After showering and dressing, Akiko found Shiraishi dozing in the office, and told her about the dream. Outside, the rain was stopping, and the stones of the iwakura sparkled as the light of the morning sun played over them. Shiraishi, looking out at the precincts, nodded as Akiko finished her account.

“It does sound fairly clear, doesn’t it. We’ll have to see when Akira can come to mind the shrine; I’ll give him a call. And then we should do the tsukinamisai.â€

“The what?â€ Akiko was a bit surprised at just how matter-of-fact Shiraishi was, but she supposed that it wasn’t really surprising anymore.

“Tsukinamisai. Come on, you must have read about that. Monthly festival? And it’s the first today.â€

“Oh. Yes. Yes, right.â€ Now that Shiraishi mentioned it, Akiko realised that she had read about it, but she’d completely lost track of the date. Was it really the first already?

“Well, we need the himorogi for it, so can you get that ready while I call Akira?â€

Akiko had just finished setting the himorogi up in its usual place, on the site of the old shrine building, when Shiraishi came out of the house carrying the other equipment.

“He said he can come this afternoon, but not tonight. I said that would be fine.â€

Afternoon. That meant that they would have to do the ceremony in daylight. For a moment, Akiko was worried that people would see them, and then to scolded herself for being silly. It wasn’t as if people hadn’t seen her performing ceremonies quite often enough. And they would be in a public place.

“And,â€ the priest continued, “I brought this.â€ She held out a kagurasuzu, and Akiko took it off her.

“I can’t do the dances yet, you know.â€

“I know, but you can shake it. Do it at the very beginning and very end of the norito.â€ Akiko looked at the bells, and then back at Shiraishi. Her puzzlement must have been obvious, because the priest explained. “The bells get the kami’s attention and calm him down, at the same time. It’s an important part of the ceremony.â€ Akiko nodded her understanding, and took her place. The ground was still wet, but the sky was rapidly clearing, a light breeze leaving the air fresh, more like spring than early summer.

As Shiraishi took her place, Akiko heard the sonorous beat of a Japanese drum, its pace increasing, and she looked around. The shrine’s taiko had been destroyed in the fire, and she couldn’t see anything. Maybe Shiraishi has bought a recording, she thought.

Shiraishi read the norito, Akiko shaking the bells as instructed, and then paused. Akiko heard a taiko beating somewhere, in a rhythm she knew, the rhythm that Yoshiko beat out for dance practice under the tree. A flute joined it, swooping over the top, and the moves of the dance came up in Akiko’s mind.

And then she was rising from her place, raising the kagurasuzu, and dancing, the sweeping moves coming easily, fluidly, as she crossed the space in front of the himorogi, paused, raised the kagurasuzu, turned on the spot to bow towards the kami, moved back again.

Akiko realised that she was not entirely in control of her own movement, but she could hear and feel the drum beat, and she let it guide her through the short dance until she sank back into her place, kagurasuzu held in front of her, eyes down.