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Updated: May 9, 2025
All have a regular fire costume, from the 'Oki Yaconin, or 'head man, to the bare-legged coolie, who carries the badge of the brigade in large red characters on his back. On arriving at a fire, a point de tête is selected generally a house, on the roof of which the fire-charms are immediately fixed, as if to forbid its further advance.
There was nothing else to see, except, indeed, certain delightful glimpses of coast and peak, visible in the bursts of warm blue light which penetrated the consecrated shadow, between the trunks of the great pines. Only this humble shrine commemorates the good emperor's sojourn among the peasantry of Oki.
Urago boasts the best hotel in all Oki; and it has two new temples one a Buddhist temple of the Zen sect, one a Shinto temple of the Izumo Taisha faith, each the gift of a single person. A rich widow, the owner of the hotel, built the Buddhist temple; and the wealthiest of the merchants contributed the other one of the handsomest miya for its size that I ever saw.
Others say that he was conveyed to Oki, but only to die there of misery and cold. At all events, the old Izumo records state that, in the year corresponding to A.D. 1661 'the Kengyo Takatoshi died in the land of Oki. On receiving news of the Kengyo's death, Matsudaira scarcely concealed his exultation.
And lo! the self-same ideograph is there a rosy birth-mark on the tender palm; and the Soul returned looks out upon her through the eyes of the newly-born with the gaze of other days. While on the subject of death I may speak of a primitive but touching custom which exists both in Oki and Izumo that of calling the name of the dead immediately after death.
Before leaving Saigo, I experienced many other unexpected kindnesses from the same gentleman. Not long after, one of the teachers of the Saigo public school paid me a visit. He had heard of my interest in Oki, and brought with him two fine maps of the islands made by himself, a little book about Saigo, and, as a gift, a collection of Oki butterflies and insects which he had made.
Some of the old samurai of Matsue are living in the Oki Islands. When the great military caste was disestablished, a few shrewd men decided to try their fortunes in the little archipelago, where customs remained old-fashioned and lands were cheap.
And they believe the currents will carry all these to Oki across the sea. 'Now, Agonashi-Jizo means 'Jizo-who-has-no-jaw. For it is said that in one of his former lives Jizo had such a toothache in his lower jaw that he tore off his jaw, and threw it away, and died. And he became a Bosatsu.
In the island of Dogo alone are there ever any petty thefts, and only in that part of Oki do the people take any precautions against thieves. Formerly there was no prison, and thefts were never heard of; and the people of Dogo still claim that the few persons arrested in their island for such offences are not natives of Oki, but strangers from the mainland.
The news was brought one evening by some friends, shizoku of Matsue, who had settled in Oki, a young police officer and his wife. They had walked right across the island to see us, starting before daylight, and crossing no less than thirty-two torrents on their way. The wife, only nineteen, was quite slender and pretty, and did not appear tired by that long rough journey.
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