Koto-ura (harp-divination) was formerly (11th century) practised at Ise with the object of ascertaining whether the priests who were to take part in the three great religious services of the year and the utensils employed were pure or not. Prayer having been made to the Sun-Goddess, the officiating priest struck a harp three times,[312] uttering with each note a loud Hush! He then recited the following Kami-oroshi (bringing-down the Gods):--
"Ah! we protest that we are in earnest, To your pure seat deign to descend All ye Gods of Heaven and Earth,
Ah! we protest that we are in earnest, To thy pure seat deign to descend Thou Thunder-God also.
Ah! we protest that we are in earnest, To your pure seat deign to descend Oh thou upper great brother and thou lower great brother."[313]
The names of the priests were then called over and the question asked in the case of each, "Is he clean or unclean?" The officiating priest then struck the harp and tried to whistle by drawing in his breath. If the whistle was audible it was a sign of purity, and vice versâ. The same procedure was observed with regard to the persons who had prepared the offerings, the offerings themselves, and the utensils required in the service.
Caldron-Divination.--At the shrine of Kibitsu no miya in Bittchu there is a mode of divining good and ill-luck from the sound made by a caldron in boiling. The priests, on the application of a worshipper, recite norito and kindle a fire of brushwood under a caldron. If the sound produced resembles the bellowing of a bull, the prognostic is good, if otherwise, it is bad.
Divination by Lots.--Sticks with numbers inscribed on them, or slips of paper, were much used for divination. The succession to the Imperial throne has been decided in this way. Prayer to the Kami often preceded their use. The following is a form of divination by lot which is used by sailors when they have lost their reckoning. The names of the points of the compass are written on slips of paper, placed in a measure of rice, and the whole mixed up. A harahi-bako of the Great Deity of Ise is put on the top. Prayer is offered and the lot which is found to adhere to the harahi-bako is looked upon as the answer of the Deity. Another form of divination by lots is thus described: "You place three sticks, numbered one, two, three, in a bamboo tube and inquire of the God as to good or ill luck, saying reverently, 'If the thing is lucky, let it be such a number, if unlucky, such another number.'" In what is called harahi-kuji "you write lucky or unlucky, or whatever your prayer may be, on papers which you fold up and roll into a ball. Then having offered reverent prayer to the God, rub the lots with harahi ko-nusa,[314] when that which adheres to them is concluded to be the answer. This is common at all shrines."
Lots were, and still are, used for all manner of non-religious purposes. If a solitary passenger appears at a jinriksha stand, he is often cast lots for by means of a set of cords of various lengths knotted together at one end which is kept for the purpose. The 'Yih-King,' a Chinese book which sets forth a non-religious system of divination depending partly on drawing lots is much used in Japan.
Divination by Means of the Stars was first introduced in a.d. 675 by the Korean teachers of Chinese arts.
Kitsune-tsukahi.--"Amongst the ordinary diviners is one called Kitsune-tsukahi, i.e., a fox-possessor. The divination is carried on by means of a small image of a fox, made in a very odd way. A fox is buried alive in a hole with its head left free. Food of the sort of which foxes are known to be most fond is placed just beyond the animal's reach. As days pass by the poor beast in its dying agony of hunger makes frantic efforts to reach the food; but in vain. At the moment of death the spirit of the fox is supposed to pass into the food, which is then mixed with a quantity of clay, and shaped into the form of the animal. Armed with this extraordinary object, the miko is supposed to become an infallible guide to foretelling future events of every kind."[315]