KIZUKI, July, 1890.
DEAR PROFESSOR CHAMBERLAIN,--We are still at Kizuki--enjoying exquisite
weather and delicious sea-bathing. Last evening I dined with the
Kokuzō; and I never ate so much dinner or drank so much sake anywhere
in Japan. It was a royal feast. I also saw some things that would
interest you. A series of letters of Motoori's,--also two MSS. of
flute-music made by him, and the brushes with which his commentaries
were written. One of the Senke family, who was his pupil, received these
as bequests, and they are preserved in the family.
The conversation turned upon you; and I was asked many questions about
you, which I answered as best as I could. From the extreme interest
shown, I am sure that Kizuki would be turned inside out to please you if
you come down here.
I asked about the deity of Mionoseki; and the learned priest Sasa and
others state positively that deity is not Hiruko. The legend concerning
him would prove the same fact. The deity detested the cock, and no hens
or chickens or eggs or feathers are allowed to exist in Mionoseki. No
vessel would take an egg to Mionoseki. It is wrong even to eat eggs
the day before going to Mionoseki. A passenger to Mionoseki was once
detected smoking a pipe which had the figure of a cock upon it, and that
pipe was immediately thrown into the sea. The dislike of the god for the
cock is attributed to some adventure of his youthful days,--when the
cock had been instructed to wake him up, or call him at a certain hour.
The cock did not perform his duty, and Koto-shiro-nushi-no-Kami, had his
hand bitten by a crocodile in hurrying to get back home.
There is a temple of Ebisu in Nishinomiya near Ōsaka, where the deity
is believed to be identical with Hiruko, but this is not the case at
Mionoseki.
Regarding the Deity of Marriage, I must correct an error in my last.
The learned priest Sasa states (quoting many ancient poems and authors
to prove the fact) that the ancient Deity of Marriage was the Deity of
Kizuki. But at Yaegaki Jinja, where there is a tree with two trunks, or
two trees with trunks grown into one, and other curious symbolic things,
the popular worship of the Deities Susa-no-o and Inada-Hime gradually
centred and finally wrested away the rights and privileges of the Kizuki
deity in favour of the gods of Yaegaki.
I have had some fine _shōryō-bune_ made. And I can send you one if you
would like. There is a special kind of _shōryō-bune_ made here. Mine,
though of straw, is an elaborate model of a junk and could sail for
miles. Would you like to send one to Dr. Tylor? Anthropologically, these
little boats in which to send the souls home have a rare interest.