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worship to a contrary cause. It was the love of ancestors, not the dread of them, which gave rise to the custom of worshipping and making offerings of food and drink to their spirits. Respect for their parents may in some cases have become akin to awe; yet it was love, not dread, which caused this feeling. A Chinese philosopher, Shiu-ki, accurately summarizes the origin of ancestor-worship when he says, in his ‘Book of House Ceremonies,’ that ‘the object of worship is nothing less than performing all that is directed by a feeling of true love and respect.’ Confucius says, in the ‘Book of Medium,’ that ‘it is the highest filial piety to serve the dead as they would serve the living, and to serve the departed as they would serve the present.’ We celebrate the anniversary of our ancestors, pay visits to their graves, offer flowers, food, and drink, burn incense, and bow before their tombs, entirely from a feeling of love and a respect for their memory, and no question of ‘dread’ enters our minds in doing so. Moreover, in the records and traditions of our country there is nothing that suggests that ancestors were worshipped with a view of propitiating their souls.

Ancestor-worship was the primeval religion of Japan from the earliest times of our history, which dates back more than 2,500 years, and it is universally practised by the people at the present moment.

There are three kinds of ancestor-worship in vogue: the worship of the First Imperial Ancestor by all the people; the worship of the patron god of the locality, which, as will be shown later, is the remains of the worship of clan-ancestors by clansmen; and the worship of the family ancestors by the members of that household.

There are two sacred places in every Japanese house: the Kamidana, or ‘god-shelf’; and the Butsudan, or the ‘Buddhist altar.’ The first-named is the Shinto altar, which is a plain wooden shelf. In the centre of this sacred shelf is placed a Taima or O-nusa, ‘great offering,’ which is part of the offerings made to the Daijingu of Ise, or temple dedicated to Amaterasu Omi-Kami, the First Imperial Ancestor. The Taima is distributed from the Temple of Ise to every house in the empire at the end of each year, and is worshipped by every loyal Japanese as the representation of the First Imperial Ancestor. On this altar the offerings of rice, saké, and branches of sakaki-tree (Cleyera japonica) are usually placed; and every morning the members of the household make reverential obeisance before it by clapping hands and bowing, while in the evening lights are also placed on the shelf. On this shelf is placed, in addition, the charm of Ujigami, or the local tutelary god of the family, and in many houses the charms of the other Shinto deities also.