Produced by Chris Curnow, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) [Illustration] PRIVATELY PRINTED OPUSCULA ISSUED TO MEMBERS OF THE SETTE OF ODD VOLUMES. No. XXX. Y^E MAGICK MIRROUR OF OLD JAPAN. [Illustration] [Illustration: YE MAGICK MIRROUR OF OLD JAPAN] Ye Magick Mirrour of Old Japan BY SILVANUS P. THOMPSON, D.SC., F.R.S. _Magnetizer_ to the Sette of Odd Volumes A DISCOURSE DELIVERED AT A MEETING OF THE SETTE HOLDEN AT LIMMER’S HOTEL, ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1892 [Illustration] LONDON Imprinted for the Author at the Chiswick Press; and to be had of no Booksellers CI[mirrored C] I[mirrored C] CCC XC III Night’s Robe to-night with Orient Sorcery gleams-- Say: “Magick Mirrour!” murmur: “Old Japan!” Each Sound’s a Spell, each Word a Talisman, And we but Dreamers in a World of Dreams. _J. T._ [Illustration] DEDICATED TO THE UNITED SETTE BY THEIR _MAGNETIZER_. [Illustration] This Edition is limited to 97 copies, and is imprinted for private circulation only. No. Presented unto ______________ by ______________ [Illustration] [Illustration: PLATE I.] [Illustration] Y^E MAGICK MIRROUR OF OLD JAPAN. In old Japan the mirror occupies a peculiarly important place. Travellers in that land of strange arts and quaint customs tell us of mirror-worship as one of its forms of primitive religion. In old Japan the mirror is not, as in our Western civilization, a mere article of furniture, an accessory of the toilet, or a means for covering up the otherwise indecorate breadth of wall above a mantel-piece. One finds the mirror in Japan surrounded with pomp and circumstance on every hand. It is prominent amongst the symbolic objects that constitute the imperial regalia of the Shogun. One sees it depicted in Japanese pictures of the infernal regions. In the temples of the old Shinto religion, precious old mirrors are enshrined in costly arks, only to be exhibited on the occasion of some great ceremony. Innumerable mirrors, some of them of old date, but mostly of modern manufacture, are to be found hung upon the walls of the Shinto temples. There they have been deposited as votive offerings by women who had perhaps nought else so precious to offer. As the Japanese warrior offers as a votive gift to the temple his cherished sword, so the Japanese lady bestows her treasured mirror. There they hang in thousands, swords and mirrors, side by side, thank-offerings to the gods. In the scant furniture of the Japanese _ménage_, the mirror, reposing in its place upon the lady’s toilet-table, forms the one significant object; the central feature to suit which all the rest is subordinated. The mirror enters into the myths of the Japanese race: it is the emblem of light, or