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| 1 |
Agata matsuri |
The main annual festival ( reisai ) of Agata Shrine, in Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture held around June 5 (originally, the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar). The festival begins on the fifth with the offering of a sacred meal to the kami . At about 1 a.m. on the night of the sixt... |
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| 2 |
Ageuma shinji |
"Sacred horse rite". Performed at the Tado Shrine on May 4 and 5 at Tado Jinja in Tado-chō, Kuwana-gun, Mie prefecture, the rite takes its name from the tradition of having horses run up the steep slope along the stone stairway leading to the shrine. Six of the seven particip... |
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| 3 |
Ainame-sai |
Also called Ainie no matsuri or Ainbe no matsuri . In ancient times, this festival was held at select shrines several days prior to the niinamesai festival to celebrate the new harvest. The first documentary mention of the term occurs in Nihonshoki under the entry for the third day of t... |
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| 4 |
Akamata Kuromata |
A pair of grass-clad, masked deities believed to bring yuu (happiness associated with fecundity, fertility, and the like) from Niraasuku (the word for Nirai-kanai , "the Other World," in the local dialect). Belief in the deities is found in many places in the Yaeyama Isl... |
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| 5 |
Akutai matsuri |
"Cursing festival". At the akutai matsuri held at the Atago Shrine in Iwama-chō, Nishi Ibaragi-gun, Ibaragi Prefecture on December 14 (formerly, the fourteenth day of the eleventh month of the lunar calendar), participants verbally abuse each other as they proceed to ... |
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| 6 |
Amasake matsuri |
Sweet sake festival. The festival held on February 10 and 11 at the Umemiya Shrine in Sayama City, Saitama Prefecture, centers on inviting locals to the shrine and treating them to sake. It is called the amasake matsuri and serves as a way of divining the abundance of the new year's harv... |
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| 7 |
Aofushigaki shinji |
A rite reenacting the kuniyuzuri myth from Kojiki and Nihonshoki . It is performed over a period of thirteen days around April 7 at the Miho Shrine in Mihoseki, Yatsuka-gun, Shimane Prefecture. The rite is based on the myth in which Kotoshironushi built an enclosure fenced with green ... |
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| 8 |
Bakemono matsuri |
A costume festival held on May 24 and 25 at the Dazaifu Shrine in Shinmei Town, Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture. Men and women in crossdress conceal their faces with cloth hoods ( zukin ) or woven hats ( amigasa ) and parade through town. The festival traces its origins to a precedent ... |
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| 9 |
Bakuchi |
Gambling, or also games in which one wagers money or property and then competes over the outcome. The term can also refer to a gambler or someone who gambles for a living ( bakuchiuchi ). When written 博奕 it can also be read as bakueki or bakuyō . Can take the form of such dice amusements as su... |
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| 10 |
Batō shin matsuri |
A long established major festival held around April 22 at the Taga Shrine ( Taga Taisha ) in Taga Town, Inukami District, Shiga Prefecture. Also called the Taga Festival. The observances comprising the festival are carried out under the leadership of the so-called batōnin , a select ... |
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| 11 |
Bugaku |
Refers to the dance performed with gagaku accompaniment. Originally, it was thought that song and dance functioned not only to entertain humans, but also by being performed before the gods ( kami ) could soothe divine spirits ( shinrei ) and furthermore make manifest the communion b... |
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| 12 |
Busha matsuri |
A sacred archery ritual performed mainly around the New Year. It can be written with the characters 歩射 or 奉射, and has many variant pronunciations including bisha and hōsha . Performed widely at shrines throughout the country. In contrast to kisha (equestrian archery), busha entail... |
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| 13 |
Busha sai |
Sacred Archery Festival or Foot Archery Festival (depending on the Chinese characters used to write the name). An archery rite held on March 17 at the Hotaka Shrine ( Hotaka jinja ) in Hotaka Town, Azumi County, Nagano Prefecture. Ritual objects featured in the festival include thre... |
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| 14 |
Bō-chigiri |
Distributing stakes. A ta-asobi (rice-field pantomime) rite held on February 13, at the Ugan Shrine in Ikeda Town, Imadate County, Fukui Prefecture. Participants wearing masks representing old men and women, stick a tree into a round-shaped rice cake ( kagami mochi ) of about sixt... |
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| 15 |
Chan-chan matsuri |
Held on April 1, this is the annual festival ( reitaisai ) of the Ōyamato Shrine in Tenri City, Nara Prefecture. On the day before the festival, participants in the sacred procession ( togyo ) present offerings of taihei (large nusa , ritual purification wands) at the shrine. In a cerem... |
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| 16 |
Chichibu yomatsuri |
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 Kab... |
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| 17 |
Chimaki matsuri |
A festival held on May 31 at Katatagae Shrine in Sakai City, Ōsaka Prefecture. Given the shrine's strong relationship with the belief in yin-yang directional taboos ( katatagae ), many people visit it when building or moving into a new house in order to receive katatagae talismans ( s... |
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| 18 |
Chimaki shinji |
A festival held at Hikawa Shrine in Ōmiya City, Saitama Prefecture, on June 5. The ritual consists of offering rice cakes ( chimaki ) during the Tango no sekku (Boys' Festival). Miscanthus ( kaya ) leaves collected from a nearby marsh are cut into pieces of equal length, then used to wra... |
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| 19 |
Chinka sai |
"Festival for the Pacification of Fire." A monoimi (purificatory abstinence) ritual held on the evening of July 19 at Mononobe Jinja Shrine in Ōda City, Shimane Prefecture. In the past, this ritual was observed in the evening of all the Days of the Horse in the sixth month o... |
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| 20 |
Chinka-sai (hana shizume matsuri) |
"Festival for appeasing the spirits of the blossoms". Also called "hana shizume matsuri." One of the rites specified in Jingiryō . In ancient times, the Department of Divinities would make offerings to the shrine attendants hafuribe of the Ōmiwa and Sai Shri... |
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