strange term
"rice-castle" (ina-ki) is found; the reference being apparently to a
palisade fortified with rice-bags, or to a rice-granary used as a
fortress. The palace of the sovereign towered so high by comparison
that it was termed Asahi-no-tada-sasu-miya (miya on which the morning
sun shines direct), or Yuhi-no-hiteru-miya (miya illumined by the
evening sun), or some other figurative epithet, and to the Emperor
himself was applied the title 0-mikado (great august Gate). The
dwellings occupied by the nobility were similarly built, though on a
less pretentious scale, and those of the inferior classes appear to
have been little better than huts, not a few of them being partially
sunk in the ground, as is attested by the fact that the term "enter"
took the form of "creep in" (hairu).

ADMINISTRATION AND WORSHIP

In the instruction said to have been given by Amaterasu to her
grandson Ninigi, on the eve of his expedition to Japan, the words are
recorded: "My child, regard this mirror as you regard me. Keep it in
the same house with yourself, and make it the mirror of purity."
Accordingly the insignia--the mirror, the jewel, and the sword--were
always kept in the main hall of the palace under the care of the
Nakatomi and the Imibe families. An ancient volume (Kogo-shui)
records that when the palace of Kashihara was reached by Jimmu's
army, the grandson of the founder of the Imibe family--cutting timber
with a consecrated axe (imi-ono) and digging foundations with a
consecrated spade (imi-suki)--constructed a palace in which he placed
the mirror, the jewel, and the sword, setting out offerings and
reciting prayers to celebrate the completion of the building and the
installation of the insignia.

"At that time the sovereign was still very close to the Kami, and the
articles and utensils for the latter were little distinguished from
those for the former. Within the palace there stood a store house
(imi-kura), the Imibe family discharging daily and nightly the duties
relating to it." Thus it is seen that in remote antiquity religious
rites and administrative functions were not distinguished. The
sovereign's residence was the shrine of the Kami, and the term for
"worship" (matsuri) was synonymous with that for "government."

RELIGIOUS RITES

The ceremony spoken of above--the Odono matsuri, or consecration of
the palace--is the earliest religious rite mentioned. Next in
importance was the "harvest festival." In the record