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 _sh[=o]ry[=o]-bune_ made. And I can send you one if you would like. There is a special kind of _sh[=o]ry[=o]-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.
DEAR PROFESSOR,--I have just returned from my first really great Japanese experience,--a trip to Kizuki. The two trips were beautiful. From Sh[=o]bara the route lies through a superb plain of rice fields, with mountain ranges closing the horizon to left and right.
Reaching Kizuki at night, I sent a letter of introduction from Mr. Nishida of the Ch[=u]gakk[=o] to Senke Takamori,--the princely person whose family for 82 generations have been in charge of the great temple. I paid a visit to the grounds the same evening, and was amazed by the great scale and dignity of the buildings, and the nobility of the approaches to them, under succession of colossal _torii_.
Next morning a messenger came from Mr. Senke, announcing that I would be received at the temple. My attendant had, however, to put on _hakamas_ and perform other personal corrections of dress before entering the august presence.
We were then received with a courtesy and kindness impossible to praise sufficiently or to qualify too gratefully. After performing the requisite ablution of hands, we were received into the inner shrine of the chief deity--(my baggage not yet having arrived, I have not your "Kojiki" by me to correct misspelling, but I think the name is [=O]namuji-no-Mikoto). I was told that I was the first European ever allowed to enter the shrine, though seven or eight other foreigners had visited the grounds.