=Nihi-name=.--The Nihi-name or new tasting, when the rice of the new harvest was first partaken of, was the same as the Ohonihe, except that it was simpler and was celebrated annually. The festival is frequently referred to in the _Kojiki_ and _Nihongi_. The Sun-Goddess is said to have celebrated a Nihi-name in a New Palace. It was accompanied by songs and dances and was followed by feasting in holiday dress and presents to the Court and officials. At shrines not officially recognized, the local official in charge conducted this ceremony. It was then called _o-hi-taki_ (august-fire-kindling) because a courtyard fire (_nihabi_) was made, the ceremony taking place at night. Strict Shinto devotees would not eat the new season's rice until it had been performed. It appears from allusions in poetry and legend that there was also a household Nihi-name. It was celebrated with closed doors, no stranger being admitted, apparently in order to prevent pollution by impure persons. The following legend from the _Hitachi Fudoki_ illustrates this point. "_When the God called the 'Divine Ancestor' went to the places of the various deities, he came to the Peak of Fuji in Suruga. The sun went down and he asked for a lodging, but the God of Fuji refused, saying that he was that day performing the Nihi-name, and his household were therefore practising abstinence. So he ascended the Peak of Tsukuba, and asked for a lodging. The God of Tsukuba said: 'Although I am this night celebrating the Nihi-name, why should that prevent me from acceding to your august behest?'_" =Nanakusa=.--There was in later times a corresponding spring festival called Nana-kusa (seven herbs), in which wild potherbs of seven different kinds were gathered and eaten. =Ahi-name or Ahimbe=.--This word means "joint-tasting." It was a harvest festival not essentially differing from the Nihi-name, and was so called because the Mikado joined the Gods with himself in tasting the new season's rice and _sake_. Hirata thinks, however, that the expression "joint-tasting" refers to the association of certain inferior Gods with the greater Gods directly worshipped at this time. It was celebrated on the first Hare day of the eleventh month, and was in honour of the deities of seventy-one shrines. =Kan-name= (divine-tasting).--This was another harvest festival, distinguished from the preceding by being celebrated in the ninth month, and being confined to the deities of the Ise shrines. An embassy of high officials was specially dispatched to Ise for the purpose, after an elaborate ceremonial in the Palace, in which the Mikado himself took part. The _norito_ (Nos. 20, 21, and 22) used on this occasion are preserved in the _Yengishiki_. They contain nothing of interest. When a princess was dedicated to the service of the shrines, the following formula (No. 23) was added:--