Page:Shinto, the Way of the Gods - Aston - 1905.djvu/278



are combinations for some specific purpose of the elements of worship described in the two preceding chapters.

The Yengishiki is the chief authority for the following account of some of the more important ceremonies of Shinto. I have also availed myself freely of the results of Sir E. Satow's researches contained in vols. vii. and ix. of the T. A. S. J.

Ohonihe or Daijowe.—The Yengishiki places the Ohonihe in a class by itself, as much the most solemn and important festival of the Shinto religion. Oho means great, and nihe food offering. It was substantially a more elaborate and sumptuous Nihi-name (new-tasting), or festival of first fruits, performed soon after the accession of a Mikado to the throne, and, like our coronation ceremony, constituting the formal religious sanction of his sovereignty.

A modern Japanese writer explains its object as follows:

"Anciently the Mikado received the auspicious grain from the Gods of Heaven, and therewithal nourished the people. In the Daijowe (or Ohonihe} the Mikado, when the grain became ripe, joined unto him the people in sincere veneration, and, as in duty bound, made return to the Gods of Heaven. He thereafter partook of it along with the nation. Thus the people learnt that the grain which they eat is no other than the seed bestowed on them by the Gods of Heaven."