shrine read a second message to the deity. Again all heads were bowed.
His thin voice was heard in the morning quiet, interrupted only by a
child's cry, the twittering of birds and the wind rustling the
cryptomeria, dark against the blue of the hills.

After the ceremony the food and drink which had been brought by the
people were consumed by the priests and the country folk in a large
room of the chief priest's house. We were given ceremonial _saké_ to
which rice had been added and as mementoes little cakes and dried
fish. Not so long ago the presence of a foreigner would have been
unwelcome at such a ceremony as we had witnessed: the fear of
"contagion of foreigners" extended even to people from another
prefecture. To-day the amiable priest placed in our hands for a few
moments a small Buddha supposed to be six centuries old.

Before the festival the priest had observed certain taboos for eight
days. He had avoided meeting persons in mourning and his food had been
cooked at a specially prepared fire. He had been careful not to touch
other persons, particularly women; he had bathed several times daily
in cold water and he had said many prayers. The heads of the household
in the community whose turn it was to attend at the shrine were also
supposed to have observed some of the same taboos. Only those persons
might make offerings at the shrine whose fathers and mothers were
living.[121] Formerly portions of the offerings of rice and _saké_ at
the shrine were solemnly given to a young girl.

In this district, when we discussed the influences which made for
moral or non-material improvement, everyone put the school first. Then
came home training. In this part of the world the Buddhist priest was
too often indifferent; the Shinto priest worked at his farm. One