On Monday, after emailing you all, I met Seiji and he took me for a drive to nearby Yakumo, to the Yaegaki Shrine. It is famous because it is supposed to be the first home of a god and goddess after they got married; their 'starter home', if you will. The god (maybe his name is Sesuma?) killed a legendary eight-headed monster in this neck of the woods back in mythological times. This was my first visit to a Shinto shrine, and I was impressed and flummoxed by the place (though Seiji said it was smaller than he remembered). It is beautiful; the entrance is a large cross-beamed set of stone pillars guarded by weather-worn lions. The shrine itself was of dark wood, with a heavy curved roof and white lanterns (chochin) hanging at the entrance. From inside a deep, steady drumbeat could be heard. The ground was white sand, raked neatly into rows, although it had been scattered by the many visitors. On the trees, little papers had been tied to the branches, so that one bush seemed to be covered with white paper blossoms. Seiji said that you can get paper fortunes at the shrine; good fortunes you take home with you; bad fortunes are left behind at the shrine, tried to the trees. I was taking pictures of one of the little temples to the side when Seiji started to laugh; he pointed out that I was taking a picture of a six-foot wooden penis, meant to be touched for luck by people hoping to have children. I carefully kept my hands to myself.

We bought thin rectangles of white paper and followed a path into the woods behind the shrine, to the Pool of Mirrors. It is a wishing-pond; You take a coin and rest it on the paper and float it on the surface of the water. The sooner it sinks, the better for your fortune (so Seiji recommended using a heavier coin). When the paper touches the water, characters written on the paper become visible. Seiji said mine said that I would achieve my goal, and that my fortune lay to the north and east. Seiji's sank first, but mine soon pooled with water and sank to the bottom, where the ghostly white shades of other wishes shifted and floated. Some trees near the pools had little wooden gates and Shinto charms around them; very beautiful.