Page:Things Japanese (1905).djvu/180

168 undertook the necessary gigantic interment, for which the grounds of what is now known as the temple of Ekō-in were selected, and priests from all the Buddhist sects were called together to hold a seven days service for the benefit of the souls of the departed. Wrestling-matches are now held in the same place, a survival apparently of festivals formerly religious, which consisted in bringing holy images from the provinces to be worshipped awhile by the Yedo folk and thus collect money for the temple, which could not rely on the usual means of support, namely, gifts from the relations of the dead, the fire of 1657 having been so destructive as to sweep away whole families. The occurrence of every great fire in Tōkyō is now wisely availed of in connection with a fixed plan of city improvement, involving new thoroughfares and the widening of old ones.

 Fire-walking. Besides the superstitious notions already mentioned in the Articles on Things Japanese/Demoniacal Possession and Things Japanese/Divination, there are yet others which lead to acts of a most surprising character, to nothing less indeed than treading barefoot over live coals, dashing boiling water about the person, and climbing ladders of naked swords set edge upwards. All these ancient rites (for they descend from a remote antiquity) may still be witnessed in the heart of modern Tōkyō, at least twice every year. The fire-walking usually takes place in the courtyard of the little temple of Ontake at the foot of the Kudan hill in April and September, and the manner of its performance is as follows.

Straw mats are placed upon the ground, and on them a layer of sand. On the top of this the fuel is laid, originally pine-wood, but now charcoal. The bed is about 1 foot deep, from 12 to 18 ft. long, and from 3 to 6 ft. wide. It should be square to the points of the compass. Eight bamboos, with the fronds still on them, are stuck into the ground on the four sides of the charcoal bed, connected by a hempen rope, which is hung from frond to