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other is explained to mean ‘the blossoming of the flowers of trees,’ and signifies perishable beauty. The ancient text from which the legend is quoted says “this was cause of the short lives of the men of the present day,” and Hirata takes advantage of the occasion to remark that while it is very natural for a man “to prefer a beautiful wife, as the object of marriage is to beget children, he is far wiser, who chooses his wife on account of her virtues.” He says that although the son of Ninigi no mikoto lived 580 years at his Palace of Takachiho, that was a short life compared with the lives of those who had lived before him, and the lives of some of the early emperors from Jimmu, which extended over more than a century, were of course still shorter. In fact from the time of Ninigi no mikoto the years of the Mikado and his people continued to grow always fewer, for although it might be supposed that the consequences of Ninigi no mikoto’s act would only affect his own immediate descendants, the Mikado’s subjects were naturally bound not to live longer than their sovereign. He concludes by the safe opinion that those who wish to live long should constantly take care of their health, and at the same time pray to this goddess for her blessing.
Another of the prayers is to be addressed to the ichi no miya, or chief temple of the province in which the worshipper lives. It is not known with exactness at what period certain temples came to have this designation, but at all events it is not to be found in any document older than the 12th century. Nevertheless, Hirata is of opinion that the practice of making such a distinction cannot be wrong, since it has existed for so long a period that it must be supposed to have the sanction of the gods. Besides the ichi no miya there exist in certain provinces temples called Kuni-tama no yashiro, which Motoöri thinks are probably dedicated to persons who first settled there and cultivated the laid, and also a third class called Sôsha. The origin of the latter term, which means general temple, is supposed to be that some of the ancient governors (kokushi), whose duty it was on arriving in
