=Shinto Oracles=.--The Sun-Goddess enjoins uprightness and truth, on pain of being sent to Ne no kuni.[334] Men should make their hearts like unto Heaven-and-Earth.[335] Wearisome ceremonies and repetitions (of some Buddhist sects) should be abandoned, and reverence shown to the Gods of the ancestral shrines.[336] The Mikado Gotoba no In received the following inspiration in a dream from the two shrines of Ise:-- _In the last days the world will be disturbed and all men troubled. The sovereign house will show respect for the military house, and local governors will make friends with wearisome fellows (Buddhist monks). Buddhist priests will take to them wives, eat flesh, and propagate base doctrines. The land of Ashihara of the fair rice-ears is the rightful property of my descendants._ An oracle of Hachiman:-- _I refuse the offerings of the impure of heart. Some Gods are great, some small, some good and others bad. My name is Dai jizai wō bosatsu._[337] An inspired poem (A.D. 1204):-- _Loving-kindness is of the Buddhas:_ _Uprightness of the Kami:_ _Error of the sons of men._ _Thus of the same heart there is a triple division._ The Gods of Kamo promise their divine help and the fulfilment of their prayers to their worshippers, especially those who regularly visit the shrine. Oracle of the Gods of Kasuga:-- _Even though men prepare for us a pure abode and offer there the rare things of the land, though they hang up offerings of the seven precious things, and with anxious hearts pray to us for hundreds of days, yet will we refuse to enter the house of the depraved and miserly. But we will surely visit the dwellings even of those in deep mourning[338] without an invitation, if loving-kindness is there always. The reason is that we make loving-kindness our shintai._ _Hear all men! If you desire to obtain help from the Gods, put away pride. Even a hair of pride shuts you off from the Gods as it were by a great cloud._ _Hear all men! The good Kami find their strength and their support in piety. Therefore they love not the offerings of those who practise tedious ceremonies._ The Deity of Matsunowo says:-- _Any one who makes a single obeisance to one Kami will receive infinite help: much more so any one who makes pure his heart and enters the great way of single-minded uprightness._ Oracle of _Temman tenjin_, the deified Minister Sugahara no Michizane[339]:-- _All ye who come before me hoping to attain the accomplishment of your desires, pray with hearts pure from falsehood, clean within and without, reflecting the truth like a mirror. If those who are falsely accused of crime[340] come to me for help, within seven days their prayer will be granted, or else call me not a God._ An oracle of Mume no miya promises that if an offering of sand is made help will be given to women in child-birth, and children to those who have none.