The application of the _harahi_ to the purpose of a fine was regulated by an ordinance which was issued in 801. Those who were guilty of neglect in connexion with the celebration of the Ohonihe, or who, during the month of special avoidance of impurity, contracted mourning, visited the sick, were concerned with capital sentences, ate flesh, or touched anything impure were mulcted in an _oho-harahi_, which in this case meant simply a heavy fine. It consisted of one horse, two swords, two bows, and a long list of other sundries. Other offences of the same classes were fined in a _naka-harahi_, or medium _harahi_. Dr. Florenz describes a more modern form of _harahi_ as follows: "As a third species of _harahi_ we may mention the purification preceding every greater festival of a Shinto shrine, through which the priests and others taking part in the Matsuri are purified. This ceremony takes place in a hall or open place specially prepared for the purpose, called _harahi-dokoro_ (purification-place). It consists in the _Kami-oroshi_ (bringing down the spirits of the purifying deities) into the _himorogi_, which stands on an eight-legged table in the middle of the _harahi-dokoro_, the recitation of the purification prayer, various subsequent symbolic ceremonies, and the _Kami-age_, or sending back the Gods to their abodes. Thereupon the priests are considered to be pure, and the Matsuri proper can begin. The prayer addressed to the Gods is as follows:-- _"In reverence and awe: The great gods of the purification place who came into existence when the Great God Izanagi deigned to wash and purify himself on the plain of Ahagi [east] of Tachibana [near] the River Wotō in Himuka in Tsukushi, shall deign to purify and deign to cleanse whatever there may be of sins and pollutions committed inadvertently or deliberately by the officials serving here to-day. Listen ye to these my words. Thus I say reverentially."_