[239] These are names of places. The Gods seem to have had no others. [240] These are names of mountains. [241] Ninigi. Below the same term means the Mikado. [242] The ancient Japanese houses had their timbers lashed together with ropes. [243] The translation is doubtful. [244] See above, p. 167. [245] Male and female attendants. [246] These terms are often used as synonymous with the regalia, of which the Sun-mirror was the chief. [247] The incense is Buddhist. [248] I am much indebted to Dr. Florenz's exhaustive monograph on this rite in vol. xxvii. of the _T. A. S. J._ [249] Ch. K., p. 230. [250] See Index, _sub voce_. [251] See Mr. Batchelor in _T. A. S. J_., xxiv. 46. [252] It will be remembered that it was on an occasion of this kind that Agamemnon ordered an Oho-harahi to be performed:-- ... λαὸνς άπολνμαἰνεσθαι άνωγεν, Οιδ άπελνμάινοντοο καί εἰς άλα λνματ έβαλλον 'Iliad,' I. 313. [253] See Index. [254] "He" is the officiating Nakatomi, speaking on behalf of the Mikado. [255] Usually said to be Taka-musubi, Kamu-musubi, and the Sun-Goddess. [256] Ninigi. [257] Poetical expressions for Japan. [258] That is, rain. [259] Sowing wild oats was one of the misdeeds of Loki, the Scandinavian mischief-God. Compare also Matthew xiii. 24: "The kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a man that sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares also among the wheat." See above, p. 97. [260] Motoöri says that this is with the malicious intention of injuring the feet of the owner of the ground. I prefer the explanation suggested by the _Shiki_, an ancient commentary on the _Nihongi_. It says: "Planting rods (or skewers) in the rice-fields with words of incantation is called 'skewer-planting.' The object is the destruction of any one who should wrongly claim that field. The present custom of planting skewers in a field whose ownership is disputed is probably a survival of this." _Kushi_, or skewer, is the word used for the wand to which offerings are attached. See Florenz's 'Ancient Japanese Rituals' in _T. A. S. J._, p. 32.