"Ontake San" (or "Sama") is a popular name given to the deities adored by this sect. It really means the Deity dwelling on the peak Mitake, or Ontake. But the name is also sometimes applied to the high-priest of the sect, who is supposed to be oracularly inspired by the deity of Ontake, and to make revelations of truth through the power of the divinity. In the mouth of the boy Katsugoro "Ontake Sama" means the high-priest of that time [1828], almost certainly Osuke himself,--then chief of the Tomoye-Kyo).]

dying is not a matter to be afraid of." When his parents ask him, "Would you not like to become a priest?" he answers, "I would rather not be a priest."

The village people do not call him Katsugoro any more; they have nicknamed him "Hodokubo-Kozo" (the Acolyte of Hodokubo).[1] When any one visits the house to see him, he becomes shy at once, and runs to bide himself in the inner apartments. So it is not possible to have any direct conversation with him. I have written down this account exactly as his grandmother gave it to me.

I asked whether Genzo, his wife, or Tsuya, could any of them remember having done any

[1. Kozo is the name given to a Buddhist acolyte, or a youth studying for the priesthood. But it is also given to errand-boys and little boy-servants sometimes,--perhaps because in former days the heads of little boys were shaved. I think that the meaning in this text is "acolyte."]

virtuous deeds. Genzo and his wife said that they had never done anything especially virtuous; but that Tsuya, the grandmother, had always been in the habit of repeating the Nembutsu every morning and evening, and that she never failed to give two mon[1] to any priest or pilgrim who came to the door. But excepting these small matters, she never had done anything which could be called a particularly virtuous act.

(--This is the End of the Relation of the Rebirth of Katsugoro.)