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stream called the Isuzu-gawa, crossed by a fine wooden bridge, and the torii on the outskirts of the grove in which stands the Naikû is only a few hundred years from the bridge and close to the river bank. Just within the torii are some steps leading down to the water, and here the pilgrims are wont to wash their hands before proceeding to worship at the temple. The practice of cleansing the hands before praying at a shrine seems common to both Shintôists and Buddhists; it is symbolic of purification, but the water used for this purpose does not seem to have any miraculous virtues like the holy water of the Chrisians.
The whole arrangement of the Naikû is similar to that of the Gékû. There are the same number of torii in the avenue by which it is approached, and it is surrounded by the same four-fold enclosure. There is, however, some difference in the shape and size of the different enclosures. The Itagaki is 195 feet long in front, 369 feet at the side and 202 at the back, thus being narrower and deeper than that of the Géku. The innermost enclosure, or Midzugaki, measures as follows: front 149 feet, back 150 feet, each side 144 feet. It is therefore larger in every direction than that of the Gékû.
The principal deity worshipped at the Naikû is Ama-terasu ô-mi-kami, and the secondary deities or aidono are Ta-jikara-o no kami and Yorozu-hata-toyo-aki-tsu-himé-no kami.
The first of these may be called the Sun-goddess, and is nothing but a deification of the sun. She has several names, of which this is the most common. It signifies literally, the “From-heaven shining great deity.” According to the legend in the Koshi-seibun she was produced from the left eye of Izanagi no mikoto in the course of the long purification by washing in the sea which he underwent after having defiled himself by intruding on the privacy of his consort Izanami no mikoto in the lower regions. From his right eye was produced Tsukiyomi no mikoto, also called Takehaya-Susanoö no mikoto. This is the moon, a masculine deity.
