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
Hi no mai shinji
Text
Fire Dance Rite. A rite featuring a fire-throwing performance, held on November 20 at Kita Shrine in Kushima City, Miyazaki Prefecture. Dancers are selected from among young parishioners (ujiko) and observe a period of strict abstinence (kessai) and purification by using a separate fire (bekka), which lasts for half a month prior to the rite. In the evening of the festival day, after the ritual service, kagura dances are performed in front of the shrine by dancers appointed for the previous and current years. A great bonfire is lit within the shrine precincts (keidai). Once the bonfire has died down, the embers are scattered and the dancers, after having first expressed their reverence to the fire, scoop up the embers, throwing them up into the air. At the end, kagura is performed at the shrine hall.
— Mogi Sakae

Pronunciation in Japanese/用語音声

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