between him and them. Now, having attended, as he thinks, to the
proprieties in the case, he proceeds to dig, plough, drain, put in order
and treat soil or water, tree or other growth as is most convenient for
his purpose. His fetich is erected to "the honorable spirits." Were this
not attended to, some known or unknown bad luck, sinister fortune, or
calamity would befall him. Here, then, is a fetich-worshipper. The stick
or stone is the medium of communication between the man and the spirits
who can bless or harm him, and which to his mind are as countlessly
numerous as the swarms of mosquitoes which he drives out of and away
from his summer cottage by smudge fires in August.

One need not travel in Yezo or Saghalin to see practical Fetichism. Go
where you will in Japan, there are fetich worshippers. Among the country
folk, the "_inaka_" of Japanese parlance, Fetichism is seen in its
grossest forms. Yet among probably millions of Buddhists, especially of
certain sects, the Nichiren for example, and even among the
rationalistic Confucians, there are fetich-worshippers. Rare is the
Japanese farmer, laborer, mechanic, ward-man, or _hei-min_ of any trade
who does not wear amulet, charm or other object which he regards with
more or less of reverence as having relation to the powers that help or
harm.[17] In most of the Buddhist temples these amulets are sold for the
benefit of the priests or of the shrine or monastery. Not a few even of
the gentry consider it best to be on the safe side and wear in pouch or
purse these protectors against evil.

Of the 7,817,570 houses in the empire, enumerated in the census of 1892,
it is probable that seven millions of them are subjects of insurance by
fetich.[18] They are guaranteed against fire, thieves, lightning, plague
and pestilence. It is because of money paid to the priests that the
wooden policies are duly nailed on the walls, and not on account of the