Page:Shinto, the Way of the Gods - Aston - 1905.djvu/332

322 Tatsuta kaze no kami no Matsuri (service of the Wind-Gods at Tatsuta).—The norito (No. 4 of the Yengishiki) of this service has been translated by Sir E. Satow. It contains a legend which professes to account for its first institution and for the founding of the shrine at which it was celebrated. For several years in succession violent storms had destroyed the crops. The diviners having in vain endeavoured to discover the cause of this calamity, the Wind-Gods revealed themselves to the Mikado in a dream and proposed to him a bargain, namely, that if he built them a shrine, and made them certain offerings, they would in future bless and ripen the grain and vegetables. The "golden thread-box," "golden shuttle," and "golden reel" enumerated in this norito as offerings to the Goddess were in reality of painted wood, one of the numerous cases of cheaper substitutes in Shinto ritual.

The Nihongi mentions very frequent embassies from the Mikado to this shrine in the seventh century. Princes were selected for the office of envoy.

In addition to the above, the Yengishiki has brief mention of ceremonies for "calming" the roaring of the kitchen-furnace, calming (or propitiating?) the God of Water, the August Abiding-place (of the Mikado), the Earth-Prince, the site of a new palace, in honour of the kitchen-furnace, of the august well (such as that from which water was taken for the Ohonihe ceremony), of the birth-well (from which water was drawn for washing a new-born prince), of the water of a privy, and a ceremony performed when the Mikado went out from the Palace. The same work contains schedules of offerings to various local deities, of whom we know little or nothing.

More recent norito.—In addition to the old norito of the Yengishiki, a good number have come down to us of more recent date, chiefly from the ninth century. We find among them for the first time norito addressed to deceased Mikados, a practice which was, no doubt, introduced from China. I