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community, and that Ubu-suna no kami is an alternative name for the Uji gami taken in the latter sense; so that the supposed confusion would be no confusion at all.
Hirata quotes another author who remarks that the character of the patron-god affects the people, the animals and the plants of the locality, which fact accounts for the local differences found to exist between individuals of one species taken from various parts of the country. All the Uji-gami are under the orders of Oho-kuni-nushi, and acting as his agents, they rule the fortunes of human beings before their birth, during their life time, and after their death. Consequently when a person removes his residence his original Ujigami has to make arrangements with the Ujigami of the place whither he transfers his abode. On such occasions it is proper to take leave of the old god, and to pay a visit to the temple of the new god as soon as possible after coming within his jurisdiction. The apparent reasons which a man imagines have induced him to change his abode may be many, but the real reasons cannot be other than that, either he has offended his uji-gami, and is therefore expelled, or that the uji-gami of another place has negotiated his transfer. As the uji-gami has such influence over the welfare of his protégés, it is of the highest importance to stand well with him, and to enforce this argument Hirata narrates several stories of persons who were punished for neglecting their uji-gami.
Next to the uji-gami comes the kami-dana or shrine in which are worshipped the Penates. Every Japanese, with the exception of the more bigoted members of the Buddhist sects called Nichiren-shiu and Ikkô-shiu, possesses such a shrine in his house. It contains various tablets covered with paper called o-harahi and o-fuda on which are printed the titles of the gods of Isé and other gods in whom the householder places his trust. Before these tablets are offered up on certain occasions, as the new year, and the 2nd, 15th and 28th days of the month, sake (called for this purpose mi ki), rice, and the leafy twigs of the sakaki (cleyera Japonica). The practice of different families
