. Inasmuch as rice is the most important and necessary
product of Japan, the honours which Inari Sama receives are
extraordinary. Almost every house in the country contains somewhere
about the grounds a pretty little shrine in his honour; and on a
certain day of the second month of the year his feast is celebrated
with much beating of drums and other noises, in which the children
take a special delight. "On this day," says the O-Satsuyo, a Japanese
cyclopaedia, "at Yedo, where there are myriads upon myriads of shrines
to Inari Sama, there are all sorts of ceremonies. Long banners with
inscriptions are erected, lamps and lanterns are hung up, and the
houses are decked with various dolls and figures; the sound of flutes
and drums is heard, the people dance and make holiday according to
their fancy. In short, it is the most bustling festival of the Yedo
year."]

* * * * *

The passage in the tale which speaks of rank being purchased for the
foxes at the court of the Mikado is, of course, a piece of nonsense.
"The saints who are worshipped in Japan," writes a native authority,
"are men who, in the remote ages, when the country was developing
itself, were sages, and by their great and virtuous deeds having
earned the gratitude of future generations, received divine honours
after their death. How can the Son of Heaven, who is the father and
mother of his people, turn dealer in ranks and honours? If rank were a
matter of barter, it would cease to be a reward to the virtuous."

All matters connected with the shrines of the Shinto, or indigenous
religion, are confided to the superintendence of the families of
Yoshida and Fushimi, Kuges or nobles of the Mikado's court at Kiyoto.
The affairs of the Buddhist or imported religion are under the care of
the family of Kanjuji. As it is necessary that those who as priests
perform the honourable office of serving the gods should be persons of
some standing, a certain small rank is procured for them through the
intervention of the representatives of the above noble families, who,
on the issuing of the required patent, receive as their perquisite a
fee, which, although insignificant in itself, is yet of importance to
the poor Kuges, whose penniless condition forms a great contrast to
the wealth of their inferiors in rank, the Daimios. I believe that
this is the only case in which rank can be bought or sold in Japan. In
China, on the contrary, in spite of w