those of their collection. These sweepings are obtained from the outer platforms of certain much-frequented shrines, and consist practically entirely of the dirt brought in upon the footwear of the attendant worshippers. They may be sold either by a privileged person (distinct from the sellers of the shrine's religious charms) at the shrine, or gathered by the persons wishing to use them. The belief concerning them is to the effect that if some be scattered outside of a shop in the morning, the shop will be well patronized during the day. I think that little or no religious significance has been attached to these sweepings—that is, that they have not the sacred character attributed to the dust collected from certain Christian or Mahommedan shrines—and, also, that the circumstance that they have been collected by sweeping (or brushing) is not looked upon as having any part in their properties.[1] I have mentioned them here because of the many superstitions connected with sweepings and with dirt about the house, among European peoples.
Thus far we have dealt with the broom mainly as engaged in its normal function of sweeping. We now pass to an examination of its other applications in Japanese magic. Of such applications one of the best known is that for the sending away of guests who have outstayed their welcomes and of whom courtesy (or a fear of losing their future custom, as at a tea-house, for example) forbids an ordinary dismissal. The present basis of the several forms of this particular application seems to be the inverting of a broom. I have been told that, to cause an unwelcome guest to go away, a broom is stood upside-down [Chikuzen province]; while Inouye says (op. cit. pp. 66, 67) that "an unwelcome visitor will leave the house as soon as a broomstick is set
- ↑ A more detailed account of them, together with the reasons I take to underlie their employment, may be found in "Japanese Popular Magic connected with Agriculture and Trade," in Trans. Japan Soc. (London), vol. xii. pp. 59, 60.
