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
Chichibu yomatsuri
Text
Chichibu yomatsuri is the popular name for the annual festival (reitaisai) of Chichibu Jinja (Chichibu City, Saitama Prefecture), celebrated on December 2 and 3. The festival is know for its parade of splendidly decorated floats (yatai or dashi), some with open stages on which Kabuki is performed, which are pulled on the streets by members of the several town districts during the morning of December 3. At around seven o'clock in the evening, the six yatai and dashi gather at the shrine. A ceremony takes place, after which the procession (togyo) of the sacred palanquin sets off on its journey to the otabisho (temporary resting place) while the yatai and the dashi, now decorated with lanterns, follow the shin'yo to the accompaniment of Chichibu yataibayashi drums. They arrive at the otabisho after climbing the steep Dangozaka hill. In a ritual performed at the otabisho, offerings (heisoku) are made to a stone tortoise modeled after the tortoise used as a mount by Myōken, the female kami of the shrine (saijin). According to one theory, the festival is said to celebrate the meeting at the otabisho of the female kami of Chichibu Jinja (Myōken, Myōken-miya) with the male kami of Bukōsan, a mountain rising above the Chichibu basin.
— Mogi Sakae

Pronunciation in Japanese/用語音声

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