Page:Shinto, the Way of the Gods - Aston - 1905.djvu/157

Rh Earthquake—Gods.—The old myths say nothing about earthquakes, and although they are mentioned several times in the historical part of the Nihongi, in only one case is a God of Earthquakes spoken of. In A.D. 684 there was a great earthquake, and a new island was formed at Idzu. A drumming sound was heard, which was thought to be made by the Gods in constructing it. The Shoku-nihongi, a continuation of the Nihongi, states that in the reign of Shōmu (724-48), there were shrines to the God of Earthquakes in all the provinces. But any God might cause an earthquake. There is a legend that the God of Kashima (Take-mika-dzuchi) sealed down the Earthquake-God—he has no particular name—by placing over him the Kaname-ishi, or pivot-stone, which is still to be seen near his shrine.

The comparative insignificance of this deity in a country so notoriously subject to these convulsions as Japan is an instructive commentary on Buckle's well-known views of their importance in promoting superstition.

Mountain-Gods.—Most mountains of importance have their deity, who sometimes belongs to the general pantheon and is at others a specific mountain deity. The Mountain-God sometimes assumes the form of a serpent.

Though Japan has one hundred volcanoes, of which half are more or less active, the feelings excited by volcanic phenomena have left little trace in the religion. The Kojiki, Nihongi, and Norito do not recognize any worship of volcanoes. Perhaps the Aso-tsu-hiko and Aso-tsu-hime of the Nihongi are to be reckoned an exception. These are no doubt personifications of Mount Aso, a remarkable volcano in the province of Higo, which is frequently referred to in later history. The drying up or overflowing of a lake within its crater was supposed to portend famine, pestilence, drought, or the death of the sovereign. A ninth-century notice states that the Mikado informed the Sun-Goddess