156 



been given to him as a special title. He was also prayed to for 

 stopping wind an rain '. 



The Kimpisho^ states that Court nobles had the care of the 

 offerings sent by the Enaperor to the Nibu and Kibune shrines 

 in order to pray for rain or to cause the dragon-gods to put a 

 stop to continuous rains. These nobles, however, did not go there 

 themselves, but despatched officials of the Jingikwan, or, on 

 special occasions. Court officials (kurabito). There were sixteeii 

 Shinto shrines the gods, of which were worshipped for the purpose 

 of causing or stopping rain, namely the seven "Upper shrines" 

 (those of Ise, Iwashimizu, Kamo, Matsuo, Hirano, Inari and 

 Kasuga), and further those of Oharano, Yamato Ishigami, Hirose 

 and Tatsuta, Sumiyoshi, Nibu and Kibune ^ 



Finally, in Buzen province, Kamige district, there was in the- 

 sorcalled Tatsu no fuclii (f|(7^'^), or "Dragon's Pool", an 

 originally Japanese dragon, who was famous, for bestowing rain 

 upon those who prayed to him *. And in Echizen province, Sakai 

 district, there is still nowadays a Shinto shrine of KokuryU Myojin., 

 M ^i 59 )ji$> "^^6 Black Dragon-god", on the bank of the 

 Kuzuryu-gawa, ;/L ^ ^| )\\ > or "River of the Mne-headed Dragon", 

 also called Kokuryu-gawa, or "Black Dragon's Flood". If one 

 prays there for rain, his prayer is certainly heard^. 



§ 2. Horses offered to Shinto gods- 



With rega,rd to the horses offered to the rain-gods, we may 

 refer to another passage *', where we read that in 838 white horses 

 were offered twice to the god of Kibune (^ ^j|^), on Mount 

 Kurama near Kyoto, another famous rain-god, and to the afore- 



1 Shoku Nlhon koki, Ch. VlII, p. 247. 



2 ^J %j^ »H?' ^ work -written in the Kenr}'aku era (1211 — 1212) by the Enaperor 

 "JuNTOKU; Gunsho ruiju, Vol. XVI, nr 467, Ch. "^ , pp. 1072 seq. See below, Ch. V, § 4. 



4 Buzenkokushi, -S ■|m ^ ^, written in 1865 by Takada Yoshiohika, "^ 

 eg :±^^;Ch. IV,J^,p. 31. 



5 Nihon shukyo fuzokushi (written in 1902, see below, Ch. Ill, § 12), p. 325. 



6 Shoku Nihon koki, Ch. VIF, p. 247; "Nusa, silk and a white horse were offered 



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