Oho-tono hogahi (luck-wishing or blessing of the Great Palace).--This ceremony was performed on the morning after the Kamu image and the Nihi-name. It was in honour of three deities, namely, the two Yabune no Kami, or House deities, and Oho-miya no me, a personified Lady Chamberlain.
I quote from Sir Ernest Satow's 'Ancient Japanese Rituals' in the T. A. S. J., vol. ix. pt. ii., a ninth-century description of this ceremony:--
"The Jingikwan took four boxes containing precious stones, cut paper-mulberry bark, rice and sake in bottles, and placed them on two eight-legged tables, which were then borne by four attendants, preceded by Nakatomi and Imbe functionaries, all wearing wreaths and scarfs of paper-mulberry bark, walking in double line, the rear being brought up by virgin priestesses. On the procession arriving in front of the Palace gate, the tables were deposited under the arcade which ran along the outside of the wall. A servant called out for admittance, and the porter having announced the procession by saying that an officer of the Imperial Household had asked for admission in order to pronounce the Luck-wishing of the Great Palace, the order, 'Let him pronounce it,' was transmitted back from the Mikado. The porter thereupon called out 'Let him declare his name and surname,' in reply to which the officer advanced to a spot previously marked out by a wooden ticket with his name on it, and said: 'It is so and so, of the Jingikwan, who wish to perform the Luck-wishing of the Great Palace.' To this the Mikado's answer was 'Call them.' The officer of the household replied 'Ô,' and retiring called the functionaries of the Jingikwan, who in their turn replied 'Ô.' The Nakatomi and Imbe then put on their wreaths of paper-mulberry, to which the latter added straps of the same material, and advanced ahead of the tables up to the 'Hall of Benevolence and Long Life.' The virgin priestesses had meanwhile entered by another gate, and were waiting in the Palace enclosure. They now followed the tables, and came up to the verandah on the east side of the building, where they took charge of the boxes of offerings. The procession then entered the building. One virgin priestess went to the Hall of Audience and scattered rice about it, while another proceeded to the gate on its south side and performed the same ceremony there. The Imbe took out the precious stones and hung them at the four corners of the Hall, and the priestesses withdrew, after sprinkling sake and scattering rice and cut paper-mulberry fibre at the four corners of the interior. The Nakatomi stood on the south side of the building while the Imbe turned to the south-east, and in a low voice read the ritual. The whole company next went to the Mikado's bath-room, and hung precious stones at its four angles, and the same at his privy, while the priestesses scattered rice and sprinkled sake as before."
The norito (No. 8) of this ceremony, as appears from the archaic forms of language which it contains, is probably very ancient. It is quoted in the Kogojiui; and the Nihongi describes as "an ancient saying" a sentence which forms part of it.
The reader will note the confusion--of a kind inherent in all mythologies--between the house considered as a deity and the protecting deity of the house.
"When by command of the dear, divine ancestor and ancestress who divinely dwell in the Plain of High Heaven, the Sovran Grandchild[241] was made to take his seat on the high august throne of Heaven, and the Heavenly Emblems, namely, the mirror and the sword, were delivered to him, these words of blessing were pronounced: 'Let our sovran great offspring, the Sovran Grandchild, receiving over the celestial Sun-succession on this high throne of Heaven, rule tranquilly for myriads of thousands of autumns, for long autumns, over the Great-Eight-islands, the Rich Reed-plain, Land of fair rice-ears, as a peaceful country.' With these words they delivered it unto him. Then, celestial counsel having been held, they put to silence the rock-roots and tree-roots, even to the smallest blades of grass, that previously had power of speech.
"And for the Sovran Grandchild who in Heavenly Sun-succession rules the Under-Heaven, to which he had descended, trees are now cut down with the sacred axes of the Imbe in the great valleys and the small valleys of the secluded mountains, and sacrifice having been made of their tops and bottoms to the God of the mountains, the middle parts are brought forth and set up as sacred pillars with sacred mattocks to form a fair Palace wherein the Sovran Grandchild finds shelter from the sky and shelter from the sun. To thee, therefore, Ya-bune no Mikoto [the Palace treated as a God] I address these heavenly, wondrous, auspicious words of calm and blessing.
"He says: 'I humbly declare the names of the Gods who calmly and peacefully watch so that this Great Palace where he holds rule, as far downwards as the lowermost rock-roots, suffer no harm from reptiles among its bottom-ropes,[242] as far upwards as the blue clouds are diffused in the Plain of High Heaven, may suffer no harm from flying birds in the celestial smoke-hole,[243] that the joinings of the firmly planted pillars, and of the crossbeams, rafters, doors, and windows may not move or make a noise, that there may be no slackening of the tied rope-knots and no dishevelment of the roof-thatch, no creaking of the floor-joints or alarms by night. I humbly praise your honoured names, to wit, Yabune Kukunochi no Mikoto and Yabune Toyo-uke hime no Mikoto [House-tree God and House-food Goddess].[244] And inasmuch as you humbly preserve the Sovran Grandchild's reign to be firm and enduring, and humbly bless it as a lasting, prosperous, and perfect reign, the Imbe no Sukune [name], adding shining cloth and lustrous fine cloth to the countless strings of fair jewels prepared by the sacred jewel-makers with observance of purity and avoidance of pollution, and hanging stout straps on weak shoulders [will offer them to you], with words of blessing and calm. And let the Gods Kamu-nahobi and Oho-nahobi peacefully and tranquilly exercise their office, correcting, whether in things heard or in things seen, any omission which he may make in so doing.'
"More especially does he humbly declare: 'Naming her as Oho-miya-no-me I humbly fulfil her praises because, within the same Palace as the Sovran Grandchild, she blocks the way and takes cognizance and makes choice of the persons who go in and out, with words amends and mollifies the hurry and roughness of the Gods, keeps from error the hands and feet of the scarf-wearing attendants and the strap-wearing attendants[245] who serve the morning meal and the evening meal of the Sovran Grandchild, preventing the Imperial Princes, Princes, Ministers of State, and all the functionaries from indulging their several inclinations and causing them, pure of evil intents and base hearts, to attend in the Palace with a Palace-attendance, and to serve in the Palace with a Palace-service, and amending to eye and ear all faults and errors, so that their duties may be performed peacefully and tranquilly.'"
Naishi-dokoro or Kashiko-dokoro.--Every new moon offerings were presented in the naishi-dokoro (naishi-place) or kashiko-dokoro (place of reverence)[246] by the naishi or female attendants of the Palace to the sacred mirror which represented the Sun-Goddess. They consisted of rice, cakes, paper, cloth, egg-plant, fish, shellfish, &c. Twice a year Kagura was performed. The ceremonies used on these occasions were regulated in Uda's reign (889-898) and closely resembled those of the Great Shrine of Ise. The Yengishiki has not preserved the norito belonging to it.