A Japanese miscellany - University of Oregon

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Japanese Miscellany
many cases, serves only to mislead investigation.
For instance, the hammer-headed shark is known
on parts of the Kyushu coast by the extraordi-
nary appellation, Nemhutsu-bo, or " Nembutsti-
Priest." The word Nembutsu is the name of the
invocation, " Namu Amida Butsu ! " — (Saluta-
tion to the Buddha Amitibha !) —uttered by the
pious of many sects as a prayer, and especially as
a prayer for the dead. The grim suggestiveness
of the name Nembuisu-bo reminded me that the
modem French word for shark is, according to
Littre, only a corruption of "Requiem," — the
appellation originally implying (as stated by P^re
Dutertre in 166 7) that for the man caught by
a shark there was nothing to be done except to
chant his requiem. But 1 was wrong in imagin-
ing that the Buddhist name Nembutsu-bo implied
something of the same kind. The real meaning
of the term is proved by another Buddhist name
for the same monster, — Shumohu-iame, or
" Shumoku-shaxk." The word " Shumoku "
signifies a peculiar " T "-shaped mallet with
which the priest strikes a gong during the repe-
tition of the Nembutsu and of other prayers.
(1 may observe that the same kind of mallet is
used to sound a gong during the chanting of the