Many Japanese charms are pieces of paper bearing an inscription designed to avert evil. Another variety is inscribed with the name of a god. It takes the form of a long strip which the poor fasten on the outside of their houses, while those who have not to contend with poverty regard it as a part of their domestic altar. The imprint of a child's hand, "obtained," writes Professor Chamberlain, "by first wetting the hand with ink and then applying it to a sheet of paper, is believed to avert malign influences." Fragments of temples, rice-grains carved to represent the Gods of Luck, minute sutras, copies of Buddha's footprint, and many other quaint conceits are among the multitudinous charms of Japan.
The Beckoning Leaf
There is a certain Japanese tree, called tegashiwa, and its leaves in shape are not unlike a hand. In ancient days, when it was necessary for a samurai to leave his home, he received just before his departure a tai (perch), which was served on the leaf of a tegashiwa tree. This was his farewell repast, and when the samurai had eaten the fish the leaf was hung over the door, in the belief that it would guard him on his journey, and bring him safely back to his home again. It was not the shape, but the movement of the tegashiwa leaf that gave rise to this pleasing fancy, for the leaf, when blown by the wind, appeared to beckon after the graceful Japanese manner.
Bimbogami
Dry peas are usually found to be efficacious in driving away evil spirits, but Bimbogami, the God of Poverty, is not so easily overcome. There is something pathetic in the idea that poverty should be regarded as an obstinate and most unwelcome fellow, for at this point we touch reality. However, though Bimbogami takes no notice of dry peas, he may be vanquished by other means.
The charcoal fire in a Japanese kitchen is blown into a cheerful glow by means of a utensil called hifukidake, a bamboo tube—a more artistic and simple form of bellows, where the inflated cheeks take the place of our hand-moved leather bag. Before long the bamboo tube cracks with the intense heat. When this takes place a copper coin is put inside the tube, an incantation is uttered, and then the "fire-blow-tube" is thrown either into the street or into a stream. This throwing away of the useless bamboo of the kitchen is always supposed to signify the forced departure of Bimbogami. Most of us are familiar with what is known as the Death-spider that ticks like a watch in our walls. In Japan it is called Bimbomushi, "Poverty-Insect." Its ticking does not foretell the coming of Death, as is the belief in our own country, but it denotes the unwelcome presence of the God of Poverty in the Japanese home.
[1] This variety of divination is of particular interest, for the rod symbolises the God of Roads, the Deity created from Izanagi's staff, which, it will be remembered, he flung behind him when pursued in the Under-world by the Eight Ugly Females.