Japan and the Japanese

SEIMEI THE ASTROLOGER. 335
fox whose life he saved with so much courage in the temple of
Inari, till, soon after, her tail and other parts beginning to grow,
she resumed by degrees her former shape.*
" Seiuiei not only calculated the above table by the knowledge he
had acquired of the motion and influence of the stars, but, as he
was at the same time a perfect master of the cabalistic sciences, he
found out certain words which he brought together into an Uta, or
verse, the repetition of which is believed to have the infallible virtue
of keeping off all those misfortunes, which, upon the days deter-
mined in the table to be unfortunate, would otherwise befall travel-
lers, this verse being for the use and satisfaction of poor ordinary
servants, who have not leisure to accommodate themselves to the
table, but must go when and wherever they are sent by their mas-
ters."
* The fox is regarded by the Japanese as a sort of divinity, though, accord-
ing to Siebold, they seem in doubt whether to reckon it a god or devil. If a
Japanese is placed in circumstances of doubt or difficulty, he sets out a platter
of rice and beans as a sacrifice to hh ; jx and if the next day any of it is gone,
that is regarded as a favorable omen. \Vonderful stories (equil to any of our
spirit-rapping miracles) are told of the doings of these foxes. Titsingh gives
the following by way of specimen : The grandfather of his friend, the imperial
treasurer of Nagasaki, and'who had in his time filled the same office, despatched
one day a courier to Jedo with very important letters for the councillors of
state. A few days after he discovered that one of the most important of the
letters had been accidentally left out of the package a forgetfulness which
exposed him to great disgrace. In his despair he recurred to his fox and
offered him a sacrifice. The next morning he saw, to his great satisfartion,
that some of it had been eaten ; after which, upon going into his cabinet,
the letter which he had forgotten to send was nowhere to lie found. This
caused him great uneasiness, till he received a message from his agent at
Jedo, who informed him that, upon opening the box which contained the
despatches, the lock of it appeared to have been forced by a letter pressed
in between the box and its cover from without the very same letter, as it
proved, left behind at Nagasaki. The more intelligent, says Titsingh,
laugh at this superstition, but the great body of the people have firm faith
in it. There are in Japan, according to Siebold, two species of foxes, very
much ttke the ordinary ones of Europe and America, and, from the immu-
nity which they enjoy, great nuisances. The white fox. of which the skiu is
much prized, is found only in the Kurule Islands.