RELIGION AND RITES
formidable. Some can boast of forty thousand yen annually; some of only a few hundreds. Small grants from the State, supplemented by the offerings of the pious and the sale of amulets, are the sources of revenue. The special functions assigned by the people to the deities worshipped at these shrines are various. No one knows what spirit of heaven or earth is venerated at the Suiten-gu in Tōkyō, and the shrine enjoys the peculiar distinction of being the private property of a nobleman. It stands within the precincts of his residence, and contributes a handsome sum to his yearly maintenance. But despite the anonymity of the god, people credit him with power to protect against all perils of sea and flood, against burglary, and, by a strange juxtaposition of "spheres of influence," against the pains of parturition. The deity of Inari secures efficacy for prayer and abundance of crops; the Taisha presides over wedlock; the Kompira shares with the Suiten-gu the privilege of guarding those that "go down to the deep."
The rest confer prosperity, avert sickness, cure sterility, bestow literary talent, endow with warlike prowess, and so on. There are no less than 193,476 Shintō shrines in Japan, but 14,766 priests suffice to perform the rites of the creed. It will be asked how one priest manages to officiate at thirteen shrines, — which is the average. The answer is that he does not officiate, as folks in the West understand the term. It
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