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74 HONDA THE SAMURAI.
playthings, especially toy dogs made of pasteboard
which the old nurse said would guard "Master
Baby " from all harm ;
on the shoulders of nearly
every one will be found some article of baby's wardrobe.
At the temple, the priest reads from the sacred
books, or Buddhist scriptures, and asks the name of
the child. He then writes with a pen that is a
brush, and with ink that is made of soot, glue, and
water, and on paper which is made of mulberry bark,
a prayer or some Buddhist text. The writing
is
on the little fellow's belt.
carefully put into a little, curiously shaped bag,
which some aunt or cousin has made and embroidered,
and this is
hung
Many of the common people, according to their sect,
believe this will be a charm against small-pox, sickness,
thieves, or fire. Often at the same time they
buy at the temple an inscribed tablet or white shingle,
and nail it over the door to keep off lightning and
the thunder-imps which are supposed
clouds.
to live in the
Asahi's father allowed these things to be done, to
please the old aunts and grandmothers, but he was
more particular to get the boy his kitt.
"A kitte* ! What 's that?" you ask. "
A kitten ?"
No ;
for in Japanese
a kitten is a ko-ngko. A kitte*
is a ticket, a passport, and in the Japan of our day a
postage-stamp or bank-note.
Going down into that part of the city where in
one street all the brass-workers had their shops and
foundries, Mr. Rai stopped at one, whose sign hang-