At first I was inclined to believe these finger-charms Buddhist. But although the Ryōbuists say that they are, I have never seen a Buddhist practice them. On the other hand, they are professedly not Shintō, and are shunned by pure Shintōists accordingly. Their most devoted admirers are the Ryōbuists themselves.
The finger-charms are knotted upon one or other of the great purification prayers (harai). Of these there are three chief ones: the misogi no harai, the nakatomi no harai and the rokkon shōjō no harai. The misogi no harai I believe to be pure Shintō. The nakatomi no harai undoubtedly is a native production, and is said to have been composed by an ancestor of the present highpriest of the Shinshiu sect. The rokkon shōjō no harai is of Ryobu origin. It is the great Ontaké processional, chanted by the pilgrims as they toil slowly up the mountain's slopes.
V.
Having thus sketched the possession cult, I will now present some specimen trances of the various Ryōbu varieties of it. These
