Page:Shinto, the Way of the Gods - Aston - 1905.djvu/365

Rh The gohei having been removed and set up in the middle, the men take their seats for the descent of the God. Facing the gohei, they go through a further short incantation. Then one of the subordinates holds the gohei while the naka-za seats himself where it had been and closes his eyes. The mae-za takes the gohei and places it between the hands of the naka-za. Then all the others join in chant, and watch for the advent of the God.

For a few minutes, the time varying with the particular naka-za, the man remains perfectly motionless. Then suddenly the gohei begins to quiver. The quiver gains till all at once the man is seized with a convulsive throe. In some trances the eyes then open, the eyeballs being rolled up half out of sight. In others the eyes remain half shut. Then the throe subsides again to a permanent quiver, the eyes, if open, fixed in the trance look. The man has now become the God.

The mae-za, bowed down, then reverently asks the name of the God, and the God answers, after which the mae-za prefers his petitions, to which the God makes reply. When he has finished, the naka-za falls forward on his face. The mae-za concludes with a prayer, then, striking the naka-za on the back, wakes him up. One of the others gives him water from a cup, and when he has been able to swallow it the rest set to and rub his arms and body out of their cataleptic contraction.

The Sankairi, a work published in 1853, mentions a kind of inspired medium known as yori-dai:—

"There are numbers of these in Ôsaka who practise Kami-oroshi (bringing down the God). An altar to Sho-ichi-i Inari Miōjin (first of first rank illustrious God Inari) is consecrated within their dwelling-house, before which the medium takes his seat. Some of these bringers-down of the God are men, others women. They take a gohei in each hand and repeat the Rokkon shōjō no harahi [a bastard Buddhist form of harahi], muttering at the same time something or