shall be followed by the Buddhist possessions, and these in turn by the pure Shintō ones. When we shall thus have looked at the possession objectively in the manner, we will consider it subjectively in the man.
Heading the list comes the first possession that I succeeded in obtaining,—a parlor-possession in my own house. After very proper coquetting with mystery, a priest of the Shinshiu sect consented to visit me for the purpose with a friend as side-seat (wakiza). His performance was a case of playing consecutively two parts in the function: first that of exorcist, and then of entranced. Although he was a pure Shintō priest, the ceremony was according to Ryōbu rite; for he was a reformed Ryōbuist, and his reformation did not extend to the rite.
His introductory scene-setting enabled me to gaze for the first time upon the faces of the Ontaké gods. For he began by hanging up in the room's recess of honor a scroll depicting those deities; whom as yet I knew only as voices—voces et præterea nil. But inasmuch as talking is their chief characteristic, I accepted unhesitatingly their portraits for speaking likenesses. There were nine
