Note 41 — Chapter XVII · Culture Mixing in Japan

The mirror was the shintai (god-body) of the sun-goddess; the sword was the shintai of the dragon; and the jewel (tama) was the shintai of the Great Mother, who was the inexhaustible womb of nature. At sacred Ise, the chief deities worshipped were Ama-terâsu, the goddess of the sun, and Toyouke-hime, the goddess of food.41 The high-priest was the Mikado, who was a Kami (a god), and called “the Heavenly Grandchild”, his heir being “august child of the sun”, and his residence “the august house of the sun”.42 After the Mikado had ascended the throne, the Ohonihe (great food offering) ceremony was performed. It was “the most solemn and important festival of the Shinto religion”, says Aston, who quotes the following explanation of it by a modern Japanese writer: