etich,
described the native charms or talismans. The word "fetichism" came into
the European languages through the work of Charles de Brosses, who, in
1760, wrote on "Du Culte des Dieux Fetiches." In Fetichism, the "object
is treated as having personal consciousness and power, is talked with,
worshipped, prayed to, sacrificed to, petted or ill-treated with
reference to its past or future behavior to its votaries."

Let me draw a picture from actual observation. I look out of the windows
of my house in Fukui. Here is a peasant who comes back after the winter
to prepare his field for cultivation. The man's horizon of ideas, like
his vocabulary, is very limited. His view of actual life is bounded by a
few rice-fields, a range of hills, and the village near by. Possibly one
visit to a city or large town has enriched his experience. More
probably, however, the wind and clouds, the weather, the soil, crops and
taxes, his family and food and how to provide for them, are the main
thoughts that occupy his mind. Before he will strike mattock or spade in
the soil, lay axe to a tree, collect or burn underbrush, he will select
a stone, a slab of rock or a stick of wood, set it upon hill side or mud
field-boundary, and to this he will bow, prostrate himself or pray. To
him, this stone or stick is consecrated. It has power to placate the
spirits and ward off their evil. It is the medium of communication
between him and them. Now, having attended, as he thinks, to the
proprieties in the case, he proceeds to dig, plough, drain, put in order
and treat soil or water, tree or other growth as is most convenient for
his purpose. His fetich is erected to "the honorable spirits." Were this
not attended to, some known or unknown bad luck, sinister fortune, or
calamity would befall him. Here, then, is a fetich-worshipper. The stick
or stone is the medium of communication between the man and the spirits
who can bless or harm him, and which to his mind are as countlessly
numerous as the swarms of mosquitoes which he drives out of and away
from his summer cottage by smudge fires in August.

One need not travel in Yezo or Saghalin to see practical Fetichism. Go
where you will in Japan, there are fetich worshippers. Among the country
folk, the "_inaka_" of Japanese parlance, Fetichism is seen in its
grossest forms. Yet among probably millions of Buddhists, especially of
certain sects, the Nichiren for example, and even among the
rationalistic Confuc