Page:Shinto, the Way of the Gods - Aston - 1905.djvu/301

Rh in and out, with words amends and mollifies the hurry and roughness of the Gods, keeps from error the hands and feet of the scarf-wearing attendants and the strap-wearing attendants who serve the morning meal and the evening meal of the Sovran Grandchild, preventing the Imperial Princes, Princes, Ministers of State, and all the functionaries from indulging their several inclinations and causing them, pure of evil intents and base hearts, to attend in the Palace with a Palace-attendance, and to serve in the Palace with a Palace-service, and amending to eye and ear all faults and errors, so that their duties may be performed peacefully and tranquilly.'"

Naishi-dokoro or Kashiko-dokoro.—Every new moon offerings were presented in the naishi-dokoro (naishi-place) or kashiko-dokoro (place of reverence ) by the naishi or female attendants of the Palace to the sacred mirror which represented the Sun-Goddess. They consisted of rice, cakes, paper, cloth, egg-plant, fish, shellfish, &c. Twice a year Kagura was performed. The ceremonies used on these occasions were regulated in Uda's reign (889-898) and closely resembled those of the Great Shrine of Ise. The Yengishiki has not preserved the norito belonging to it.

A Japanese writer thus describes the modern form of this ceremony:—

"Within the palace there is a large hall, the kashiko-dokoro, or place of reverence, constructed of milk-white, knotless timbers, exquisitely joined and smooth as mirrors, but absolutely devoid of decoration. At one end stands a large shrine, also of snow-pure wood, with delicately chased mountings of silver gilt. It encloses models of the divine insignia, and a number of long, narrow tablets of pine, on which are inscribed the posthumous titles of all the