Encyclopedia of Shinto

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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
Wareitaisai
Text
"The great Warei festival." A festival held July 23–24 (originally the sixth month) at Warei Shrine, Uwajima City, Ehime Prefecture. The shrine is dedicated to Yanbe Kimiyori, who at the start of the Edo period saved the residents of the domain where he was chief retainer and for that was shunned by his lord and met with an untimely death. The festival is known for its boat procession and for the cow demon. On the 24th, three portable shrines (shin'yo) are unloaded from boats under the Miyuki bridge that sits astride the Suga River and carried down the river to the midway resting point (otabisho) for shrine processions. A bonfire is lit at the otabisho and large bamboo poles festooned with ritual cloth offerings (heihaku) are erected there; the portable shrines are carried around this three times clockwise. They are welcomed on their return to the shrine by several hundred young men wearing white headbands and carrying flaming torches. Crying out "We go in!" they dash to the Suga River before the shrine. This is the climax of the event. Turning to the cow demon, this is a monster that combines a cow and a devil. The head and neck are 3-meters long and the beast is constructed from young bamboos covered with palm fronds. As many as 20 people are inside carrying it around.  They wind around the portable shrines, shaking the long neck. The people who attend on the cow demon blow a bamboo flute that makes a "boo, boo" sound. Since everyone responds in unison with the words "yare-yare, yare-yare," the instrument is also known as the "boo-yare." The cow demon is popularly worshipped as Warei-sama and there are "branch" deities (see bunrei) in the San'yō and San'in regions. One story holds that Yanbe Kimiyori was easily assassinated as he was staying in a detached annex and had strung up a mosquito net. An event called kaya-machi ("waiting with the mosquito net") takes place on June 23 in In'noshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture. The custom entails spending the night talking without entering a mosquito net.
— Mogi Sakae

Pronunciation in Japanese/用語音声

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