1 I do not think this explanation is correct; but it is interesting, as
the first which I obtained upon the subject. Properly speaking, Buddhist
worshippers should not clap their hands, but only rub them softly
together. Shinto worshippers always clap their hands four times.
2 Various writers, following the opinion of the Japanologue Satow, have
stated that the torii was originally a bird-perch for fowls offered
up to the gods at Shinto shrines--'not as food, but to give warning of
daybreak.' The etymology of the word is said to be 'bird-rest' by some
authorities; but Aston, not less of an authority, derives it from words
which would give simply the meaning of a gateway. See Chamberlain's
Things Japanese, pp. 429, 430.
3 Professor Basil Hall Chamberlain has held the extraordinary position
of Professor of Japanese in the Imperial University of Japan--no small
honour to English philology!
4 These Ni-O, however, the first I saw in Japan, were very clumsy
figures. There are magnificent Ni-O to be seen in some of the great
temple gateways in Tokyo, Kyoto, and elsewhere. The grandest of all are
those in the Ni-O Mon, or 'Two Kings' Gate,' of the huge Todaiji temple
at Nara. They are eight hundred years old. It is impossible not to
admire the conception of stormy dignity and hurricane-force embodied in
those colossal figures. Prayers are addressed to the Ni-O, especially
by pilgrims. Most of their statues are disfigured by little pellets of
white paper, which people chew into a pulp and then spit at them. There
is a curious superstition that if the pellet sticks to the statue the
prayer is heard; if, on the other hand, it falls to the ground, the
prayer will not be answered.