To each of the temples of Watarai in Ise was
presented in addition a horse; to the temple of the Harvest god Mitoshi
no kami, a white horse, cock, and pig, and a horse to each of nineteen
others.
"During the fortnight which preceded the celebration of the service, two
smiths and their journeymen, and two carpenters, together with eight
inbe [or hereditary priests] were employed in preparing the apparatus
and getting ready the offerings. It was usual to employ for the Praying
for Harvest members of this tribe who held office in the Jin-Gi-Kuan,
but if the number could not he made up in that office, it was supplied
from other departments of state. To the tribe of quiver-makers was
intrusted the special duty of weaving the quivers of wistaria tendrils.
The service began at twenty minutes to seven in the morning, by our
reckoning of time. After the governor of the province of Yamashiro had
ascertained that everything was in readiness, the officials of the
Jin-Gi-Kuan arranged the offerings on the tables and below them,
according to the rank of the shrines for which they were intended. The
large court of the Jin-Gi-Kuan where the service was held, called the
Sai-in, measured 230 feet by 370. At one end were the offices and on the
west side were the shrines of the eight Protective Deities in a row,
surrounded by a fence, to the interior of which three sacred archways
(torii) gave access.
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