=Imbe=.--The Imbe were another hereditary corporation, descended, it was said, from the God Futodama (great-gift). Their chief business was to prepare the offerings, and their name Imi-be (_imi_ means avoidance, or religious abstinence) has reference to the care with which they avoided all sources of impurity in doing so. The Imbe, after praying to the Mountain-God, cut down with a sacred (_imi_) axe the trees required for shrines, or at least began the work, leaving it to be completed by ordinary workmen. They also dug the foundations with a sacred (_imi_) mattock. Two of the _norito_, namely, the Ohotono and the Mikado, were read by them. It was also their duty, at least at one period, to deliver the regalia to the Mikado at his coronation. A Chinese description of Japan, written long before the _Kojiki_ or _Nihongi_, gives the following account of what were in all probability the predecessors of the Imbe:-- "_They (the Japanese) appoint a man whom they call an 'abstainer.' He is not allowed to comb his hair, to wash, to eat flesh, or to approach women. When they are fortunate, they make him presents, but if they are ill, or meet with disaster, they set it down to the abstainer's failure to keep his vows, and unite to put him to death._"[174] This is a description of a typical ascetic. In the Imbe of historical times we have the closely allied idea of scrupulous attention to religious purity. But they were not celibates or vegetarians except _ad hoc_ when a festival was impending, and so far from neglecting the care of their persons, strict cleanliness was incumbent upon them. =Urabe=.--A third hereditary religious corporation in ancient Japan was that of the diviners or Urabe. They are mentioned in the _Nihongi_ under the date A.D. 585. They were divided at a later period into four branches, belonging respectively to the provinces of Iki, Tsushima, Idzu, and Hitachi. Twenty of these diviners were attached to the Jingikwan. It was their duty to decide by the deer's shoulder-blade or tortoise-shell divination such matters as were referred to them by the superior officials of the department. Urabe were despatched to the provinces to fetch the rice which was used in the Ohonihe ceremony. It was also their duty to take away and throw into a river the _harahe-tsu-mono_, or offerings of purification. For many centuries this office has been in the hands of the Yoshida family, whose exorbitant pretensions fill Hirata with indignation. The Nakatomi, Imbe, Urabe, and Ô (princes of the Shirakaha House), constitute what are called the Shi-sei, or four surnames of the Jingikwan. =Saishu=.--The high-priest at Ise was called Saishu, or worship-master. This office was hereditary in the Fujinami family, a branch of the Nakatomi. =Daigūji=.--The high-priests of Atsuta, Kashima, Usa, and Aso were termed Daigūji, or great-shrine-functionaries. There was a Dai-gū-ji at Ise, subordinate to the Saishu. This office was also hereditary.