In Korea
thousands of trees bedecked with fluttering rags, clinking scraps of
tin, metal or stone signify the same thing. In Japan these primitive
tinkling scraps and clinking bunches of glass have long since become the
_suzu_ or wind-bells seen on the pagoda which tintinabulate with every
passing breeze. The whittled sticks of the Aino, non-conductors of evil
and protectors of those who make and rear them, stuck up in every place
of awe or supposed danger, have in the slow evolution of centuries
become the innumerable flag-poles, banners and streamers which one sees
at their _matsuris_ or temple festivals. Millions of towels and
handkerchiefs still flutter over wells and on sacred trees. In old Japan
the banners of an army almost outnumbered the men who fought beneath
them. Today, at times they nearly conceal the temples from view.
The civilized Japanese, having passed far beyond the Aino's stage of
religion, still show their fetichistic instincts in the veneration
accorded to priestly inventions for raising revenue.[19] This instinct
lingers in the faith accorded to medicine in the form of decoction,
pill, bolus or poultice made from the sacred writing and piously
swallowed; in the reverence paid to the idol for its own sake, and in
the charm or amulet worn by the soldier in his cap or by the gentleman
in his pill-box, tobacco-pouch or purse.
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