Page:Shinto, the Way of the Gods - Aston - 1905.djvu/353

Rh The officiating priest then struck the harp and tried to whistle by drawing in his breath. If the whistle was audible it was a sign of purity, and vice versâ. The same procedure was observed with regard to the persons who had prepared the offerings, the offerings themselves, and the utensils required in the service.

Caldron-Divination.—At the shrine of Kibitsu no miya in Bittchu there is a mode of divining good and ill-luck from the sound made by a caldron in boiling. The priests, on the application of a worshipper, recite norito and kindle a fire of brushwood under a caldron. If the sound produced resembles the bellowing of a bull, the prognostic is good, if otherwise, it is bad.

Divination by Lots.—Sticks with numbers inscribed on them, or slips of paper, were much used for divination. The succession to the Imperial throne has been decided in this way. Prayer to the Kami often preceded their use. The following is a form of divination by lot which is used by sailors when they have lost their reckoning. The names of the points of the compass are written on slips of paper, placed in a measure of rice, and the whole mixed up. A harahi-bako of the Great Deity of Ise is put on the top. Prayer is offered and the lot which is found to adhere to the harahi-bako is looked upon as the answer of the Deity. Another form of divination by lots is thus described: "You place three sticks, numbered one, two, three, in a bamboo tube and inquire of the God as to good or ill luck, saying reverently, 'If the thing is lucky, let it be such a number, if unlucky, such another number.'" In what is called harahi-kuji "you write lucky or unlucky, or whatever your prayer may be, on papers which you fold up and roll into a ball. Then having offered reverent prayer to the God, rub the lots with harahi ko-nusa when that which adheres to them is concluded to be the answer. This is common at all shrines."