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| 1 |
Kigensetsu |
A holiday and ritual observed from the beginning of Meiji until just after the end of World War II to commemorate the founding of the nation through Emperor Jinmu's legendary ascension to the throne. The rite observed at the palace's three ritual halls is called Kigensetsu sai , while ... |
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| 2 |
Kikusui-sai |
"Floating chrysanthenum festival." An old-style festival held on October 29 at Futarayama Shrine in Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture. The day before the festival, yabusame (horseback archery) contests take place at a riding ground within the shrine precincts (s... |
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| 3 |
Kinensai |
A regular observance of the Ritsuryō state, also called toshigoi no matsuri . It ranks alongside the Tsukinamisai (in the sixth and twelfth months) and the Niinamesai (in the eleventh month) as one of the most important observances of the time, as shown by the relatively large amount ... |
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| 4 |
Kisoi-bune |
A traditional event in which participants compete ( kisoi ) by rowing boats ( fune ). There are records that refer to Nagasaki peiron (Chinese-style dragon boat canoes) as kisoibune , but normally one writes the characters in reverse order and refers to these events as funakurabe or f... |
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| 5 |
Kodai saishi (Ancient Rituals) |
"Ancient rituals" can be divided broadly into those religious rituals that involve natural objects such as mountains and streams, rocks, and trees and rituals related to burial services. Gradually, with the advent of agriculture, we also find rituals concerned with g... |
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| 6 |
Koden shinjō sai |
"Old tales, new tastes festival." A ritual held November 23 at Izumo Shrine in the town of Taisha, Hikawa district, Shimane Prefecture. The gūji (chief priest) of the shrine (see Izumo kokusō ) offers a new crop of rice to the kami ; joined by the the kami of heaven and earth ( t... |
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| 7 |
Komahiki shinji |
"Horse leading rite." A rite held on October 15 at Masumida Shrine in Ichinomiya City, Aichi Prefecture, to select the horses that will be used in the tōkasai (peach-blossom festival) to be held on April 3 of the following year. The festival calls for 30 official ceremonia... |
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| 8 |
Kunimuke matsuri |
A shinkōsai (processional festival) held from March 18 to 23 at Keta Jinja, Hakui City, Ishikawa Prefecture. The festival name is also read heikokusai . It is a rite that recollects the territorial pacification exploits of the saijin (main enshrined kami ) Ōnamuchinomikoto. A gran... |
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| 9 |
Kurabe-uma |
Horse racing. Also called kioiuma , komakurabe or keiba . Held as court events from ancient times, but with the Heian period (794-1191) they took on new characteristics such as a display of martial skill by military officials and a ritual for dispelling the "bad airs" ( jak... |
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| 10 |
Kurayami Matsuri |
"In the dark festival." Held on the evening of May 5 at the Ōkunitama Shrine in Fuchū City, Tokyo Prefecture. The shrine's main annual rite, it is preceded on April 30 by a purification ceremony (see harae ) held on the waters offshore of Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward; a mirror poli... |
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| 11 |
Kuwafuri shinji |
"Hoe-swinging rite." An annual festival held April 24 at Nakayama Shrine in Tsuyama City, Okayama Prefecture. Before the shin'yo (portable shrine) departs, a shishimai (lion dance) is performed in the shrine's front courtyard near the gate in the mizugaki (a fence enc... |
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| 12 |
Kōnomachi zamondō |
An ancient provincial sōja (a shrine for several kami ) festival held May 5 at Rokusho Shrine in the town of Ōiso, Naka District, Kanagawa Prefecture. Mikoshi (portable shrines, see shin'yo ) for the five great shrines ( taisha gosha ) in Sagami Province (covering parts of present-da... |
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| 13 |
Kōnomiya hadaka matsuri |
"Kōnomiya naked festival." Commonly known as the Kōnomiya no hadaka matsuri ("naked festival of the chief provincial shrine"), this festival is held on the 13th day of the 1st month of the lunar calendar at the Ōwari Ōkunitama Shrine in Inazawa City, Aichi Pre... |
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| 14 |
Kōrei saishi |
A group of rites of ancestor worship directed at the spirits of former emperors and members of the imperial family. The rites that form part of the kōrei saishi are performed by the imperial family at imperial mausoleums and the Kōreiden (Hall of Imperial Ancestral Spirits), one of th... |
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| 15 |
Kōshin, shōshin |
Rites carried out with the purpose of invoking a kami to attend a festival conducted on an occasional basis outside a shrine's precincts and then of sending the kami away. Such rituals were necessary before the emergence of permanent shrine buildings, when trees and stones were rega... |
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| 16 |
Mato-bakai |
"Scramble for the target." An archery rite held on January 15 at Shioji Shrine in Nagasu Town, Tamana District, Kumamoto Prefecture. Bakau means "to scramble" or "to struggle" for something. Following ceremonies that take place on the morning of ... |
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| 17 |
Matsu-no-o Matsuri |
A portable shrine procession ( shinkō ) festival held from the last day of the rabbit in the fourth month to the first day of the bird in the fifth of the old lunar calendar at Matsu-no-o Shrine in Nishikyō Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture. Nowadays, the festival begins the fourth Sund... |
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| 18 |
Me-kari shinji |
A wakame (a type of seaweed) harvesting rite held on the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar at Mekari (the characters mean " wakame harvest") Shrine in Moji Ward, Kita-Kyūshū City, Fukuoka Prefecture. Before dawn on the old New Year's Day, a shrine priest ( sh... |
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| 19 |
Meiji Kokka Saishi: State Rites of the Meiji Period |
This system of state rites followed the tradition of state rituals as practiced in the era of the ritsuryō legal code of the seventh to ninth centuries and the imperial court polity of the tenth to twelfth centuries, revived and reorganized during the Meiji Restoration and early year... |
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| 20 |
Meiji setsu |
"Meiji Emperor Observance." From the beginning of the Showa era to just after the end of World War II, Meijisetsu was a national holidaycelebrated on the Meiji emperor's birthday to commemorate his virtues. In 1927, at the behest of the Imperial Diet, the Meiji Emperor's ... |
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