Page:Shinto, the Way of the Gods - Aston - 1905.djvu/362

352 words of the instructions of the Gods of the two Shrines are in accordance with the fact.'

"Moreover the Goddess of Muraya said by the month of a priest: 'An army is now about to arrive by the middle road of my shrine. Therefore let the middle road of my shrine be blocked.' Accordingly, not many days after, the army of Kujira, Ihoriwi no Miyakko, arrived by the middle road. The men of that day said: 'So the words of the teaching of the God were right.' When the war was over, the Generals reported the monitions of these three Gods to the Emperor, who straightway commanded that the three Gods should be raised in rank and worshipped accordingly."

812. A decree was passed denouncing punishment on peasants who, without reason, predicted good or bad fortune. The authorities were at the same time enjoined to report any genuine predictions.

1031. While a service to the Sun-Goddess was being performed at Ise, a storm of thunder and lightning came on. The Saiwō (virgin priestess of Imperial blood) was inspired and said: "I am the Ara-matsuri no miya, the first of the separate shrines of the Great Shrine, and I now speak by command of the Great God. The Sātō [an official designation] Sōdzu and his wife have for years past made absurd pretensions, such as that the two great Deities have flown to and attached themselves to them, the Ara-matsuri and the Takamiya to their children and the [deities of] the five separate shrines to their domestic. Such extraordinary assertions evince a want of loyalty both to the Gods and to the Mikado. Their disregard of the ceremonial regulations and the fewness of the offerings are not (in themselves) deserving of severe blame, but they show a want of respect to the Gods. Iga no Kami reaped the rice officially set apart for the service of the shrine and slew the peasants of the Deity. Yet, by the remissness of the Government officials, it was the third year before he was banished......Let Sōdzu be sent into exile at once."