Page:Shinto, the Way of the Gods - Aston - 1905.djvu/280

270 assistants, an Inami no kimi, or rice-fruit-lord, a charcoal-burner, wood-cutters, &c. A choir of twenty male and female singers was also provided. Then the site of the Inami-dono was propitiated by prayer and offerings. A pure mattock and sickle were used in clearing the ground for the buildings, which comprised a shrine to the eight Gods Mi-toshi no Kami (august harvest deity), Taka mi musubi, Niha-taka-hi no Kami (courtyard-high-sun-deity), Mi ketsu no Kami (food-Goddess), Ohomiyanome no Kami, Koto-shiro-nushi, Asuha, and Hahigi. A "rice-fruit-store," an office for the envoys from Kiōto, and lodgings for the rice-fruit-lord and for the brewer-maiden and her assistants were built of unbarked wood and grass. The surrounding fence was made of brushwood and the gates consisted of hurdles.

Offerings having been made to the eight Gods above mentioned, the diviners from Kiōto, accompanied by the local authorities and by the special staff of the inami-dono proceeded to the rice-field. The brewer-maiden plucked up the first ears. She was followed by the rice-fruit-lord and the people. Songs were sung during the operation. The first four sheaves were reserved for the offering of boiled rice to be made by the Mikado to the Gods. When all the rice was pulled up, it was carried in procession to the capital, with the four reserved sheaves in the place of honour and the rice-fruit-lord acting as guide. It arrived at Kiōto in the last decade of the ninth month.

Meanwhile a general purification of the whole country had been performed, and to prevent all possibility of error, repeated at a short interval. As soon as this formality was completed, offerings of cloth and of material for wearing apparel were sent to all the Gods. The following norito was read on this occasion:—