Japan and the Japanese illustrated . stinguished for the luxury and variety of thecostumes of its priests, and for its immense personal staff; also for the theatrical pompof its ceremonies. The most imposing is the general procession of the Annual Dedicationwhich follows tlse feasts of the purification of the temple and its dependencies. Thesuperiors of the convent have the head shaved, and conform in all its details tothe rule of Buddhist sacerdotalism ; but their authority extends over severalfraternities attached to the ancient national woishif) ; and each of these wears the THE HORSES OF T
Japan and the Japanese illustrated . stinguished for the luxury and variety of thecostumes of its priests, and for its immense personal staff; also for the theatrical pompof its ceremonies. The most imposing is the general procession of the Annual Dedicationwhich follows tlse feasts of the purification of the temple and its dependencies. Thesuperiors of the convent have the head shaved, and conform in all its details tothe rule of Buddhist sacerdotalism ; but their authority extends over severalfraternities attached to the ancient national woishif) ; and each of these wears the THE HORSES OF THE GODDESS. 249 hair according to the ordinances of the Dairi to which they belong. There is no lessvariety in the costumes and liveries of the masters of ceremonies, heralds-of-arms, cooks,grooms, porters, and valets attached to the different sects of the bonze-house. The grooms of Quannon-sama have the care of a couple of Albinos horses, calledthe horses of the goddess. These sacred horses are fed with consecrated beans, and enjoy. IIANfE OP TllK rilllvSTS (iK FOUXATiAS. the privilege of sleeping upriglit, sustained by a sort of hammock made of strongsuspending bands. At morning, the priests lead them forth before the statue of Quaunon,and ask her if she does not wish to go out riding. The heralds-at-arms have chargeof a whole arsenal of casques and steel armour, and figure in the jT-les and in theprocessions. The bonzes often give spectacles in which artists play their partseither as dancers or as comedians. On these occasions there may be seen, onthe fifteenth day of the sixth month, a very curious piece,—a swoid-dance, or K K 250 LIFE IN JAPAN. great military pantomime exclusively executed by the priests. But the triumph ofAsaksa-Tera is its Kermesse at the end of the year. Although there is a permanentfair which is frequented by crowds every day, and is the habitual resort or play-ground of its great bonze-house, it is from the eighteenth to the last day of the twelfthm
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