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Title |
Text |
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| 1 |
Shinsōsai (Shinto Funeral Rites) |
The term Shinsōsai refers to funeral rites in a Shintō as opposed to Buddhist style. During the Edo Period, the Tokugawa bakufu instituted a temple registration system ( terauke seido ) in order to suppress Christianity. All Japanese were required to register as the parishoner of a p... |
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| 2 |
Shinzenkekkon (lit. Marital Rites in the Presence of the Gods)" |
The term broadly includes all nuptial rites conducted "before a kami ," but in common usage refers to wedding ceremonies performed at shrines or wedding halls by Shintō priests ( shinshoku ). In the Edo Period, there was a conscious association between marital observanc... |
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| 3 |
Shioyu |
"Tidal bath." A portable shrine ( shin'yo ) purification rite held the 14th day of the sixth lunar month at Sumiyoshi Shrine (Sumiyoshi Taisha) in Sumiyoshi Ward, Ōsaka City, Ōsaka Prefecture. The shrine to be used in the "last the summer" festival ( nagoshi ma... |
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| 4 |
Shioyutori shinji |
"Saltwater fetching rite." A rite for fetching saltwater held August 4 at Kitaoka Shrine in Kumamoto City, Kumamoto Prefecture. The rite immediately precedes the annual portable shrine procession (see shinkōsai ) ceremony. Early in the morning, priests ( shinshoku ... |
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| 5 |
Shirihineri matsuri |
"Bottom-pinching festival." A festival held on June 14 at Nishinomiya Shrine in Nishinomiya City, Hyōgo Prefecture. The origins of this festival are based on folklore. According to leged, Ebisu, the kami enshrined here ( saijin ), dozed off while he was making his way t... |
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| 6 |
Shiritsumami matsuri |
"Buttock pinching festival." A festival held November 10 at Otonashi ("no sound") Shrine in Itō City, Shizuoka Prefecture. Because the rite is held in complete darkness with even speaking strictly forbidden, participants pinch one another's bottoms as th... |
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| 7 |
Shirongo masturi |
A festival for women divers ( ama ) held July 11 at Shirohige Shrine in Toba City, Mie Prefecture. Early in the morning, divers from the Shima area gather on the beach and at the sound of a conch shell begin an abalone collecting competition. A ceremony is held in which the first pair of bla... |
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| 8 |
Shishi-mai |
Lion dance. Also called shishiodori . A dance in which the performer wears decorative headgear made to resemble a lion's head ( shishigashira ). " Shishi " is a term that can also refer to wild animals in general, and there are also traditions of "deer" ( kano... |
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| 9 |
Shishi-odori |
Deer dance. A folk ritual performance in which the dancers wear decorative deer heads with antlers. Thought to be a variation of the one-man shishimai (lion dance, also referred to as shishi-odori but written with different characters). The reading of the character for deer ( shika ,... |
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| 10 |
Shishigari |
Shishigari is the name given to the planting, fishing, and hunting festival held March 12 at Shikanoumi Shrine in Shikashima, Higashi Ward, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture. After a ceremony, rites are held in a purified ritual area ( yuniwa , see saijō ) on the shrine grounds ( keida... |
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| 11 |
Shubatsu |
To undergo purification. Shubatsu is a ceremony conducted immediately prior to rituals in order to purify participants, food offerings, and tamagushi of sins and defilement. Although some shrines still follow ancient practices when conducting the ceremony, the majority follo... |
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| 12 |
Shuku-sai-jitsu |
This term refers to the holidays ( shukujitsu ) and days of observances ( saijitsu ) fixed by the Japanese state. In the prewar period, there were both shukujitsu and saijitsu , but in the postwar period only the term shukujitsu continued to be used. To the three major national holidays... |
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| 13 |
Shōgatsu |
These are the various events in the first month of the year held to greet the new year. Besides the usual hatsumōde , this extremely varied roster includes imperial rites such as the shihōhai and the saitansai , community rituals, and family rituals like the nenga (New Year's Card... |
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| 14 |
Shōreisai |
"Annual festival of pines." A festival held from December 31 to January 1 at Dewasanzan Shrine in Haguro Township, Higashitagawa District, Yamagata Prefecture. It is also known as the toshiya matsuri ("evening festival of the years"). Dewasanzan ("D... |
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| 15 |
Shōsai |
One category of shrine rites, grouping together rites conducted on a small scale. Before 1945 these were specified under government regulations, and thereafter by the Association of Shinto Shrines ( Jinja honchō ) in its "Regulations of Shrine Observances." The text o... |
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| 16 |
Sokui |
Enthronement ceremony. One of several ceremonies accompanying a new emperor's accession to the throne. Originally the characters for "sokui " were read " ama-tsu-hi-tsugi shiroshimesu ," and referred to the same rite as " senso ". However, duri... |
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| 17 |
Sonraku-saishi |
Village rituals ( sonraku saishi ) are observances performed in spatially limited, fixed settlements ( mura – commonly translated in English as "village"). This represents one attempt to define these rituals based on their shared features, but the concept remains imp... |
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| 18 |
Suhōtei shinji |
A festival characterized by the offering of large banners that is held August 7–13 Iminomiya Shrine in Shimonoseki City, Yamaguchi Prefecture. The festival supposedly began with the dance warriors performed with swords, pikes, and spears in hand when they celebrated the subjuga... |
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| 19 |
Sumomo matsuri |
"Plum festival." A festival held July 20 at Ōkunitama Shrine in Fuchū City, Tokyo Prefecture, in which special food offerings ( shinsen ) of plums and rice with chestnuts are offered to the kami. Eating plums on the day of the festival is said to exorcise evil spirits and pre... |
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| 20 |
Sumō |
Also written with the characters 角力 and in ancient times called sumai . In China, there existed from before the Former Han dynasty (202 B.C.E.–8 C.E.) a kind of wrestling resembling sumō called kakuteigi or kakugi ( juedixi or juexi in Chinese) that belonged to the miscellaneous arts ... |
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