Page:Shinto, the Way of the Gods - Aston - 1905.djvu/354

344 Lots were, and still are, used for all manner of non-religious purposes. If a solitary passenger appears at a jinriksha stand, he is often cast lots for by means of a set of cords of various lengths knotted together at one end which is kept for the purpose. The 'Yih-King,' a Chinese book which sets forth a non-religious system of divination depending partly on drawing lots is much used in Japan.

Divination by Means of the Stars was first introduced in A.D. 675 by the Korean teachers of Chinese arts.

Kitsune-tsukahi.—"Amongst the ordinary diviners is one called Kitsune-tsukahi, i.e., a fox-possessor. The divination is carried on by means of a small image of a fox, made in a very odd way. A fox is buried alive in a hole with its head left free. Food of the sort of which foxes are known to be most fond is placed just beyond the animal's reach. As days pass by the poor beast in its dying agony of hunger makes frantic efforts to reach the food; but in vain. At the moment of death the spirit of the fox is supposed to pass into the food, which is then mixed with a quantity of clay, and shaped into the form of the animal. Armed with this extraordinary object, the miko is supposed to become an infallible guide to foretelling future events of every kind."

Augury by various kinds of birds was known. The geomancy practised to some extent in Japan is of Chinese origin.

The Nihongi mentions a number of isolated cases of divination invented on the spur of the moment. The following is an example:—

"When the Emperor was about to attack the enemy, he made a station on the great moor of Kashihawo. On this moor there was a stone six feet in length, three feet in breadth, and one foot five inches in thickness. The Emperor prayed, saying: 'If we are to succeed in destroy-