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
Hana-no-tō
Text
A one-week-long festival celebrated from May 8 at Atsuta Shrine (Atsuta Jingū), in Atsuta Ward, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture. It is said that the number of participants is second only to the number of visitors on the first days of January, when many the first shrine visits in the new year (hatsu mōde) are made. The festival starts at eight in the morning. A distinguishing feature of this festival is the custom of decorating the main building of the shrine with artifacts (tsukurimono) representing the upcoming rice and cotton harvest. The artifacts, which consist of . Participants divine together the upcoming crops by examining and interpreting these models that take the form of miniature houses, barns, sheds, and shrines constructed on trays in the manner of bonsai or miniature landscapes, are used as a means of predicting whether the harvest will be good. The festival is popularly known as "otameshi", while its official name is "Festival for an Abundant Year". Until World War II, a clear distinction was made between artifacts related to wet-field cultivation and those for dry-field cultivation, which were displayed separately in the western and eastern shrine buildings. Today they are all displayed together.
A festival held for rich grain harvest and the protection of silkworms on March 1 (originally, on the last day of the first month in the lunar calendar), at Inaba Shrine (Inaba Jinja) in Gifu City, Gifu Prefecture is also called Hana-no-tō. The shrine buildings are adorned with dolls representing field workers and silkworm growers. Based on a "rice gruel divination" (kayu ura) conducted on January 15, prospects for the year's harvest are indicated using gold, silver and red glass balls.
At Tsushima Shrine (Tsushima Jinja) in Tsushima City, Aichi Prefecture, a Hana-no-tō festival is held for three days, beginning on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month. Decorations representing human figures and agricultural tools are used to indicate rain and harvest prospects as predicted through divination.
At the Shinkō sai (a festival celebrating the ritual journey of the kami in his portable shrine mikoshi) at Matsu-no-o Shrine (Matsu-no-o Jinja) in Nishikyō Ward, Kyōto City, Kyōto Prefecture, the outbound procession sets off around April 20, while the return procession is held twenty-one days later, in mid-May. In the past, fifteen-year-old boys from the households belonging to the association of shrine parishioners (miyaza) were chosen to perform a role also known as hana no tō. In this case, the term refers to boys riding on horses who made offerings of artificial iris and peony flowers to the shrine. People used to say that "the festival was not complete until the hana no tō was finished."
At the Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine (Iwashimizu Hachimangū) in Yawata City, Kyōto Prefecture, a hana no tō observance used to be held on September 20. On this occasion, stands decorated with natural and artificial flowers were prepared to be used in performances of songs and dances by Buddhist priests.
— Mogi Sakae

Pronunciation in Japanese/用語音声

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