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| 1 |
Miare shinji, Mikage matsuri |
"Divine manifestation rite" and the Mikage Festival. A joint festival of the Kamowakeikazuchi (aka Kamigamo) and Kamomioya (aka Shimogamo) shrines, both located in Kita Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture. On May 15 there is a festival known as the Aoi ("hollyhoc... |
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| 2 |
Michiae no matsuri |
"Festival of the Road Gods". A ceremony performed in the ancient period, as stipulated by the Divinities Prescriptions ( Jingiryō ). Intended to prevent evil spirits such as demons and epidemic gods ( ekishin ) from entering the capital, it was performed on the roads ( ōji ... |
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| 3 |
Mikakushi shinji |
"Body hiding rite." A festival held on May 3 at Yaegaki Shrine in Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture. The enshrined kami are Susanoo-no-mikoto (see Susanoo) and Kushinadahime. The rite is associated with the story of Kushinadahime having hidden herself in the inner sanct... |
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| 4 |
Mikamagi shinji |
"Firewood rite." A rite held on December 10 at Kumano Hongū Shrine in Hongū Town, Muro District, Wakayama Prefecture. The youths among the shrine's local parishioners ( ujiko ) present all the firewood needed for preparing one year's worth of food offerings ( shinsen ) a... |
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| 5 |
Mikari shinji |
" Kami hunt rite." Held from December 26 to January 4 at Awa Shrine in Tateyama City, Chiba Prefecture. There is a uniqueness to the food offerings ( shinsen ) in this rite. The morning offering comes with white rice and the evening offering features sekihan (rice mixed with ... |
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| 6 |
Mikiai no shinji |
" Sake distilling rite." A festival held September 9 at Susa Shrine in Sada Town, Hikawa District, Shimane Prefecture. This rice-harvest thanskgiving event is based on an ancient ceremony on the occasion when Susanoo-no-mikoto took Kushinada-hime as his wife. Priest... |
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| 7 |
Mimashie Matsuri |
A rite held from January 1 to 3 at Kibitsu Shrine in Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture. Shitogi , a type of mochi made for such purposes, is offered up in a kettle left in the Mi-kama-den, the most sacred of halls. The kettle begins to whistle when the fire is lit in the hearth. The festival i... |
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| 8 |
Minakuchi Matsuri |
"Water sluice festival." A rice-field planting festival and this irrigation festival are held July 19-20 at Mononobe Shrine in Ōda City, Shimane Prefecture. Horses decorated with ritual wands are brought before the worship hall ( haiden ) after the ceremonies and led a... |
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| 9 |
Minige no shinji |
"Throwing the self off rite." A ritual held the night of August 14 at Izumo Shrine in Taisha Town, Hikawa District, Shimane Prefecture. On the evening of August 12, priests ( shinshoku ) perform ritual ablutions ( misogi ) on the beach at Inasanohama. The night of the 13th, a ... |
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| 10 |
Mitana-e shinji |
"Sacred trellis rite." A rite held on January 14 at Kamowakeikazuchi Shrine in Kamigamo, Kita Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture. The rite includes holding a "reading of the fish" ( uodoku ). In the past, the six shrine estates ( shinryō ) in Yamashiro Province ... |
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| 11 |
Mitoshiro tanemaki shinji |
"Scattering the offering rice rite." A rite held July 1 at Ikushima Tarushima Shrine in Ueda City, Nagano Prefecture. A temporary hall called the okatashiro is built on a footpath through the fields where the crop to be used for shrine offerings ( mitoshirota ) is grown; fo... |
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| 12 |
Mitoshiro-e shinji |
"The mitoshiro conclave rite." A rite held July 1 at Kamowakeikazuchi Shrine in Kita Ward, Kyoto City. The term mitoshiro refers to the rice fields attached to a shrine ( shinden ) used to grow the crops given as offerings to the kami . The festival is to have originated in 750 ... |
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| 13 |
Mohitori shinji |
"Taking the water offered to the kami rite." A rite held July 15 at the inner sanctuary ( okumiya ) of Ōkamiyama Shrine in Daisen Town, Saihaku District, Tottori Prefecture. A mohi is an earthenware container of ancient times that was used to serve water. The purpose of this ... |
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| 14 |
Momitawara tsuri |
"Hanging straw sacks of unhusked rice." A rite held on the eve of the Festival of Prayer for Agricultural Fertility ( kinensai ) in February at Kuroshima Shrine in Ikenojiri Town, Kan'onji City, Kagawa Prefecture. A scaffold is built on the shrine grounds ( keidai ) using u... |
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| 15 |
Momote shinji |
"The rite of the 100 hands." An archery rite held April 19 at Susa Shrine in Sada Town, Hikawa District, Shimane Prefecture. The word momote ("100 hands") means to shoot arrows one hundred times (shooting two arrows at a time). The day before, a procession symbo... |
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| 16 |
Morotabune shinji |
" Morotabune rite." A festival held on December 3 at Miho Shrine in Mihonoseki Town, Yatsuka District, Shimane Prefecture, whose origins lay in the myths regarding the transfer of the land ( kuniyuzuri ) to the descendents of the heavenly kami as recorded in Kojiki and Nih... |
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| 17 |
Munchū |
A type of patrilinear group found primarily on the main island of Okinawa, based on the recognition of a common ancestor. Munchū emerged out of the late 17th century drive by the Ryūkyū kingdom to strengthen the class system among the gentry, which led in 1689 to the creation of the stat... |
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| 18 |
Mushi-sagashi shinji |
"Insect searching rite." A rite held August 7 at Miho Shrine in Mihonoseki Town, Yatsuka District, Shimane Prefecture. Shrine maidens ( miko ) put on old masks, take up sprigs of willow in their right hands and bells in their left, and pay their respects to the four directio... |
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| 19 |
Myōga Matsuri |
"Myōga ginger rite." A rite for divining the fortune of the upcoming year ( toshi-ura ) held January 3 at Asusuki Shrine in Kanegochi Town, Ayabe City, Kyoto Prefecture. On this day, the prospects for the rice harvest of the upcoming year are divined based on the condition o... |
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| 20 |
Nabekamuri matsuri |
"Pot crown festival." A festival held May 3 at Tsukuma Shrine (also known as Miketsu Shrine) in Maihara Town, Sakata District, Shiga Prefecture. This traveling kami festival ( shinkōsai ) is unusual in that the procession is joined by eight girls dressed in Heian period c... |
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