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Title |
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| 1 |
Uzue shinji |
"Rabbit-staff rite." A rite held on January 15 at Itakiso Shrine in Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture. Thirteen sticks of cut bamboo are stuck into cooked rice gruel. The richness or meagerness of the year's crops is divined by how much gruel has gotten into the bamboo s... |
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| 2 |
Wakamizu Matsuri |
"'First water of the year' festival." A rite for drawing the first water of the year held on New Year's Day at Himukai Shrine in Yamashina Ward, Kyoto. A rite takes place at 3 a.m. in which the first waters are drawn from the Asahi spring on the shrine grounds ( keidai ). The wate... |
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| 3 |
Warai Matsuri |
"Laughter festival." A festival held on October 10 at Niu Shrine in Kawabe Town, Hidaka District, Wakayama Prefecture. In this unusual festival, a procession is formed with a person bearing offerings in the lead. The bearer is followed by a long-nosed goblin ( tengu ), a d... |
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| 4 |
Warajihiki Matsuri |
"Sandal-dragging festival." A festival to pray for an abundant fish catch held on the day of the monkey in late September at Namikiri Shrine in Daiō Township, Shima District, Mie Prefecture. In this rite, a 3-meter-long straw sandal ( waraji ) is dragged ( hiki ) around tow... |
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| 5 |
Wareitaisai |
"The great Warei festival." A festival held July 23–24 (originally the sixth month) at Warei Shrine, Uwajima City, Ehime Prefecture. The shrine is dedicated to Yanbe Kimiyori, who at the start of the Edo period saved the residents of the domain where he was chief retainer ... |
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| 6 |
Wasabi Matsuri |
"Wasabi festival." A festival held the 15th day of the third lunar month at Kumano Shrine in Miyama Township, Kitakuwada District, Kyoto. The festival is so called because the person who oversees the event ( tōya ) presents offerings of sake and wasabi (green horseradish... |
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| 7 |
Yabusame |
A type of mounted archery in which the rider shoots arrows with a turnip-shaped head at a target from atop a galloping horse. One theory holds that the name is a contraction of yabaseuma (literally, "arrow galloping horse"), while another theory holds the word comes from t... |
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| 8 |
Yabusame shinji |
"Horseback archery rite." A rite held September 16 at Tsurugaoka Hachimangū in Kamakura City, Kanagawa Prefecture. A horseback archery contest ( yabusame ) takes place in the afternoon at the horse riding area on the shrine grounds ( keidai ). Three archers dressed in a K... |
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| 9 |
Yamabiraki |
"Opening of the mountain." An event by which a mountain is opened the first time in a given year to climbers. The event held to bring the climbing season to a close is called yamajimai ("closing of the mountain"). Mountains have been regarded since ancient times ... |
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| 10 |
Yamato bashiri |
"Dash of the mountain men." A rite performed on November 27 at Usobuki Hachiman Shrine in Buzen City, Fukuoka Prefecture. Before dawn, one of the deputy leaders ( jikanza ) from the village group in charge of festivals ( miyaza ) performs ablutions ( misogi ) and draws water ... |
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| 11 |
Yaso-shima no matsuri |
"Festival of the Yaso Island." An observance of the ancient to medieval periods occurring only once per generation, as a rule in the year following the Daijō sai conducted as part of the ceremonies for imperial accession ( sokui ). Imperial messengers chokushi (in partic... |
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| 12 |
Yatagarasu shinji |
"Rite of the eight-foot-long crow." A rite held the evening of January 7 at Kumano Hongū Shrine in Hongū Town, Higashimuro District, Wakayama Prefecture. During this rite, the shrine stamps the image of a jewel on amulets of the Kumano Goō (i.e., the great crow). Also call... |
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| 13 |
Yaya matsuri |
A rite held January 15 at Hachiman Shrine in Amarume Town, Higashitagawa District, Yamagata Prefecture. Shirtless boys from five to fourteen years old wearing straw raincoats called kendai wrapped around their waist, straw crowns on their head, and carrying candles in both hands ... |
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| 14 |
Yayoi Matsuri |
"Third month festival." An annual festival ( reisai ) takes place April 16-17 at Futarasan Shrine in Nikkō City, Tochigi Prefecture. The event was once known as the sangatsu yayoi no matsuri ("third-month yayoi festival," yayoi having been the name given to t... |
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| 15 |
Yomisashi Matsuri |
There are many rites for erecting a sakaki tree in advance of a festival. The rite held October 6 at Ōmiya Shrine in Iwade Town, Naga District, Wakayama Prefecture, is called the yomisashi festival. Yomisashi means "to commence purification"; it refers to both having beg... |
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| 16 |
Yubana shinji |
"Sinter rite." A rite held the night of August 2 at Suga Shrine in Setagawa Ward, Tokyo. Straw is burned under a pot of water set up on shrine grounds ( keidai ) to bring the water to boiling. A priest ( shinshoku ) recites liturgies ( norito ) and incantations, stirs the hot wate... |
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| 17 |
Yuta |
Spiritual practitioners found in Amami and the main island of Okinawa. They can enter a state of possession during which they communicate with deities and spirits of the dead. In the process, they manifest distinctive spiritual powers and practice magic in the form of oracles ( taku... |
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| 18 |
Yutate shinji |
Water is boiled in a large pot before a shrine's altar in this rite. Female shrine attendants ( miko ) and priests ( shinshoku ) dip bamboo leaves in the hot water and splash the hot water on themselves by shaking the leaves. As they repeatedly splash hot water around the pot in time with mu... |
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| 19 |
Yōgō Matsuri |
A rite held on July 8 at Mikami Shrine in Yasu Town, Yasu District, Shiga Prefecture. This rite commemorates the appearance of the deity to whom the shrine is dedicated ( saijin ), Amenomikage-no-mikoto, on the summit of Mt. Mikami, the mountain where the kami dwells ( shintaizan ). A &... |
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| 20 |
Zassai |
The category of zassai groups together all the shrine celebrations which are not subject to the Regulations of the Association of Shinto Shrines ( Jinja honcho ). The term means "miscellaneous festivals" and the word is similar to Zōka (which is a collection of assorted, ... |
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