DiS(;ovi:uY 



231 



— that of the Imperial Ancestors at Ise — at the cHmax 

 of the ingathering. The former of these is an essentially 

 popular one, and the best of the precious grain is 

 presented at thousands of village altars throughout the 

 length and breadth of the land. Close by these, on the 

 stages which are usually found at the side of the most 

 ancient shrines and erected for the purpose, a panto- 

 mimic dance known as Kagiira — " The Seat of the 

 Gods " — is then performed to entertain the guardian 

 divinity in grateful acknowledgment of his kindly care, 

 a thought which is further impressed on the children 

 themselves bj' the closing of the schools in order to set 

 them free to keep the festival with innocent gaiety. 

 The arrangements which enable neighbouring villages 

 to hold their celebrations on different davs. like those iti 



sacred to them, for he, being deaf, could not hear the 

 summons thither. And so his worshippers seek to cheer 

 him in his loneliness by their own infectious merriment I 

 It is a natural instinct of the human heart to feel 

 that this act must be acceptable to the Object of its 

 most unfettered rejoicings—" Let us come bejore his 

 presence with thanksgiving, and show ourselves glad in 

 him with psalms ! " 



It is impossible to get a clear idea of the life of rural 

 Japan until we realise the all-importance of the rice- 

 crop to the nation at large. Two-thirds of the culti- 

 vated land is devoted to it and no less than 4,000 

 varieties are produced, while, as we have seen, it is 

 the sowing, transplanting, and ingathering of it that 

 form the chief occasions of popular solicilndi' and re- 



'I.U I'ASirioNHU 11... .1. . -U,'.>1 T T 

 Note the aucicul fdoluuu ot liair- 



English country parishes at harvest-tide, and so to 

 share their mutual rejoicings, make for a friendly 

 community of interest and neighbourly good feeling. 



There is one other festival which is highly popular 

 with the peasantry in late autumn, that of Ebisii, 

 the God of honest hard work, as well as of wealth. This 

 is kept with twofold energy, partly because all desire 

 to be rich, and partly because, on the basis of " sym- 

 pathetic magic," it is felt that one who controls the gift 

 of prosperity should naturally be courted with every 

 sign of merriment and enjoyniQUt of the good things 

 of life. At this festival in the province of Kishu, 

 when the procession bearing the appropriate offerings 

 approaches the shrine, the village head-man calls out 

 in a loud voice, " According to our annual custom let 

 us all laugh," to which exhortation a hearty response 

 is given. The reason given for this is that Ebisu alone, 

 of all the eight million divinities, has not gone to visit 

 the great Shinto shrine in Izumo on the annual holidav 



o LOAD HIS ux urni ugiit ti-mbur. 



dressing with the "top-knot." 



joicing. Until, at the Restoration in 1868, the Daimyo — 

 the old feudal lords — retired into private life, their 

 incomes were paid in rice, and to-da}' the peasants pay 

 their rent in the same commodity. Only when we 

 have wandered observantly off the beaten tracks and 

 listened to the chance scraps of conversation among 

 the country-folk in the summer months, and heard 

 most of it bearing on the state of the crops and the 

 probable prices ahead, can we appreciate what the 

 precious grain means, even in these days of growing 

 industrialism, to the people of Japan. Japan is not 

 only the third most important rice-producing country 

 in the world, but its rice in quality stands first. In its 

 cultivation all is carried out according to the strictest 

 rule, with a conservatism born of experience. The 

 sowing, for instance, must take place on the eighty- 

 eighth day of spring, the first day of which is also New 

 Year's Day. Before sowing the seed is soaked in salt 

 water for a week, washed in fresh water, and then dried. 



