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Then it writhed its arms and groaned, and blood spurted at every stroke of the axe. At the spacious residence of the kannushi some very curious ofuda and o- mamori the holy talismans and charms of Yaegaki are sold, together with pictures representing Take-haya-susa-no-wo-no-mikoto and his bride Inada-hime surrounded by the 'manifold fence' of clouds.
But no suffering to the body is then caused. And the wonder is wrought in this wise: 'A man loves a beautiful girl whom he is at liberty to marry; but he doubts whether he can hope to make her love him in return. He seeks the kannushi of a certain Shinto temple, and tells of his doubt, and asks the aid of the gods to solve it.
But he who performs the rite to-day is no longer called Bekkwa. Now while performing his function, if the Bekkwa met anyone upon the street, he ordered him to stand aside with the words: 'Dog, give way! And the common people believed, and still believe, that anybody thus spoken to by the officiating kannushi would be changed into a dog.
Now while the great Deity Oho-kuni-nushi-no-Kami is passing through the streets, he is followed by the highest Shinto priest of the shrine this kannushi having been formerly called Bekkwa.
Henceforth, in the domain of imagination the Japanese intellect busied itself with assimilating or re-working the abundant material imported by Buddhism. Ancient Customs and Usages. In the ancient god-way the temple or shrine was called a miya. After the advent of Buddhism the keepers of the shrine were called kannushi, that is, shrine keepers or wardens of the god.
They light fires, on certain summer nights, in the rice-fields, to attract the insect, and beat gongs and sound bamboo flutes, chanting the while, 'O- Sanemori, augustly deign to come hither! A kannushi performs a religious rite, and a straw figure representing a horse and rider is then either burned or thrown into a neighbouring river or canal.
The word 'Bekkwa' means 'special' or 'sacred fire'; and the chief kannushi was so called because for a week before the festival he had been nourished only with special food cooked with the sacred fire, so that he might be pure in the presence of the God. And the office of Bekkwa was hereditary; and the appellation at last became a family name.
At parting our kind host presents me with the ofuda, or sacred charms given to pilgrimsh two pretty images of the chief deities of Kitzuki and a number of documents relating to the history of the temple and of its treasures. Having taken our leave of the kind Guji and his suite, we are guided to Inasa-no-hama, a little sea-bay at the rear of the town, by the priest Sasa, and another kannushi.
To me the great marvel of the Hinomisaki-jinja is that structures so vast, and so costly to maintain, can exist in a mere fishing hamlet, in an obscure nook of the most desolate coast of Japan. Assuredly the contributions of peasant pilgrims alone could not suffice to pay the salary of a single kannushi; for Hinomisaki, unlike Kitzuki, is not a place possible to visit in all weathers.
We are kindly permitted by him to visit the sacred shrines; and a kannushi is detailed to conduct us through the buildings. Something resembling the severe simplicity of the Kitzuki-no-oho-yashiro was what I expected to see. But this shrine of the Goddess of the Sun is a spectacle of such splendour that for the first moment I almost doubt whether I am really in a Shinto temple.
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