And now strange signs begin to appear in all these rice-fields: I
see everywhere, sticking up above the ripening grain, objects like
white-feathered arrows. Arrows of prayer! I take one up to examine
it. The shaft is a thin bamboo, split down for about one-third of its
length; into the slit a strip of strong white paper with ideographs upon
it--an ofuda, a Shinto charm--is inserted; and the separated ends of the
cane are then rejoined and tied together just above it. The whole, at
a little distance, has exactly the appearance of a long, light,
well-feathered arrow. That which I first examine bears the words,
'Yu-Asaki-jinja-kozen-son-chu-an-zen' (From the God whose shrine
is before the Village of Peace). Another reads,
'Mihojinja-sho-gwan-jo-ju-go-kito-shugo,' signifying that the Deity of
the temple Miho-jinja granteth fully every supplication made unto him.
Everywhere, as we proceed, I see the white arrows of prayer glimmering
above the green level of the grain; and always they become more
numerous. Far as the eye can reach the fields are sprinkled with them,
so that they make upon the verdant surface a white speckling as of
flowers.
Sometimes, also, around a little rice-field, I see a sort of magical
fence, formed by little bamboo rods supporting a long cord from which
long straws hang down, like a fringe, and paper cuttings, which
are symbols (gohei) are suspended at regular intervals. This is the
shimenawa, sacred emblem of Shinto. Within the consecrated space
inclosed by it no blight may enter--no scorching sun wither the young
shoots. And where the white arrows glimmer the locust shall not prevail,
nor shall hungry birds do evil.
But now I look in vain for the Buddhas. No more great tera, no Shaka,
no Amida, no Dai-Nichi-Nyorai; even the Bosatsu have been left behind.
Kwannon and her holy kin have disappeared; Koshin, Lord of Roads, is
indeed yet with us; but he has changed his name and become a Shinto
deity: he is now Saruda-hiko-no-mikoto; and his presence is revealed
only by the statues of the Three Mystic Apes which are his
servants--Mizaru, who sees no evil, covering his eyes with his hands,
Kikazaru, who hears no evil, covering his ears with his hands. Iwazaru,
who speaks no evil, covering his mouth with his hands.
Yet no! one Bosatsu survives in this atmosphere of magical Shinto: still
by the roadside I see at long intervals the image of Jizo-Sama, the
charming playfellow of dead children. But Jizo also is a little changed;
even in his sextuple representation, [4] the Roku-Jizo, he appears not
standing, but seated upon his lotus-flower, and I see no stones piled up
before him, as in the eastern provinces.