Opening the text

Error's chains : $b How forged and broken : A comparative history of the national, social and religious errors that mankind has fallen into and practised from the creation down to the present time.Dobbins, Frank S. (Frank Stockton)

Religion

Error's chains : $b How forged and broken : A comparative history of the national, social and religious errors that mankind has fallen into and practised from the creation down to the present time.

Name: Error's chains : $b How forged and broken : A comparative history of the national, social and religious errors that mankind has fallen into and practised from the creation down to the present time.
Author: Dobbins, Frank S. (Frank Stockton)

Dobbins, Frank S. (Frank Stockton)

Idols and images -- Worship; Mythology; Religions

Possessed of these divine symbols, and accompanied by a number of
inferior gods, Ninigi-no-mikoto descended upon the Floating Bridge of
Heaven, or the “Ama-nouki-hashi.” Grains of rice were thrown broadcast
in the air to dispel the darkness of the sky. Ninigi-no-mikoto was
the god who was sent down from the Sun-goddess, whose grandchild he
was, to take possession of the land, and it was his offspring, and the
offspring of his suite, who peopled Japan. Ninigi-no-mikoto lived to
the age of 310,000 years; his son Hohodemi lived to the still riper
age of 637,892 years, and a grandchild of his, Ugaya, died at the
remarkable age of 836,042 years. He was the father of Jimmu Tenno,
first Emperor of Japan, who is, at the present time, very widely
worshiped as a god.

  [Illustration: JIMMU TENNO, FIRST EMPEROR OF JAPAN.]


                THE SUN-GODDESS ENTICED FROM THE CAVE.

The young brother of the Sun-goddess so seriously offended his bright
and beautiful sister that she went away and concealed herself in the
cave of Ameno Tuaya, closing the entrance with a large piece of rock.
From this time the entire country was dark, and was given up to the
noise and disturbance of all sorts of inferior gods. This state of
things was so distressing that all the gods assembled at the cave’s
mouth, on the bank of the Yasukawa River, and deliberated upon the
means to be adopted for inducing the petulant goddess to re-appear,
for be it understood that after the birth of the Sun-goddess no light
could be obtained except from her brightness, as she had been appointed
to illuminate the space between earth and Heaven, and it was the
brightness of her body that shone through the sun. At the council of
the gods it was decided to entice the goddess forth by means of an
image of herself, and one of the gods and a blacksmith made mirrors, in
the shape of the sun, with iron brought from Heaven.

Japanese mirrors are always made of fine metal, not of glass coated
with quicksilver. Those in common use are generally five or six
inches in diameter, having the surface polished with great care and
some figures or flowers stamped upon the back. The mirror is a Shinto
symbol. In the centre of the Shinto shrine of Isé, in the “Holy of
Holies” of that temple are found four boxes of unpainted wood, resting
on low stands. These are the only objects to be found here. In each
box, wrapped in a brocade bag, is a mirror. On festival days, these
boxes--but not the mirrors--are exposed to view.

  [Illustration: SHINTOISTS WORSHIPING THE RISING SUN.]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Religion

Error's chains : $b How forged and broken : A comparative history of the national, social and religious errors that mankind has fallen into and practised from the creation down to the present time.

Dobbins, Frank S. (Frank Stockton)

Idols and images -- Worship; Mythology; Religions

Possessed of these divine symbols, and accompanied by a number of
inferior gods, Ninigi-no-mikoto descended upon the Floating Bridge of
Heaven, or the “Ama-nouki-hashi.” Grains of rice were thrown broadcast
in the air to dispel the darkness of the sky. Ninigi-no-mikoto was
the god who was sent down from the Sun-goddess, whose grandchild he
was, to take possession of the land, and it was his offspring, and the
offspring of his suite, who peopled Japan. Ninigi-no-mikoto lived to
the age of 310,000 years; his son Hohodemi lived to the still riper
age of 637,892 years, and a grandchild of his, Ugaya, died at the
remarkable age of 836,042 years. He was the father of Jimmu Tenno,
first Emperor of Japan, who is, at the present time, very widely
worshiped as a god.

  [Illustration: JIMMU TENNO, FIRST EMPEROR OF JAPAN.]


                THE SUN-GODDESS ENTICED FROM THE CAVE.

The young brother of the Sun-goddess so seriously offended his bright
and beautiful sister that she went away and concealed herself in the
cave of Ameno Tuaya, closing the entrance with a large piece of rock.
From this time the entire country was dark, and was given up to the
noise and disturbance of all sorts of inferior gods. This state of
things was so distressing that all the gods assembled at the cave’s
mouth, on the bank of the Yasukawa River, and deliberated upon the
means to be adopted for inducing the petulant goddess to re-appear,
for be it understood that after the birth of the Sun-goddess no light
could be obtained except from her brightness, as she had been appointed
to illuminate the space between earth and Heaven, and it was the
brightness of her body that shone through the sun. At the council of
the gods it was decided to entice the goddess forth by means of an
image of herself, and one of the gods and a blacksmith made mirrors, in
the shape of the sun, with iron brought from Heaven.

Japanese mirrors are always made of fine metal, not of glass coated
with quicksilver. Those in common use are generally five or six
inches in diameter, having the surface polished with great care and
some figures or flowers stamped upon the back. The mirror is a Shinto
symbol. In the centre of the Shinto shrine of Isé, in the “Holy of
Holies” of that temple are found four boxes of unpainted wood, resting
on low stands. These are the only objects to be found here. In each
box, wrapped in a brocade bag, is a mirror. On festival days, these
boxes--but not the mirrors--are exposed to view.

  [Illustration: SHINTOISTS WORSHIPING THE RISING SUN.]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Error's chains : $b How forged and broken : A comparative history of the national, social and religious errors that mankind has fallen into and practised from the creation down to the present time.

Error's chains : $b How forged and broken : A comparative history of the national, social and religious errors that mankind has fallen into and practised from the creation down to the present time.

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