The Religions of Japan, from the Dawn of History to the Era of MéijiGriffis, William Elliot
Religion
The Religions of Japan, from the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji
Griffis, William Elliot
Japan -- Religion
Amongst the various sorts of offences which may be committed in
ignorance or out of negligence by heaven's increasing people,
who shall come into being in the country, which the Sovran
GRANDCHILD'S augustness, hiding in the fresh RESIDENCE, built by
stoutly planting the HOUSE-pillars on the bottom-most rocks, and
exalting the cross-beams to the plain of high heaven, as his
SHADE from the heavens and SHADE from the sun, shall tranquilly
ruin as a peaceful country, namely, the country of great Yamato,
where the sun is soon on high, which he fixed upon as a peaceful
country, as the centre of the countries of the four quarters
thus bestowed upon him--breaking the ridges, filling up
water-courses, opening sluices, double-sowing, planting stakes,
flaying alive, flaying backwards, and dunging; many of such
offences are distinguished as heavenly offences, and as earthly
offences; cutting living flesh, cutting dead flesh, leprosy,
proud-flesh, ... calamities of crawling worms, calamities of a
god on high, calamities of birds on high, the offences of
killing beasts and using incantations; many of such offences may
be disclosed.
When he has thus repeated it, the heavenly gods will push open
heaven's eternal gates, and cleaving a path with might through
the manifold clouds of heaven, will hear; and the country gods,
ascending to the tops of the high mountains, and to the tops of
the low hills, and tearing asunder the mists of the high
mountains and the mists of the low hills, will hear.
And when they have thus heard, the
Maiden-of-Descent-into-the-Current, who dwells in the current of
the swift stream which boils down the ravines from the tops of
the high mountains, and the tops of the low hills, shall carry
out to the great sea plain the offences which are cleared away
and purified, so that there be no remaining offence; like as
Shinato's wind blows apart the manifold clouds of heaven, as the
morning wind and the evening wind blow away the morning mist and
the evening mist, as the great ships which lie on the shore of a
great port loosen their prows, and loosen their sterns to push
out into the great sea-plain; as the trunks of the forest trees,
far and near, are cleared away by the sharp sickle, the sickle
forged with fire: so that there ceased to be any offence called
an offence in the court of the Sovran GRANDCHILD'S augustness to
begin with, and in the countries of the four quarters of the
region under heaven.
And when she thus carries them out and away, the deity called
the Maiden-of-the-Swift-cleansing, who dwells in the
multitudinous meetings of the sea waters, the multitudinous
currents of rough sea-waters shall gulp them down.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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