_Kedzurikake_ of elder or willow are still made in some places. In Harima, on the 14th day of the 1st month, _kedzurikake_ are hung up under the eaves in substitution for the _kadomatsu_, or fir trees placed by the entrance gate at the New Year. In Suwo, _kedzurikake_, made of a thorny tree called _tara_, are placed on each side of the front and back doors at this season, no doubt with the object of averting evil influences. When the _kadomatsu_ and other New Year's decorations are removed on the 15th day of the 1st month, they are in many places collected by the boys as material for a bonfire. This is called _dondo_ or _sagichō_, and the burning of the _kedzurikake_ is a feature of it. In the Yamagata ken, wherever there are stone images of Dōsōjin, the phallic God of Roads,[160] the boys at this time make a bonfire of fir trees and straw, and build for themselves a hut beside it. When the people assemble, they come out and fire it. If the dumplings made on the 14th are roasted in this fire and eaten, malignant diseases need not be feared during the ensuing half year. In Hitachi this hut is called the "Hall of the Sai no Kami." The embers are used for re-lighting the domestic fires or kept as charms against pestilence. [Illustration] Fire, kindled from _kedzurikake_ after prayer, was given out to the people by the priests of Gion in Kiōto on the last day of the year. It was transferred to a slow match, and used for rekindling the household fires, the object being to prevent pestilence during the coming year.[161] The mythical burning of a _wobashira_ (also a phallic emblem) by Izanagi in Yomi was probably suggested by some such custom.[162] It will be observed that the prophylactic virtue of the phallus has not been forgotten in the _kedzurikake_. The _kedzurikake_ are sometimes described as the _shintai_ of Dōsōjin, and are placed on the domestic altar to be worshipped as his representative. They are also, by a known confusion of ideas, presented to the Gods as offerings. The Ainus of Yezo, who have adopted the _kedzurikake_ as the general form of offering to their Gods at all times, and attach to it no phallic signification, were no doubt familiar with this use of it by their Japanese neighbours. It is by them called _inao_ or _nusa_, the latter being the old Japanese word for offering. The facility with which such offerings could be prepared by savages must have been a recommendation. The two cylindrical _shingi_, or "divine sticks," eight or nine inches in circumference and one foot long, thrown to the crowd by the priests of Seidaiji, near Okayama, on the night of the 14th day of the 1st month, and called _o fuku_ (luck), to keep off pestilence and bring prosperity, are probably of phallic origin.