Encyclopedia of Shinto

Main Menu:   
Links:   

詳細表示 (Complete Article)

カテゴリー1： 5. Rites and Festivals
カテゴリー2： Rituals in Daily Life
Title
Ta'asobi | 田遊び
Text Literally, "rice-field play." Ta'asobi sometimes takes place during the actual rice-planting season, but generally it occurs at the start of the year. It falls into the category of yoshuku-girei, or symbolic or imitative ceremonies to pray for bountiful crop before the growing season. From the plowing of the paddies, the scattering the seeds, and the transplanting of the seedlings to the harvest and storage, the entire agricultural cycle is acted out symbolically as an act of propitiation to the toshigami (the kami of a given year said to visit during the New Year's season) for the sake of a bountiful harvest. Other names for these events include mita (lit. honored fields), haru-tauchi (spring-field-breaking), kuwa-furi (hoe-shaking), and haru-guwa (spring plow). In its broadest sense, the custom is a manifestation of Shintō performing arts related to rice-field cultivation; it includes everything from hayashida and hana-taue music and dances of Hiroshima and Shimane prefectures to the various jinin priest-led rites and affairs at major shrines throughout Japan, such as o-taue-sai and taue-shinji seedling transplantation rites as well as the various events referred to as dengaku. In one pattern the players act out the role of the rice-field god (ta no kami) who appears in the guise of an old man or woman to celebrate and personally bestow blessings that will assure a smooth and successful paddy-tilling season. Another pattern sees the performers in the part of farmers who act out the problem-free preparation of the fields and beseech the god for the fulfillment of that desire. The content and order of the presentations vary by location, but elements common to all performances include: drums beaten to symbolize the plowing the furrows; representations of oxen and horses leveling the fields; and pantomimes symbolizing the link between sexual intercourse and agricultural fecundity.
— Iwai Hiroshi i

No sound/音声なし

No movie/映像なし