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
Shinkenhōten shinji
Text
"Offering the sacred sword to heaven."  A rite held on New Year's Eve at Hinomisaki Shrine in Taisha City, Hikawa District, Shimane Prefecture. In this extremely secret and ancient ceremony, the chief priest (gūji) lights a divine flame and rigorously carries out purifying ablutions (saikai mokuyoku), after which he climbs Mt. Amagatsu in the dead of the night by himself to conduct the rites. People throughout the village extinguish their household lights at the sound of a drum at this time and confine themselves to their homes. The ritual is said to have originated from an ancient myth. The kami Susanoo no mikoto found a sword called ame no murakumo no tsurugi (also called kusanagi) in the tail of the great snake Yamata no orochi when he killed it. The kami then sent his fifth generation descendant, Ama no fukine no mikoto, to present the sword on the Plain of High Heaven (Takamanohara).
— Mogi Sakae

Pronunciation in Japanese/用語音声

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