=Mikayu-ura= (divination by gruel). This kind of divination is also associated with the Sahe no Kami. It was practised in various forms at Kirawoka in Kahachi, Suha in Shinano, and other places, on the 15th day of the 1st month[310] in order to ascertain what crops it would be best to sow that year. A pot was set up before the God in which adzuki beans[311] were boiled. Then tubes of reed, five or six inches long, marked with the names of all manner of crops were plunged into the gruel. The _negi_ (priests) stood by, and taking out the tubes with chopsticks divined from the manner in which the grains of rice (mixed with the gruel) entered them whether the crop in question would be good or bad. At Haruna the priests published the results to the peasants in a printed form. Hirata mentions another form of divination in which beans are set in a row round the hearth and fire brought close to them. Some are roasted black while others remain white, and from this the weather and luck of the ensuing year are divined. =Koto-ura= (harp-divination) was formerly (11th century) practised at Ise with the object of ascertaining whether the priests who were to take part in the three great religious services of the year and the utensils employed were pure or not. Prayer having been made to the Sun-Goddess, the officiating priest struck a harp three times,[312] uttering with each note a loud Hush! He then recited the following _Kami-oroshi_ (bringing-down the Gods):-- _"Ah! we protest that we are in earnest,_ _To your pure seat deign to descend_ _All ye Gods of Heaven and Earth,_ _Ah! we protest that we are in earnest,_ _To thy pure seat deign to descend_ _Thou Thunder-God also._ _Ah! we protest that we are in earnest,_ _To your pure seat deign to descend_ _Oh thou upper great brother and thou lower great brother."_[313] The names of the priests were then called over and the question asked in the case of each, "Is he clean or unclean?" The officiating priest then struck the harp and tried to whistle by drawing in his breath. If the whistle was audible it was a sign of purity, and _vice versâ_. The same procedure was observed with regard to the persons who had prepared the offerings, the offerings themselves, and the utensils required in the service. =Caldron-Divination=.--At the shrine of Kibitsu no miya in Bittchu there is a mode of divining good and ill-luck from the sound made by a caldron in boiling. The priests, on the application of a worshipper, recite _norito_ and kindle a fire of brushwood under a caldron. If the sound produced resembles the bellowing of a bull, the prognostic is good, if otherwise, it is bad.