Page:Shinto, the Way of the Gods - Aston - 1905.djvu/295

Rh ''his august morning meals and his august evening meals, for his long food, and for his distant food. Therefore do I now fulfil your praises by making these plenteous offerings on his behalf.''

"'Lend ear, all of you.' 

"He says: 'More especially, let the Kannushi and Hafuri, having received the offerings which the Imbe, hanging stout straps on weak shoulders, have prepared with purity, take them away and offer them in all due form.'"

It will be observed that this norito contains paragraphs—possibly later accretions—which have nothing to do with the harvest. In some of the petitions the do ut des principle is very thinly disguised.

Tsukinami no Matsuri.—This festival was in honour of the Gods of the "Greater Shrines." The name means monthly festival, but it was really celebrated only twice a year, on the eleventh day of the sixth and twelfth months. The norito (No. 7 of the Yengishiki) is almost identical with the Toshigohi. The Jingishiriō, a modern history of Shinto, describes it as a thanksgiving service for the protecting care of the Gods.

Another Tsukinami ceremony was performed at Ise by a Nakatomi despatched thither as special envoy in connexion with the Toshigohi and also in the sixth and twelfth months of every year. The norito (No. 16) read on these occasions was as follows:—

"He says: 'By the great command of the Mikado, I humbly declare in the mighty presence of the Great Deity whose praises are fulfilled (in the shrine built) upon the nethermost rock-roots on the bank of the River Isuzu in Watarahi. I, of such a rank, of such a name, humbly repeat his commands, as his envoy to convey hither and make offering of the customary great offerings of Praying-for-Harvest in the second month (or as the case may be).'"