RELIGION AND RITES
Christian element of the population will continue to be marked as standing aloof from rites which, in the eyes of patriotic Japanese, are connected with the very basis of nationalism.
The days set apart for these ceremonials within the Palace are not marked by any act of general devotion without, since the Emperor worships in lieu of his people. They are merely observed as national holidays. Every householder hangs the national flag before his gate, but visits are not paid to temples or shrines, nor is there any other evidence of a special occasion. It should be noted, too, that the description given here applies only to the ceremonial system organised subsequently to the Restoration in 1867. Prior to that time, the deities supposed to preside over worldly affairs were worshipped at fifteen set seasons annually. But these rites have been reduced and simplified. Formerly the deities that gave abundant crops, the deities that warded off plague and pestilence, the deities that breathed the spirit of vigour into things animate and inanimate, the deities that guarded against conflagrations, the deities that quelled evil demons, the deities that laid to rest wandering souls of the dead, the deities that made rain fall in time of drought, — all these were severally and collectively placated. But now the Shintō of the State has made a step towards monotheism. Amaterasu is worshipped as the supreme being; her descendants, the ancestors of the Emperor,
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