176 



as soon as the day arrived, fixed for the dances of children, 

 clad in festive dresses in honour of Inari. On the days" devoted 

 to Sanno, Suwa and Tada Hachiman the weather was all right, 

 but Taari's festival was always spoiled by rain. At last the reason 

 was found out. The boards of the stage, on which the dances 

 were performed, were made of the wood of some sacred pine 

 trees which had belonged to a neighbouring Shinto temple but 

 were sold by the villagers at atimeof pecuniary distress. The man 

 who bought these trees placed them in the compound of the 

 Tnari temple, and as the wood was very strong, it was used in 

 building the stage for the sacred dances of this sanctuary. Now 

 it struck the people that every time when this timber was used 

 (such stages are always temporarily built, and broken down after 

 the festival), and the sun shone upon the boards, it began to 

 rain. On -account of this fact a messenger was despatched to 

 the village whence the wood had come, in order to make inquiries 

 as to the trees in question. The man came back with the news 

 that the two woodcutters who had_cut those trees had died within 

 a few days in a state of madness, as if they were possessed by 

 some evil spirit. This confirmed the people's opinion as to these 

 pine trees being the cause of the ram at Inari's festival; there- 

 fore they took them away and laid them near the worshipping- 

 hall (instead of using the wood for building the dancing stage). 

 They said: "We have heard that in China, in olden times, under 

 the reign of the Emperor Shi Hwan, of the Ts'in dynasty (B. C. 

 246 — 210), a pine tree suddenly became a big tree and kept off 

 the rain. How is it that these pine trees are causing rain nowadays ? 

 It is said that pine trees, being covered with a scaly armour, 

 change into dragons when they become old. This may be the 

 reason why they always had the miraculous power of calling 

 up the clouds and the rain". Thus spoke the people, and they 

 all admired the wonderful influence of the pine trees. ' 



§11. The eight Dragon-kings. 



A ShinWQ) temple, dedicated to the eight Dragon-kings, is 

 mentioned in the Seki no akikaze ^. The author of this work 



1 Sanshu kidan, Ch. IT, p. 712. 



2 If y ^ M,' ^"**^^" ''y Shirakawa Rakuo, Q j(j |^ ^, "The merry 

 old man of Shirakawa" (i. e. Matsudaira Sadangbu, i^ ^^ ^^ -^ , who lived 



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