Encyclopedia of Shinto

Main Menu:   
Links:   

詳細表示 (Complete Article)

カテゴリー1： 5. Rites and Festivals
カテゴリー2： Individual Shrine Observances
Title
Kuwafuri shinji
Text
"Hoe-swinging rite." An annual festival held April 24 at Nakayama Shrine in Tsuyama City, Okayama Prefecture. Before the shin'yo (portable shrine) departs, a shishimai (lion dance) is performed in the shrine's front courtyard near the gate in the mizugaki (a fence enclosing the shrine; see tamagaki) to the accompaniment of drummers and flautists dressed in formal court robes and black lacquered caps. Twenty people who have tucked willow branches adorned with shide (zig-zag paper streamers) into their collars wave imitation wooden hoes (kuwa) over their heads a few times. They then drive them into the ground, crying out "Ya!" as they dance and make a show of plowing the earth, all carefully synchronized with the rhythm of the drums and the flutes. The entire performance is known as the kuwafuri. When it's time for the procession (shinkō) of the shin'yo, the kuwa bearers walk ahead of the portable shrine holding their hoes aloft. Upon returning to the shrine, they perform the kuwafuri once more. The festival on this day is called an otaue matsuri (see ta-asobi).
— Mogi Sakae

Pronunciation in Japanese/用語音声

No movie/映像なし