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
Tōka sai
Text
"Peach blossom festival." A festival held April 1–3 at Masumida Shrine in Ichinomiya City, Aichi Prefecture. The event celebrates the enshrinement of Amenoho no Akari no mikoto, the deity to whom the shrine is dedicated (see saijin), which took place on the third day of the third lunar month. In ancient times, a purification ceremony (harae) was conducted using peach branches on a riverbank. This festival's name is derived from the practice of garnishing the food offering (shinsen) with peach blossoms. In the past, spectators would write waka (short poems) on strips of thick paper (tanzaku; often used for writing poems or drawing pictures) and then use poles to pass them up to the lion dancers (see shishi-mai), drummers, and young children riding the festival floats (in this case, hand-pulled carts resembling dashi with roofs and adorned with large dolls decorated with artificial flowers). The riders would then read out the waka from atop the floats. The event has also been called the tanzaku festival for this reason. In present days, a reading party of the tanzaku offered by various people takes place after the ceremonies at the shrine on April 1. The following day, there is a ritual unmounted archery contest the following day and in the evening musicians board the floats for a ritual rehearsal (shigakusai) of the festival music (hayashi). The festival proper starts around 10 a.m. on April 3 with a mounted archery (yabusame) rite performed before the shrine's two-storied decorative gateway (rōmon). Following this ceremony, a procession (see shinkōsai) leaves the shrine and proceeds to the midway resting place (otabisho). The procession is led by armored men, followed by warrior guards and nearly twenty dashi-uma (horses bearing ritual purification wands on their banks and decorated with fabrics and ornaments), all promenading to the shouts of youths who are wearing identical costumes.
— Mogi Sakae

Pronunciation in Japanese/用語音声

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