. Discovery. Science. 128 DISCOVERY that being to protect the growing rice-crops from the depredations of the crows, and it is its connection with those birds that gives it some of its characteristic features. Into all the details of the weird and signifi- cant ceremonial we have not now time to enter, though they aie the more striking from the fact that they are carried out at the present day quite close to a railway traversing the centre of the mainland of Japan. The principal figure of the proceedings is a member of a family of farmers, in which the office of Eri-dane. or " Chosen Seed
. Discovery. Science. 128 DISCOVERY that being to protect the growing rice-crops from the depredations of the crows, and it is its connection with those birds that gives it some of its characteristic features. Into all the details of the weird and signifi- cant ceremonial we have not now time to enter, though they aie the more striking from the fact that they are carried out at the present day quite close to a railway traversing the centre of the mainland of Japan. The principal figure of the proceedings is a member of a family of farmers, in which the office of Eri-dane. or " Chosen Seed," has been hereditary for many generations. On July i6 (old style), at midnight, in the precincts of the temple, which are illuminated by huge torches of bamboo, a solemn invocation of the Sama, the Buddhist incarnation of the God of Crows, descends and proceeds to reincarnate himself in the person of the Eri-dane. This service lasts about half an hour, and at its conclusion the medium, now "possessed " by the spirit of the god, leaps up and dashes wildly about the enclosure, supported by a priest on either hand to prevent him from hurting himself by falling to the ground, or by colliding with the trees and walls surrounding the temple grounds. These , relieved with intervals for rest, are prolonged for about an hour and a half, and the whole proceedings are watched by large crowds of peasantry from the surrounding countryside with mingled amusement and awe. At length the wander-. FlG. I.—THE OLD AND THE NEW SIDE BY SIDE IN JAPAN. The torii (sacred gateway) at the foot of Nantai-san, the holy peak above Lake Chuzenji. dear Nikko, in Central Japan. Note the electric light, the telephone wire, and the English translation of the notice. god takes place to the accompaniment of the blowing of conch-shells and the shrill rattling of the shakujo— the official staves of the Buddhist priests hung with rings of brass. Presently the Eri-dane, who has pre- vio
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