الفصل الفصل 14 · Yaegaki-jinja

. Yaegaki-jinja

Sec. 1

UNTO Yaegaki-jinja, which is in the village of Sakusa in Iu, in the Land

of Izumo, all youths and maidens go who are in love, and who can

make the pilgrimage. For in the temple of Yaegaki at Sakusa,

Take-haya-susa-no-wo-no-mikoto and his wife Inada-hime and their son

Sa-ku-sa-no-mikoto are enshrined. And these are the Deities of Wedlock

and of Love--and they set the solitary in families--and by their doing

are destinies coupled even from the hour of birth. Wherefore one should

suppose that to make pilgrimage to their temple to pray about things

long since irrevocably settled were simple waste of time. But in what

land did ever religious practice and theology agree? Scholiasts and

priests create or promulgate doctrine and dogma; but the good people

always insist upon making the gods according to their own heart--and

these are by far the better class of gods. Moreover, the history of

Susano-o the Impetuous Male Deity, does not indicate that destiny

had anything to do with his particular case: he fell in love with the

Wondrous Inada Princess at first sight--as it is written in the Kojiki:

'Then Take-haya-susa-no-wo-no-mikoto descended to a place called

Tori-kami at the headwaters of the River Hi in the land of Idzumo.

At this time a chopstick came floating down the stream. So

Take-haya-susa-no-wo-no-mikoto, thinking that there must be people at

the headwaters of the river, went up it in quest of them. And he came

upon an old man and an old woman who had a young girl between them,

and were weeping. Then he deigned to ask: "Who are ye?" So the old

man replied, saying: "I am an Earthly Deity, son of the Deity

Oho-yama-tsu-mi-no-Kami. I am called by the name of Ashi-nadzu-chi; my

wife is called by the name of Te-nadzu-chi; and my daughter is called

by the name of Kushi-Inada-hime." Again he asked: "What is the cause

of your crying?" The old man answered, saying: "I had originally eight

young daughters. But the eight-forked serpent of Koshi has come every

year, and devoured one; and it is now its time to come, wherefore we

weep." Then he asked him: "What is its form like?" The old man answered,

saying: "Its eyes are like akaka-gachi; it has one body with eight heads

and eight tails. Moreover, upon its body grow moss and sugi and hinoki

trees. Its length extends over eight valleys and eight hills; and if

one look at its belly, it is all constantly bloody and inflamed." Then

Take-haya-susa-no-wo-no-mikoto said to the old man: "If this be thy

daughter, wilt thou offer her to me?" He replied: "With reverence; but

I know not thine august name." Then he replied, saying: "I am elder

brother to Ama-terasu-oho-mi-Kami. So now I have descended from heaven."

Then the Deities Ashi-nadzu-chi and Te-nadzu-chi said: "If that be

so, with reverence will we offer her to thee." So

Take-haya-susa-no-wo-no-mikoto, at once taking and changing the

young girl into a close-toothed comb, which he stuck into his august

hair-bunch, said to the Deities Ashi-nadzu-chi and Te-nadzu-chi: "Do you

distil some eightfold refined liquor. Also make a fence round about;

in that fence make eight gates; at each gate tie a platform; on each

platform put a liquor-vat; and into each vat pour the eightfold refined

liquor, and wait." So as they waited after having prepared everything

in accordance with his bidding, the eight-forked serpent came and put a

head into each vat and drank the liquor. Thereupon it was intoxicated,

and all the heads lay down and slept. Then Take-haya-susa-no-wo-nomikoto

drew the ten-grasp sabre that was augustly girded upon him, and cut the

serpent in pieces, so that the River Hi flowed on changed into a river

of blood.

'Then Take-haya-susa-no-wo-no-mikoto sought in the Land of Idzumo where

he might build a palace.

'When this great Deity built the palace, clouds rose up thence. Then he

made an august song:

'Ya-kumo tatsu: Idzumo ya-he-gaki; Tsuma-gomi ni Ya-he-gaki-tsukuru:

Sono ya-he-gaki wo!' [1]

Now the temple of Yaegaki takes its name from the words of the august

song Ya-he-gaki, and therefore signifies The Temple of the Eightfold

Fence. And ancient commentators upon the sacred books have said that

the name of Idzumo (which is now Izumo), as signifying the Land of the

Issuing of Clouds, was also taken from that song of the god. [2]

Sec. 2

Sakusa, the hamlet where the Yaegaki-jinja stands, is scarcely more than

one ri south from Matsue. But to go there one must follow tortuous paths

too rough and steep for a kuruma; and of three ways, the longest and

roughest happens to be the most interesting. It slopes up and down

through bamboo groves and primitive woods, and again serpentines through

fields of rice and barley, and plantations of indigo and of ginseng,

where the scenery is always beautiful or odd. And there are many famed

Shinto temples to be visited on the road, such as Take-uchi-jinja,

dedicated to the venerable minister of the Empress Jingo, Take-uchi, to

whom men now pray for health and for length of years; and Okusa-no-miya,

or Rokusho-jinja, of the five greatest shrines in Izumo; and Manaijinja,

sacred to Izanagi, the Mother of Gods, where strange pictures may be

obtained of the Parents of the World; and Obano-miya, where Izanami is

enshrined, also called Kamoshijinja, which means, 'The Soul of the God.'

At the Temple of the Soul of the God, where the sacred fire-drill used

to be delivered each year with solemn rites to the great Kokuzo of

Kitzuki, there are curious things to be seen--a colossal grain of rice,

more than an inch long, preserved from that period of the Kamiyo when

the rice grew tall as the tallest tree and bore grains worthy of the

gods; and a cauldron of iron in which the peasants say that the first

Kokuzo came down from heaven; and a cyclopean toro formed of rocks

so huge that one cannot imagine how they were ever balanced upon each

other; and the Musical Stones of Oba, which chime like bells when

smitten. There is a tradition that these cannot be carried away beyond a

certain distance; for 'tis recorded that when a daimyo named Matsudaira

ordered one of them to be conveyed to his castle at Matsue, the stone

made itself so heavy that a thousand men could not move it farther than

the Ohashi bridge. So it was abandoned before the bridge; and it lies

there imbedded in the soil even unto this day.

All about Oba you may see many sekirei or wagtails-birds sacred to

Izanami and Izanagi--for a legend says that from the sekirei the gods

first learned the art of love. And none, not even the most avaricious

farmer, ever hurts or terrifies these birds. So that they do not fear

the people of Oba, nor the scarecrows in the fields.

The God of Scarecrows is Sukuna-biko-na-no-Kami.

Sec. 3

The path to Sakusa, for the last mile of the journey, at least, is

extremely narrow, and has been paved by piety with large flat rocks laid

upon the soil at intervals of about a foot, like an interminable line of

stepping-stones. You cannot walk between them nor beside them, and you

soon tire of walking upon them; but they have the merit of indicating

the way, a matter of no small importance where fifty rice-field paths

branch off from your own at all bewildering angles. After having been

safely guided by these stepping-stones through all kinds of labyrinths

in rice valleys and bamboo groves, one feels grateful to the peasantry

for that clue-line of rocks. There are some quaint little shrines in the

groves along this path--shrines with curious carvings of dragons and of

lion-heads and flowing water--all wrought ages ago in good keyaki-wood,

[3] which has become the colour of stone. But the eyes of the

dragons and the lions have been stolen because they were made of fine

crystal quartz, and there was none to guard them, and because neither

the laws nor the gods are quite so much feared now as they were before

the period of Meiji.

Sakusa is a very small cluster of farmers' cottages before a temple at

the verge of a wood--the temple of Yaegaki. The stepping-stones of

the path vanish into the pavement of the court, just before its lofty

unpainted wooden torii between the torii and the inner court, entered

by a Chinese gate, some grand old trees are growing, and there are

queer monuments to see. On either side of the great gateway is a shrine

compartment, inclosed by heavy wooden gratings on two sides; and in

these compartments are two grim figures in complete armour, with bows

in their hands and quivers of arrows upon their backs--the Zuijin, or

ghostly retainers of the gods, and guardians of the gate. Before nearly

all the Shinto temples of Izumo, except Kitzuki, these Zuijin keep grim

watch. They are probably of Buddhist origin; but they have acquired a

Shinto history and Shinto names. [4] Originally, I am told, there was

but one Zuijin-Kami, whose name was Toyo-kushi-iwa-mato-no-mikoto. But

at a certain period both the god and his name were cut in two--perhaps

for decorative purposes. And now he who sits upon the left is

called Toyo-iwa-ma-to-no-mikoto; and his companion on the right,

Kushi-iwa-ma-to-no-mikoto.

Before the gate, on the left side, there is a stone monument upon which

is graven, in Chinese characters, a poem in Hokku, or verse of seventeen

syllables, composed by Cho-un:

Ko-ka-ra-shi-ya Ka-mi-no-mi-yu-ki-no Ya-ma-no-a-to.

My companion translates the characters thus:--'Where high heap the dead

leaves, there is the holy place upon the hills, where dwell the gods.'

Near by are stone lanterns and stone lions, and another monument--a

great five-cornered slab set up and chiselled--bearing the names in

Chinese characters of the Ji-jin, or Earth-Gods--the Deities who protect

the soil: Uga-no-mitama-no-mikoto (whose name signifies the

August Spirit-of-Food), Ama-terasu-oho-mi-Kami, Ona-muji-no-Kami,

Kaki-yasu-hime-no-Kami, Sukuna-hiko-na-no-Kami (who is the Scarecrow

God). And the figure of a fox in stone sits before the Name of the

August Spirit-of-Food.

The miya or Shinto temple itself is quite small--smaller than most of

the temples in the neighbourhood, and dingy, and begrimed with age.

Yet, next to Kitzuki, this is the most famous of Izumo shrines. The main

shrine, dedicated to Susano-o and Inada-hime and their son, whose

name is the name of the hamlet of Sakusa, is flanked by various lesser

shrines to left and right. In one of these smaller miya the spirit

of Ashi-nadzu-chi, father of Inada-hime, is supposed to dwell; and in

another that of Te-nadzu-chi, the mother of Inada-hime. There is also

a small shrine of the Goddess of the Sun. But these shrines have no

curious features. The main temple offers, on the other hand, some

displays of rarest interest.

To the grey weather-worn gratings of the doors of the shrine hundreds

and hundreds of strips of soft white paper have been tied in knots:

there is nothing written upon them, although each represents a heart's

wish and a fervent prayer. No prayers, indeed, are so fervent as those

of love. Also there are suspended many little sections of bamboo,

cut just below joints so as to form water receptacles: these are tied

together in pairs with a small straw cord which also serves to hang

them up. They contain offerings of sea-water carried here from no small

distance. And mingling with the white confusion of knotted papers there

dangle from the gratings many tresses of girls' hair--love-sacrifices

[5]--and numerous offerings of seaweed, so filamentary and so

sun-blackened that at some little distance it would not be easy to

distinguish them from long shorn tresses. And all the woodwork of the

doors and the gratings, both beneath and between the offerings, is

covered with a speckling of characters graven or written, which are

names of pilgrims.

And my companion reads aloud the well-remembered name of--AKIRA!

If one dare judge the efficacy of prayer to these kind gods of Shinto

from the testimony of their worshippers, I should certainly say that

Akira has good reason to hope. Planted in the soil, all round the edge

of the foundations of the shrine, are multitudes of tiny paper flags of

curious shape (nobori), pasted upon splinters of bamboo. Each of these

little white things is a banner of victory, and a lover's witness of

gratitude. [6] You will find such little flags stuck into the ground

about nearly all the great Shinto temples of Izumo. At Kitzuki they

cannot even be counted--any more than the flakes of a snowstorm.

And here is something else that you will find at most of the famous miya

in Izumo--a box of little bamboo sticks, fastened to a post before the

doors. If you were to count the sticks, you would find their number to

be exactly one thousand. They are counters for pilgrims who make a vow

to the gods to perform a sendo-mairi. To perform a sendo-mairi means

to visit the temple one thousand times. This, however, is so hard to do

that busy pious men make a sort of compromise with the gods, thus: they

walk from the shrine one foot beyond the gate, and back again to the

shrine, one thousand times--all in one day, keeping count with the

little splints of bamboo.

There is one more famous thing to be seen before visiting the holy

grove behind the temple, and that is the Sacred Tama-tsubaki, or

Precious-Camellia of Yaegaki. It stands upon a little knoll, fortified

by a projection-wall, in a rice-field near the house of the priest; a

fence has been built around it, and votive lamps of stone placed before

it. It is of vast age, and has two heads and two feet; but the twin

trunks grow together at the middle. Its unique shape, and the good

quality of longevity it is believed to possess in common with all of its

species, cause it to be revered as a symbol of undying wedded love,

and as tenanted by the Kami who hearken to lovers'

prayers--enmusubi-no-kami.

There is, however, a strange superstition, about tsubaki-trees; and this

sacred tree of Yaegaki, in the opinion of some folk, is a rare exception

to the general ghastliness of its species. For tsubaki-trees are goblin

trees, they say, and walk about at night; and there was one in the

garden of a Matsue samurai which did this so much that it had to be cut

down. Then it writhed its arms and groaned, and blood spurted at every

stroke of the axe.

Sec. 4

At the spacious residence of the kannushi some very curious ofuda and

o-mamori--the holy talismans and charms of Yaegaki--are sold, together

with pictures representing Take-haya-susa-no-wo-no-mikoto and his bride

Inada-hime surrounded by the 'manifold fence' of clouds. On the pictures

is also printed the august song whence the temple derives its name of

Yaegaki-jinja,--'Ya kumo tatsu Idzumo ya-he-gaki.' Of the o-mamori there

is quite a variety; but by far the most interesting is that labelled:

'Izumo-Yaegaki-jinja-en-musubi-on-hina' (August wedlock-producing

'hina' of the temple of Yaegaki of Izumo). This oblong, folded paper,

with Chinese characters and the temple seal upon it, is purchased

only by those in love, and is believed to assure nothing more than the

desired union. Within the paper are two of the smallest conceivable

doll-figures (hina), representing a married couple in antique

costume--the tiny wife folded to the breast of the tiny husband by one

long-sleeved arm. It is the duty of whoever purchases this mamori to

return it to the temple if he or she succeed in marrying the person

beloved. As already stated, the charm is not supposed to assure

anything more than the union: it cannot be accounted responsible for

any consequences thereof. He who desires perpetual love must purchase

another mamori labelled: 'Renri-tama-tsubaki-aikyo-goki-to-on-mamori'

(August amulet of august prayer-for-kindling-love of the jewel-precious

tsubaki-tree-of-Union). This charm should maintain at constant

temperature the warmth of affection; it contains only a leaf of the

singular double-bodied camellia tree before mentioned. There are also

small amulets for exciting love, and amulets for the expelling of

diseases, but these have no special characteristics worth dwelling upon.

Then we take our way to the sacred grove--the Okuno-in, or Mystic Shades

of Yaegaki.

Sec. 5

This ancient grove--so dense that when you first pass into its shadows

out of the sun all seems black--is composed of colossal cedars and

pines, mingled with bamboo, tsubaki (Camellia Japonica), and sakaki,

the sacred and mystic tree of Shinto. The dimness is chiefly made by

the huge bamboos. In nearly all sacred groves bamboos are thickly set

between the trees, and their feathery foliage, filling every lofty

opening between the heavier crests, entirely cuts off the sun. Even in a

bamboo grove where no other trees are, there is always a deep twilight.

As the eyes become accustomed to this green gloaming, a pathway outlines

itself between the trees--a pathway wholly covered with moss, velvety,

soft, and beautifully verdant. In former years, when all pilgrims were

required to remove their footgear before entering the sacred grove, this

natural carpet was a boon to the weary. The next detail one observes is

that the trunks of many of the great trees have been covered with thick

rush matting to a height of seven or eight feet, and that holes have

been torn through some of the mats. All the giants of the grove are

sacred; and the matting was bound about them to prevent pilgrims from

stripping off their bark, which is believed to possess miraculous

virtues. But many, more zealous than honest, do not hesitate to tear

away the matting in order to get at the bark. And the third curious fact

which you notice is that the trunks of the great bamboos are covered

with ideographs--with the wishes of lovers and the names of girls. There

is nothing in the world of vegetation so nice to write a sweetheart's

name upon as the polished bark of a bamboo: each letter, however lightly

traced at first, enlarges and blackens with the growth of the bark, and

never fades away.

The deeply mossed path slopes down to a little pond in the very heart

of the grove--a pond famous in the land of Izumo. Here there are many

imori, or water-newts, about five inches long, which have red bellies.

Here the shade is deepest, and the stems of the bamboos most thickly

tattooed with the names of girls. It is believed that the flesh of the

newts in the sacred pond of Yaegaki possesses aphrodisiac qualities;

and the body of the creature, reduced to ashes, by burning, was formerly

converted into love-powders. And there is a little Japanese song

referring to the practice:

'Hore-gusuri koka niwa naika to imori ni toeba, yubi-wo marumete kore

bakari.' [7]

The water is very clear; and there are many of these newts to be seen.

And it is the custom for lovers to make a little boat of paper, and put

into it one rin, and set it afloat and watch it. So soon as the paper

becomes wet through, and allows the water to enter it, the weight of the

copper coin soon sends it to the bottom, where, owing to the purity of

the water, it can be still seen distinctly as before. If the newts then

approach and touch it, the lovers believe their happiness assured by

the will of the gods; but if the newts do not come near it, the omen is

evil. One poor little paper boat, I observe, could not sink at all; it

simply floated to the inaccessible side of the pond, where the trees

rise like a solid wall of trunks from the water's edge, and there became

caught in some drooping branches. The lover who launched it must have

departed sorrowing at heart.

Close to the pond, near the pathway, there are many camellia-bushes, of

which the tips of the branches have been tied together, by pairs, with

strips of white paper. These are shrubs of presage. The true lover must

be able to bend two branches together, and to keep them united by tying

a paper tightly about them--all with the fingers of one hand. To do this

well is good luck. Nothing is written upon the strips of paper.

But there is enough writing upon the bamboos to occupy curiosity for

many an hour, in spite of the mosquitoes. Most of the names are

yobi-na,--that is to say, pretty names of women; but there are likewise

names of men--jitsumyo; [8] and, oddly enough, a girl's name and a man's

are in no instance written together. To judge by all this ideographic

testimony, lovers in Japan--or at least in Izumo--are even more

secretive than in our Occident. The enamoured youth never writes his own

jitsumyo and his sweetheart's yobi-na together; and the family name, or

myoji, he seldom ventures to inscribe. If he writes his jitsumyo, then

he contents himself with whispering the yobi-na of his sweetheart to the

gods and to the bamboos. If he cuts her yobi-na into the bark, then he

substitutes for his own name a mention of his existence and his age

only, as in this touching instance:

Takata-Toki-to-en-musubi-negaimas. Jiu-hassai-no-otoko [9]

This lover presumes to write his girl's whole name; but the example, so

far as I am able to discover, is unique. Other enamoured ones write only

the yobi-na of their bewitchers; and the honourable prefix, 'O,' and

the honourable suffix, 'San,' find no place in the familiarity of love.

There is no 'O-Haru-San,' 'O-Kin-San,' 'O-Take-San,' 'O-Kiku-San'; but

there are hosts of Haru, and Kin, and Take, and Kiku. Girls, of course,

never dream of writing their lovers' names. But there are many geimyo

here, 'artistic names,'--names of mischievous geisha who worship the

Golden Kitten, written by their saucy selves: Rakue and Asa and Wakai,

Aikichi and Kotabuki and Kohachi, Kohana and Tamakichi and Katsuko,

and Asakichi and Hanakichi and Katsukichi, and Chiyoe and Chiyotsuru.

'Fortunate-Pleasure,' 'Happy-Dawn,' and 'Youth' (such are their

appellations), 'Blest-Love' and 'Length-of-Days,' and 'Blossom-Child'

and 'Jewel-of-Fortune' and 'Child-of-Luck,' and 'Joyous-Sunrise'

and 'Flower-of-Bliss' and 'Glorious Victory,' and

'Life-as-the-Stork's-for-a-thousand-years.' Often shall he curse the day

he was born who falls in love with Happy-Dawn; thrice unlucky the wight

bewitched by the Child-of-Luck; woe unto him who hopes to cherish the

Flower-of-Bliss; and more than once shall he wish himself dead whose

heart is snared by Life-as-the-Stork's-for-a-thou sand-years. And I

see that somebody who inscribes his age as twenty and three has become

enamoured of young Wakagusa, whose name signifies the tender Grass of

Spring. Now there is but one possible misfortune for you, dear boy,

worse than falling in love with Wakagusa--and that is that she should

happen to fall in love with you. Because then you would, both of you,

write some beautiful letters to your friends, and drink death, and pass

away in each other's arms, murmuring your trust to rest together upon

the same lotus-flower in Paradise: 'Hasu no ha no ue ni oite matsu.'

Nay! pray the Deities rather to dissipate the bewitchment that is upon

you:

Te ni toru na, Yahari no ni oke Gengebana. [10]

And here is a lover's inscription--in English! Who presumes to suppose

that the gods know English? Some student, no doubt, who for pure

shyness engraved his soul's secret in this foreign tongue of mine--never

dreaming that a foreign eye would look upon it. 'I wish You, Haru!' Not

once, but four--no, five times!--each time omitting the preposition.

Praying--in this ancient grove--in this ancient Land of Izumo--unto the

most ancient gods in English! Verily, the shyest love presumes much

upon the forbearance of the gods. And great indeed must be, either

the patience of Take-haya-susano-wo-no-mikoto, or the rustiness of the

ten-grasp sabre that was augustly girded upon him.