een torn away. This unusual
destruction by village lads caused me to make enquiry. I found that
the boys had merely enlarged a hole made by adults. The destruction
had been wrought in order to remove the inscription on the lanterns.
It was said that the local donor had meanly omitted to make the
customary gift to the shrine to cover the small expense of lighting
the lanterns on the occasion of festivals. It was the feeling of the
villagers, therefore, that he should not be allowed to blazon his name
in connection with a shabby gift.

[Illustration: MEMORIAL STONES]

There is a ceremony about half a dozen times a year at the chief
shrine, which is about a century old. The Shinto priest, who seemed to
be a genuine antiquary, was of opinion that the structure inside the
shrine might have been built two hundred years ago. In addition to
this chief shrine and the small shrine near it, there are two other
shrines in the village, one in the temple yard (god of happiness) and
the other (horse god) in an open space of its own.

[Illustration: ROOF PROTECTED AGAINST STORMS BY STONES]

But perhaps the most remarkable thing about the non-material life of
this village is the fact that it contains no fewer than 400 carved
stones of a more or less religious character. A few are Buddhist; some
are memorials to priests or teachers; several bear that representation
of a man and a woman facing one another (p. 265) which is one of the
oldest mystic emblems; the majority are devoted apparently to the
horse god. Every man who loses a horse erects a stone. There are two
persons in the village who can carve these stones at a cost of about 2
yen. Some stones which are painted red are dedicated to the fire god.
The 400 stones of which I am speaking do not include grave stones.
These are seen everywhere, many of them just by the wayside. Nearly
every family buries in its own ground. Some burial places with stones
of many forms dating back for a long period of years are extremely
impressive. At the _Bon_ season the grass on every burying ground is
carefully cut.

All the shop-keepers seem to own their own houses and all but three
have some land. There are three _sake_ shops, two of which sell other
things than _sake_, two general shops, two cake and sweet shops, two
tobacco shops, a lantern shop and a barber. There are eight
carpenters, four stonecutters, five plasterers and wall builders, five
woodcutters, two roof makers, two horse shoers,