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| 1 |
Jōshi |
Seasonal festival that takes place on the third day of the third month; also called genshi and jōmi . One of five seasonal celebrations ( gosekku ) established as holidays by the Tokugawa bakufu . This celebration is generally known as hinamatsuri (Doll Festival) or momo no sekku (Pea... |
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| 2 |
Jōtōsai |
An architectural ritual also called ' mune'age ' (roof-raising). This ritual is performed during construction of a new building to pray that there will be no problems with the structure during or after construction. References to jōtōsai can be found in certain Nara period documen... |
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| 3 |
Kagura |
A ritual performance made as an offering to the kami. Most are performed only once a year or once every few years. The kami are invited (see kanjō ) to occupy the sacred area and worshiped with performances of music, song, and dance. The prevailing theory regarding the etymology of kagu... |
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| 4 |
Kakitsusai |
A rite held from October tenth to twelfth at Danzan Jinja on Tōnomine, Sakurai City, Nara Prefecture. This shrine venerates Fujiwara Kamatari. Tradition says that this festival began in the first year of the Kakitsu era (1441) on the occasion of the shrine's rebuilding after its des... |
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| 5 |
Kamado matsuri |
"Cauldron festival." The main annual festival held July 10 at Shiogama Shrine, Shiogama City, Miyagi Prefecture. In what is called the asamairi-no-gi (morning veneration rite), sea water is drawn at high tide that day and the new water is used to replace the water in the c... |
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| 6 |
Kamiari matsuri |
" Kami are present festival." A rite held on the 10th through 17th days of the 10th month of the lunar calendar at Izumo Shrine in the town of Taisha, Hikawa District, Shimane Prefecture. Generally, October is referred to as kannazuki (the month when kami are not present). H... |
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| 7 |
Kangensai |
"Wind and string music festival." Held on the seventeenth day of the sixth month in the lunar calendar at Itsukushima Shrine in the town of Miyajima, Saeki District, Hiroshima Prefecture. Kangen is an ensemble composed of three woodwind ( kan ) instruments—a flute ( fue )... |
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| 8 |
Kanmisosai |
A major rite of the Ise Shrines, performed only at Kōtaijingū and Aramatsuri no Miya, during which either garments ( mi-so ) of light weave ( nigitae ) or of heavy weave ( aratae ) are offered to the kami on the fourteenth day of the fifth (May) and tenth (October) months, respectively—th... |
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| 9 |
Kanmisosai (Mikami Shrine) |
A rite held at Mikami Shrine in the town of Yasu, Yasu District, Shiga Prefecture, on November 15 in which a robe is presented to the saijin (enshrined deity). The gūji (chief priest) offers norito (prayers), presents the kanmiso robe, and performs a sacred dance ( kagura ) called the s... |
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| 10 |
Kannamesai |
A rite at the Grand Shrines of Ise celebrating the divine ancestry of the imperial lineage by offering the "first rice ears" hatsuho of the autumn harvest to Amaterasu Ōmikami on the seventeenth day of the tenth month; the harvest festival of the Ise Shrines. On the day of th... |
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| 11 |
Kannamesai (Grand Shrines of Ise) |
This is largest harvest festival of the year at the Grand Shrines of Ise ( Ise jingū ). The festival's history traces back to the legendary enshrinement of Amaterasu Ōmikami at the present location: during the reign of Emperor Suinin, when Princess Yamatohime-no-mikoto traveled in ... |
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| 12 |
Kanreki |
One's "sixtieth" birthday, or alternately one's "sixty first" calendar year (traditionally in Japan, when a person was born they were said to be "one," and at every New Year's Day thereafter turn a "year" older. This leads to an age coun... |
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| 13 |
Karasade shinji |
Held at Sata Shrine in the town of Kajima, Yatsuka District, Shimane Prefecture, on November 25, the karasadeshinji ( karasade rite) is a ritual for seeing off the kami at the conclusion of the kamiari matsuri (" kami are present" festival). The month when kami from all the ... |
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| 14 |
Karasu sumō |
"Crow sumo." Held at Kamowakeikazuchi Shrine in Kita Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, following the the Chrysanthemum Rite (see chōyō ) that takes place on September 9 (a day traditionally perceived as auspicious in Chinese thought), the day of the chōyō no sekku (&q... |
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| 15 |
Kaza-matsuri |
A village communal invocation event conducted around the two-hundred and tenth day of the year, or around " hatsusaku " (first day of the eighth month by the old calendar), to ward off damaging winds. Also referred to as kazahimachi . The two hundred and tenth day is counted ... |
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| 16 |
Keihitsu |
A call made by the priest and other festival participants, used when invoking the kami ( kōshin ), when opening and closing sanctuary doors or during divine processions as part of various rituals and ceremonies. It is addressed to the kami as well as to those in attendance, urging them ... |
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| 17 |
Kenchō shinji |
"Bird offering rite." Held January 1-3 at Iyahiko Shrine in the village of Iyahiko, Nishikanbara District, Niigata Prefecture. Each evening, a decorative stand ( shimadai ) upon which wooden sculptures of birds have been mounted is placed before the kami ( shinzen ) tog... |
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| 18 |
Kenpeishi |
Introduced after World War II, kenpeishi are emissaries sent by the Association of Shinto Shrines ( Jinja Honchō ) to its affiliated shrines to present offerings ( heihaku ) on behalf of the Association. The money for the offerings ( heihakuryou ) is provided by the Association on the ... |
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| 19 |
Ki matsuri |
"Tree festival." Held on the first Sunday in April at Itakiso Shrine in Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture. The saijin (the main kami worshipped at the shrine) of Itakiso is Itakerunomikoto, son of Susanoonomikoto. It is said that in ancient time he descended to this pla... |
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| 20 |
Kibune matsuri |
A festival that was held on the first day of the fourth and eleventh months at Kibune Shrine in Sakyō Ward, Kyōto City, Kyōto Prefecture. The festival was observed on a grand scale prior to the Meiji Period (1600-1868) when the shrine had an auxiliary shrine ( sessha ) relationship to Ka... |
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