Page:Shinto, the Way of the Gods - Aston - 1905.djvu/259

Rh groves. To accept her invitation does not disqualify him in his own eyes nor in the eyes of any one else for the subsequent achievement of his pious purpose. A single act of lustration restores his moral as well as his physical purity." Perhaps this puts the matter too strongly. Those shameless wights Yajirō and Kidahachi, the heroes of the Hizakurige, were troubled with scruples in this matter, which were not, however, invincible.

With such ideas of uncleanness it is not surprising that Shinto never had a marriage ceremony. No Shinto or other priest is present. We must, therefore, take with some reserve Max Müller's statement that marriage had a religious character from the very beginning of history. It is to be noted, however, that in modern times Susa no wo and his wife Inadahime are thought to preside over connubial happiness, and that something of a religious flavour is contributed to the marriage ceremony by setting out on a stand (shimadai) figures of the old man and old woman of Takasago, spirits of two ancient fir-trees, who are the Darby and Joan of Japanese legend.

Uncleanness includes bestiality, incest of parent and child, of a man with his mother-in-law or stepdaughter, but not of brothers and half-sisters by the father's side. Unions with a sister by the mother's side were unlawful and offensive to the Gods, but they are not specially enumerated in the Ohoharahi schedule.

In 434 Prince Karu, then Heir to the Throne, fell in love with his younger sister by the same mother. At first he dreaded the guilt and was silent. But after a time he yielded to his passion. The next year, in the height of summer, the soup for the Mikado's meal froze and became ice. The diviner said, "There is domestic disorder (incest)." This led to the discovery of Prince Karu's crime, but, as he was successor to the Throne, he was not punished, and his