Saturday, January 30, 2010

Ritualist

One versed in rituals. One practiced in symbolic religious rites. A priest in Heian Japan.

"One has visited a shrine or a temple with the request that certain prayers be said on one's behalf. What a pleasure to hear the ritualist or priest intone them in a better voice, and more fluently, than one had expected!"

Sei Shonagon, The Pillow Book (11th Century).

[Translated by Ivan Morris.]

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