No paint, lacquer,
gilding, or ornaments of any sort existed in the ancient shrine, and
even to-day the modern Shint[=o] temple must be of pure hinoki or
sun-wood, and thatched, while the use of metal is as far as possible
avoided. To the gods, as the norito show, offerings of various kinds
were made, consisting of the fruits of the soil, the products of the
sea, and the fabrics of the loom.
Inside modern temples one often sees a mirror, in which foreigners with
lively imaginations read a great deal that is only the shadow of their
own mind, but which probably was never known in Shint[=o] temples until
after Buddhist times. They also see in front of the unpainted wooden
closets or casements, wands or sticks of wood from which depend masses
or strips of white paper, cut and notched in a particular way.
Foreigners, whose fancy is nimble, have read in these the symbols of
lightning, the abode of the spirits and various forthshadowings unknown
either to the Japanese or the ancient writings. In reality these
_gohei_, or honorable offerings, are nothing more than the paper
representatives of the ancient offerings of cloth which were woven, as
the arts progressed, of bark, of hemp and of silk.
The chief Shint[=o] ministers of religion and shrine-keepers belonged to
particular families, which were often honored with titles and offices by
the emperor.
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