The worship of these deities was extremely popular in ancient Japan. They were much appealed to in divination,[169] and were prayed to by most travellers when starting on a journey. The phrase _chi buri no Kami_ (Gods along the road) means the Sahe no Kami. The Sahe no Kami were the _mitama par excellence_. They were also called _tamuke no Kami_ (Gods of offerings) because travellers were in the habit of carrying a _nusa-bukuro_ (offering-bag) containing hemp leaves and rice, of which a little was offered to each of them when passing. All unforeseen disasters or illnesses on a journey were attributed to a neglect of the worship of these deities. But a very little advance in enlightenment shows that the sexual instincts need restraint[170] rather than the stimulus which they must derive from such a cult. So early as A.D. 939 a deity of this kind which stood in a conspicuous position in Kiōto, and was worshipped by all travellers, was removed to a less prominent situation. Phallicism ultimately disappeared from official Shinto. But it lingered long in popular customs, and is not quite extinct even at the present day, especially in eastern Japan. I have myself witnessed a procession in which a phallus, several feet high and painted a bright red, was carried on a bier by a crowd of coolies in festal uniform, shouting, laughing, and zig-zagging tumultuously from one side of the street to another. In the lupanars they are honoured by having a lamp of simple construction kept burning before them, and are prayed to by the proprietor for numerous clients. The boys' festival of _dondo_, on the 15th of the 1st month, still retains traces of its phallic origin.[171] =Oni=.--_Oni_, or demons, have no individual names. It is clear from the _Kojiki_ and _Nihongi_ mythical narratives that the _oni_ exorcised by means of the peach[172] are the same as the "thunders" and the "armies of Yomi." In other words, they are primarily personified diseases.[173] They afterwards lost this specific character. Motoöri defines _oni_ as _ashiki kami_, or "evil deity." He condemns their identification by the _Wamiôshô_ with the spirits of the dead. There is a story of a tenth-century hero who cut off the arm of an _oni_ and brought it home with him, but was tricked out of it by the owner, who came to his house in the disguise of an old woman. The _oni_ have red faces, hairy persons, horns, and sometimes only one eye. They are said to devour men. The modern ideas respecting them are mostly borrowed from Buddhist sources. =Gods of Good and Ill Luck=.--Among deified human properties we may reckon the Gods of Good and Ill Luck produced when Izanagi washed in the sea after his return from Yomi. Their names, Naobi and Magatsubi, contain the elements _nao_, straight, and _maga_, crooked.