Jump to content

Page:Kogoshui.djvu/62

From Wikisource
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

— 34 —

divine, not being yet determined, the storehouse attached to the Palace called “Imikura,” i.e., Consecrated Treasury, was in the hereditary charge of the Imbe Family.

Ame-no-Tomi-no-Mikoto was commanded to make the great offerings to the gods together with the members of the different families under his rule, and after that Ame-no-Taneko-no-Mikoto (The grandson of Ame-no-Koyane-no-Mikoto) took a priestly office in order to expiate the Heavenly (68) and Earthly (69) Offences (I have already explained what the Heavenly Offences are, and as regards the details of the Earthly Offences committed by people here on earth, see the “Ritual of Great Purification” (70) customarily recited by the Nakatomi Family), and then in the Sacred Enclosure newly erected on this auspicious occasion, Ame-no-Tomi-no-Mikoto laid out various offerings in the newly-built Sanctuary and recited a liturgy in honour of the Heavenly Gods, and in deep gratitude offered thanks to the Gods of Heaven and Earth, on the Emperor’s behalf for the divine favours bestowed on His Majesty. This office for the divine worship at the Imperial Court was in charge of the Nakatomi and Imbe Families, whilst the sacred symbolic dance was the hereditary profession of the Sarume (71) Family of Kimi rank, and the other families had each an hereditary right of service to the Imperial Court.

When the Emperor (Sujin) reigned at the Mizukaki Palace in Shiki (72), the same Emperor began to feel uneasy at dwelling on the same couch and under the same roof, beside the Mirror sacred to Amaterasu-O-Mikami and the Herb-quelling Divine