The death of the "King" (_i.e._, tono or daimio)
of Arima is also related, in more detail, by La Concepcion (_Hist. de
Philipinas_, v, pp. 160, 161); he says that a multitude of foxes
surrounded Bugandono on the road from Nangasaqui, accompanying him,
leaping and barking about his litter "until he reached Ximabara,
where they suddenly disappeared. Immediately that wretched man was
overpowered by a fury against himself, so great that, sword in hand,
he compelled his servants to beat him soundly with bamboos. They dealt
him so many blows that they inflicted upon him a wretched death"--a
punishment for his cruelties against the Christians.
"The great Shinto temple of Inari [the goddess of rice] at Kyoto is the
model of all other shrines dedicated to this popular divinity, for on
this lonely hillside twelve hundred years ago Inari was supposed to
manifest herself to mortals. A colossal red gateway and a flight of
moss-grown steps lead to the main entrance flanked by the great stone
foxes which guard every temple of Inari, and symbolize the goddess
worshipped under their form.
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