Page:Japan by the Japanese (1904).djvu/325

a temple for the worship of their ancestral eponyms, with the result that the clan god and local patron god meant one and the same deity. But subsequently, the means of communication gradually developing, the members of the various clans began to disperse and to live in different parts of the country. Moreover, the administrative departments of the empire, from being tribal, gradually became local and territorial; but facts combine to show that the worship of ‘Uji-gami,’ or local patron gods, is a relic of the worship of clan ancestors.

The occasions for the celebrations of the worship of the ancestors of a house may be classed under three categories—the sacrifice days, the sacrifice months, and the sacrifice years. The sacrifice day, or ‘ki-nichi,’ is the day in each month corresponding to the day of the ancestor’s death. The sacrifice month, or ‘sho-tsuki,’ is the day of the month corresponding to the day and month of an ancestor’s death. The sacrifice year, or ‘nen-ki,’ is the day of the month in certain years corresponding to the day of the month of the death of an ancestor, the ceremony of worship in connection with it usually taking place among Shintoists on the first, fifth, tenth, twentieth, thirtieth, fortieth, and fiftieth year.

Among Buddhists these anniversary ceremonies are usually observed on the first, third, seventh, thirteenth, seventeenth, twenty-third, twenty-seventh, thirty-third, thirty-seventh, forty-third, forty-seventh, fiftieth, and hundredth year, after which year they are held every fiftieth year, as in the case of the Shintoists.

In accordance with an ancient custom, sacrifices are made and ceremonies of worship are performed by Buddhists after a man’s death, every seventh day until the seventh seventh day—that is, the forty-ninth day from the date of death—these sacrifice days being respectively designated the ‘first seventh day,’ the ‘second seventh day,’ and so on. Among Shintoists these sacrifice days are usually commemorated every tenth day after death, and end with the fiftieth or hundredth.

As a rule, on the sacrifice days, or ‘ki-nichi,’ of each month, after the seventh seventh day among the Buddhists, and the fiftieth or the hundredth day among Shintoists, only members of the family and near relatives take part in the proceedings; but on the occasion of ‘shotsuki’ and ‘nenki’ feasts are provided, and relatives and descendants of ancestors invited to participate in the worship. In both the Shinto and Buddhist religions, priests officiate at the ceremonies, but among Shintoists the ceremonies are held in their own houses, while among