whose performances were the origin of the pantomimic religious dances still kept up in Japan and known as Kagura, while her divinely inspired utterance is the prototype of the revelations of the Miko, or Shinto priestesses. One version of the story gives us the actual words used by Uzume on this occasion—namely, Hi, fu, mi, yo, itsu, mu, nana, ya, kokono, towo. A Japanese baby knows that these are simply the numerals from one to ten. But they have given much trouble to later Shintoists, who have endeavoured to read into them a deep mythical signification.

The fire kindled by her is the prototype of the nihabi, or "courtyard fire," of Shinto ceremonial. It is plainly one of those numerous imitative magic devices for making sunshine, of which Mr. Frazer has given several examples.