Encyclopedia of Shinto

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
Tōnin gyōji
Text
"Ritual caretaker observance." A ritual held July 7 at Tōko Yasaka Shrine (also known as Gozu Tennō Shrine) in Tennō Township, Minimi-Akita District, Akita Prefecture. Tōko Yasaka is the tutelary shrine of both Tennō Town and Funakoshi Town in Oga City, Akita District; the deity it enshrines (saijin) is Susanoo no mikoto. On March 25 in the runup to the festival, a "miso cooking rite" takes place in which fermented bean paste is prepared and buried for storage on the shrine grounds (keidai). The "sake-room building rite" takes place on June 24 in which a room is constructed at the home of the ritual caretaker (tōnin, which is another word for tōya) for the preparation of offerings and other tasks. The following day, the buried miso is dug up in the "miso unearthing rite." The "ritual wand arrangement rite (ōbei-tateno shinji, ōbei being another reading for ōnusa) is held July 1; from this day forward, the ritual caretaker must offer rice, sake, and the so-called seven spring herbs (nanakusa) along with seven pairs of chopsticks at the altar of the sanctuary (honden) every morning until the day of the main event. A "bamboo-cutting ceremony" is held the morning of July 6. The main event of the tōnin gyōji takes place on July 7. First, a performer offers up a votive dance called kumomai (or chōmai) using ropes strung between "serpent columns" on a boat in the Funakoshi River, which flows along the boundary between Tennō and Funakoshi. How the dance is performed foretells whether the harvest will be good or bad. Meanwhile, at Tennō, a man dressed in ancient clothes playing the part of Susanonoo no mikoto appears before the tōya's home riding a black ox. This man has fasted for three days and then drunk copious amounts of sake, so he is in a drunken stupor and dozing as he accompanies the procession (shinkō) of the portable shrine (mikoshi, see shin'yo). This is worshipped as a sign that the deity is present. Tōnin gyōji refers to the entire festival.
— Mogi Sakae

Pronunciation in Japanese/用語音声

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