Encyclopedia of Shinto

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カテゴリー1： 5. Rites and Festivals
カテゴリー2： Individual Shrine Observances
Title
U no matsuri
Text
"Rabbit festival." A 13-day-long rite beginning the first day of the rabbit in March and ending with the next that is held at Aso Shrine in Ichinomiya Township, Aso District, Kumamoto Prefecture. Late on the eve of the first day of the rabbit, the spirit of the kami is transferred to a portable shrine (shin'yo) that rests in a temporary shrine building. Food offerings (shinsen) including wild boar and deer meat are presented and sacred kagura songs are sung every day until the next day of the rabbit. Tradition holds that Takewatatsunomikoto, the enshrined kami (saijin) of Aso Shrine, pacified the island of Kyushu and opened up the Aso region. He is said to have arrived here on the day of the rabbit in the second lunar month. The festival is held as a prayer for a bountiful harvest of grain. The festival used to be the shimonokari ("foothill fields hunting") rite and was Aso Shrine's most important event.
— Mogi Sakae

Pronunciation in Japanese/用語音声

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