Page:Shinto, the Way of the Gods - Aston - 1905.djvu/266

256 The above account of Shinto offences must be taken with some qualifications. It is drawn from various sources and different periods of history. Some applied to the whole people, but in most cases it was only the priests and other persons concerned on whom the prohibitions were binding. The Shintō Miōmoku has an enumeration of the "six prohibited things" which includes only "mourning for a relative, visiting the sick, eating flesh of quadrupeds, condemnation of criminals, execution of criminals, music, and contact with impure things."

Imi.—The avoidance of impurity in preparation for a festival was called imi (avoidance). The intending officiator or worshipper remained indoors (i-gomori), abstained from speech and noise, and ate food cooked at a pure fire For six days previous to the celebration of a festival at the Great Shrine of Idzumo there was no singing or dancing, no musical performances, the shrine was not swept out, no building operations were carried on, and no rice pounded. Everything was done in stillness. A special imi of one month was observed by the priests before participating in the greater festivals. This was called araimi. For middle-class festivals three days' imi were sufficient, and for those of the third class one day. At the present time imi is usually confined to abstinence from meat and from vegetables of the onion class.

By a natural transition imi is also used in the sense of sacred, holy. An imi-dono is a building in which purity is observed. Sacred (imi) axes and mattocks were used in some ceremonies. The Sun-Goddess was in her sacred weaving-hall when Susa no wo outraged her by flinging the hide of a horse into it. A modern derivative of imi, namely, imeimashī, is the nearest Japanese equivalent for "Hang it!' Compare the two meanings of the French sacré.

Mourning is also called imi, perhaps in the passive sense of something to be avoided in connexion with the service of the Gods.