Julia Dalrymple

A VISIT TO THE TEMPLE

"O Haha San," said UmÉ, "when we took little Yuki San to the temple for the first time, with whom did I sit in the jinrikisha?"

"It is not strange that you have no memory of it, little Plum Blossom," said her mother.

"Why, honorable mother?"

"Because you were ill from eating too many sweets the day before, and had to stay at home in your bed."

UmÉ laughed. "Now I do remember it," she said. "My unworthy head danced like a geisha girl when I tried to stand on my two feet."

UmÉ's mother looked at her little daughter reprovingly. "Do not speak so easily of such girls, UmÉ-ko," she said.

"Was Tara taken to the temple when he was thirty days old?"

"Yes, my daughter."

"But, Mother San, with whom did I ride then?"

"With O Ba San."

"I wish I could go to-day with Tei," said UmÉ.

"It is time for them even now to begin the journey," answered her mother. "You may perhaps ride in the same jinrikisha with your little cousin."

UmÉ made a deep bow to her mother, slipped into her clogs at the veranda step, and ran swiftly through the garden to her cousin's house.

Everything there was in a great state of excitement. The new baby, dressed in a most gorgeous red silk kimono with the family crest embroidered on the back and sleeves, was going to make his first visit to the temple.

"Yes, you may come with me," said Tei to UmÉ, after asking the honorable father's permission.

UmÉ Riding in a Jinrikisha. Page 37.

The pale little mother leaned back in her jinrikisha beside the nurse who carried the beautiful boy.

The father, very proud to have a son who would carry on the family name, rode in the first jinrikisha, and the little party took their way to the famous Kameido Temple in the eastern part of the city.

"It was not until three days ago that the baby was well enough to have his head shaved," Tei confided to UmÉ.

"But I thought it must always be done on the seventh day," said UmÉ.

Tei shook her head. "The august father commanded that it should not be done," she said. "The baby was so frail that there have been no visits from anyone since he was first seen in our house."

"Then the baby might just as well have been a girl," said UmÉ decidedly.

"Oh no!" said Tei. "There have been dozens of presents of rice and silk, and many other things. And there have been letters of congratulation. And to-day, when we return from the temple, many, many people will come to see the baby, because they could not come before."

"What name was given to the baby on the seventh day?" asked UmÉ curiously.

"He is to be called Onda," answered Tei.

Before UmÉ could ask any more questions they had reached the temple.

Everything seemed to go wrong with Tei. She caught her clog as she was getting out of the jinrikisha and fell upon her nose. It bled a little, just enough to make her say pitifully, "Oh, how truly sad! It will never bring good luck to the dear brother."

But UmÉ was always quick at thinking of a way out of trouble. Near the entrance to the temple stood a deep basin filled with water. With this water everybody washes his hands before going in to pray. UmÉ lifted a spoonful of the water and rubbed it over her cousin's nose. "That will make it as well as ever," she told Tei.

"What is that in your other hand?" asked Tei, seeing that UmÉ was using only one hand, and that the other was tightly closed.

"It is a rice-cake to feed to the goldfish in the temple lake." One can always buy rice-cakes at the temple gate, but UmÉ had thoughtfully brought one from her home.

UmÉ would have almost preferred feeding the fish to seeing the ceremony of placing the new baby under the protecting care of the patron saint of the temple. Baby Onda's father had chosen the God of Learning to be his son's patron saint. He wished to have the child become very studious and know thoroughly all the wisdom of Confucius and the old, old gods of learning and wisdom.

Before going into the temple everyone slipped out of his clogs, washed his hands, and made several bows at the entrance.

Tei's father then pulled a rope which rang a bell to attract the attention of the god. There was a moment when he clapped his hands together three times to be sure that the god was listening. After that he asked very earnestly that his little son might be carefully guarded and guided along the rough path of wisdom. Then he clapped his hands twice to show that his prayer was ended.

It was so solemn and impressive to little UmÉ that she forgot her rice-cake and let it drop to the temple floor as she clasped her own hands in prayer.

Then followed the gift to the gods, and one to the priest of the temple. The priest blessed the new baby and he was safely placed under the care of Sugawara-no-MichizanÈ, the God of Literature, in the Kameido Temple in the city of Tokio.

The ceremony was not very long. The moment it was over UmÉ and Tei stole as quickly as they could out of the temple, and ran down to the lake where the goldfish were waiting to be fed.

Of course they stayed there so long, feeding first one fish and then another, and watching them spread their fan-like tails and glide away to nibble the bits of rice-cake, that Tei's father came to look for them.

"We have no more time," he said gently to them. "Unless we are soon at our unworthy house, all the honorable guests will be there before us."

The jinrikisha runners were told to hurry home, and they obeyed so well that UmÉ and Tei clung to one another and gave little shrieks of delight.

Hardly had they reached home when the guests really did begin to arrive. All the relatives and friends came by ones and twos and threes; some in jinrikishas and some on foot,--all who had sent presents and all who had waited to bring them.

UmÉ and Tei counted the different pairs of clogs that were left at the veranda steps, and there were over one hundred pairs.

"Such an illustrious crowd!" said Tei, drawing in her breath with excitement.

But there was little time to count and look. The two children were needed to help pass tea and cakes to the visitors. It was dark before everybody was at last gone and the baby's first party was over.

"Baby Onda is tired with so much looking and holding and praising," said UmÉ to her mother as they went home through the gardens. "He will never go to sleep again, or else he will sleep for a week of days."

"He is an honorable boy child," answered her mother. "A boy must learn early to bear hardships."

"It is no hardship to receive honorable praise," said little UmÉ.