Page:Japan by the Japanese (1904).djvu/327

precedence being the same as in the case of Shinto worship. The feast which is held in the house on the preceding evening does not differ in its general features from that of the Shintoists, except that the food consists of vegetables only.

In addition to the ceremonies performed on the three occasions referred to, there are three appointed times in the course of a year when people offer sacrifices to the spirits of ancestors, both at home and at the graves. These are the weeks, respectively, of the spring and autumnal equinox, which are called ‘Higan,’ and the festival of ‘Urabon-ye,’ or ‘Bon,’ which continues from the 13th to the 16th of July. In ‘Higan’ the family graves are visited, and flowers and water offered upon the tombs. In ‘Urabon-ye’ the festival for the ‘invitation of spirits’ is held in every Buddhist’s house. On the day previous to the Bon festival, ‘Kusachi’ or ‘Bon-ichi’ are held in many places for the sale of articles used in the decoration of altars. On the 14th of July visits to the family graves and offerings of flowers and lanterns are made, and shelves are erected in the house called ‘Shoryo-dana,’ or ‘the shelf for the spirits,’ which are decorated with various kinds of vegetables and large lanterns called ‘kirikodoro.’ In the evening of the 13th the ‘mukai-bi,’ or ‘reception fire,’ is kindled before the door of the house or in the garden; and on the evening of the 16th ‘oquri-bi,’ or the ‘farewell fire,’ is lighted. During these four days the spirits are supposed to come and stay in the house. Priests are invited to recite prayers, and many offerings of rice, water, fruits, cakes, and vegetables, are made on the spirit shelf, the most curious among the offerings being oxen made of egg-plants, and horses fashioned from white melons, the legs being represented by hemp-stalks. Elaborate rules regulate the nature of the offerings of this festival, but it is unnecessary to dwell upon them here. The extent of the sacrifices made on the occasion of the periodical service described, and the number of priests who conduct the ceremony, as well as the size and decorations of the ancestral graves, vary in accordance with the rank and fortune of the people. At the beginning of the eighteenth century a new law was enacted by which the number of priests was limited to two or three hundred, the number of sacred books to be recited to one thousand volumes, and the duration of the festival to three or four days. This reform is said to have reduced the expense to one-tenth of the original amount. This fact demonstrates the importance attached to the worship of ancestors, and the worship of ancestors is not limited only to the festival times mentioned. When a young student goes to Europe to pursue his studies, when a soldier sets out on a campaign, when an official is sent abroad on some Government service, or when a merchant undertakes a long