Page:Shinto, the Way of the Gods - Aston - 1905.djvu/363

Rh After delivering this message the Saiwō drank several cups of the sacred sake. Nowadays, with ourselves, recourse is had, under like circumstances, to a letter to the Times or a question in the House of Commons.

1225-27. Though not an inspiration, I may mention here an oracle which was delivered at Idzumo by wormholes in the wood of the old Temple which took the form of Chinese characters. It intimated that the God did not care for lofty buildings, but that the people should turn to virtue. Motoöri strongly suspects its authenticity. No Shinto God, he thinks, would be likely to use Chinese for his oracles.

1348. A Buddhist priest of the province of Ise, having made prayer for 1,000 days at the Shrine of the Great Deity, saw on the thousandth day a bright object floating on the sea. This he found to be a sword two feet five or six inches in length. At this time a boy of twelve or thirteen, being divinely inspired, said: "This is one of the three regalia, the precious sword sunk in the sea." The matter was reported to Kioto, where the authenticity of the sword was corroborated by dreams, but ultimately not officially recognized.

The Wa Kongo, a work published in 1669, contains a number of oracles (Kangakari) attributed to a great variety of Deities throughout Japan. Some account of this work will be given in the next chapter.

Numerous other cases of inspired utterances are recorded in Japanese history. They have generally relation to the worship of the God concerned, directing the erection of a new shrine, indicating religious observances which will do him pleasure, or complaining that he is neglected or insulted. The Buddhist priests, who converted Shinto to their own purposes, made frequent use of this means of sanctioning their encroachments, and it was also made to serve political purposes.