The History of Initiation - The Masonic Trowel

58 HISTORY OF INITIATION.
the waves which became and was called KnnitoTco-
spirit,
08
datsno-Mikotto ; from whence sprang six other spirits j
who, with their wives-, were the parents of a race of
heroes, from whom proceeded the original inhabitants of
They worshipped a deity who was styled the
Japan. 69
son of the unknown god, and considered as the creator of
the two great lights of heaven. 70
The caverns 71 of initiation were in the immediate vicini-
ty of their temples, because one of their old deities was
72
said to be born from a cave and ; generally in the midst
of a grove, and near to a stream of water. They were
furnished with large mirrors to signify that the imperfections
of the heart are as plainly displayed to the sight of
the gods, as the worshippers behold their own image in
the glass. Hence the mirror was a significant emblem of
the all-observing eye of the god Terisio Dai Sin. They
were also decorated with a profusion of hieroglyphical
designs cut in white paper, as striking symbols of the
purity acquired by initiation.
The term of probation for the highest degrees was
twenty years ; and even the hierophant was not competent
to perform the ceremony of initiation until he himself
had been initiated the same period and his five assistants
;
must necessarily have had each ten years' experience from
the date of their admission before they were competent
to take this subordinate part in the initiations. The
aspirant, during the term of his trial, learned to subdue
his
passions ; devoted himself to the practice of austerities,
and studiously abstained from every carnal indulgence.
73 In the closing ceremony of preparation he was
68 The good deity was called Amidas ; the evil, Jemma.
69
Kaempf. Japan, b. c. 1.
iii.,
70 In some of the representations of this idol he was pourtrayed sitting
on the Lotos, with four arms, referring to the four seasons of the year,
each of which had its appropriate emblem. In others he had seven
heads, symbolical of the seven days of the week, and thirty arms, which
represented the period or cycle of thirty years.
His image was made
of solid gold, to denote his eternity and imperishable nature.
71
Asiat. Res., vol.
vii., p. 422.
72
Kaempf. Japan, p. 153.
73 He was obliged to renounce the use of
flesh, and to subsist wholly
upon vegetable food; to use numerous ablutions daily; and as it is
expressed by Ksempfer, kneeling down on the
ground, with his but-