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| 1 |
Agata matsuri |
The main annual festival ( reisai ) of Agata Shrine, in Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture held around June 5 (originally, the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar). The festival begins on the fifth with the offering of a sacred meal to the kami . At about 1 a.m. on the night of the sixt... |
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| 2 |
Ageuma shinji |
"Sacred horse rite". Performed at the Tado Shrine on May 4 and 5 at Tado Jinja in Tado-chō, Kuwana-gun, Mie prefecture, the rite takes its name from the tradition of having horses run up the steep slope along the stone stairway leading to the shrine. Six of the seven particip... |
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| 3 |
Akutai matsuri |
"Cursing festival". At the akutai matsuri held at the Atago Shrine in Iwama-chō, Nishi Ibaragi-gun, Ibaragi Prefecture on December 14 (formerly, the fourteenth day of the eleventh month of the lunar calendar), participants verbally abuse each other as they proceed to ... |
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| 4 |
Amasake matsuri |
Sweet sake festival. The festival held on February 10 and 11 at the Umemiya Shrine in Sayama City, Saitama Prefecture, centers on inviting locals to the shrine and treating them to sake. It is called the amasake matsuri and serves as a way of divining the abundance of the new year's harv... |
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| 5 |
Aofushigaki shinji |
A rite reenacting the kuniyuzuri myth from Kojiki and Nihonshoki . It is performed over a period of thirteen days around April 7 at the Miho Shrine in Mihoseki, Yatsuka-gun, Shimane Prefecture. The rite is based on the myth in which Kotoshironushi built an enclosure fenced with green ... |
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| 6 |
Bakemono matsuri |
A costume festival held on May 24 and 25 at the Dazaifu Shrine in Shinmei Town, Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture. Men and women in crossdress conceal their faces with cloth hoods ( zukin ) or woven hats ( amigasa ) and parade through town. The festival traces its origins to a precedent ... |
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| 7 |
Batō shin matsuri |
A long established major festival held around April 22 at the Taga Shrine ( Taga Taisha ) in Taga Town, Inukami District, Shiga Prefecture. Also called the Taga Festival. The observances comprising the festival are carried out under the leadership of the so-called batōnin , a select ... |
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| 8 |
Busha sai |
Sacred Archery Festival or Foot Archery Festival (depending on the Chinese characters used to write the name). An archery rite held on March 17 at the Hotaka Shrine ( Hotaka jinja ) in Hotaka Town, Azumi County, Nagano Prefecture. Ritual objects featured in the festival include thre... |
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| 9 |
Bō-chigiri |
Distributing stakes. A ta-asobi (rice-field pantomime) rite held on February 13, at the Ugan Shrine in Ikeda Town, Imadate County, Fukui Prefecture. Participants wearing masks representing old men and women, stick a tree into a round-shaped rice cake ( kagami mochi ) of about sixt... |
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| 10 |
Chan-chan matsuri |
Held on April 1, this is the annual festival ( reitaisai ) of the Ōyamato Shrine in Tenri City, Nara Prefecture. On the day before the festival, participants in the sacred procession ( togyo ) present offerings of taihei (large nusa , ritual purification wands) at the shrine. In a cerem... |
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| 11 |
Chichibu yomatsuri |
Chichibu yomatsuri is the popular name for the annual festival ( reitaisai ) of Chichibu Jinja (Chichibu City, Saitama Prefecture), celebrated on December 2 and 3. The festival is know for its parade of splendidly decorated floats ( yatai or dashi ), some with open stages on which Kab... |
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| 12 |
Chimaki matsuri |
A festival held on May 31 at Katatagae Shrine in Sakai City, Ōsaka Prefecture. Given the shrine's strong relationship with the belief in yin-yang directional taboos ( katatagae ), many people visit it when building or moving into a new house in order to receive katatagae talismans ( s... |
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| 13 |
Chimaki shinji |
A festival held at Hikawa Shrine in Ōmiya City, Saitama Prefecture, on June 5. The ritual consists of offering rice cakes ( chimaki ) during the Tango no sekku (Boys' Festival). Miscanthus ( kaya ) leaves collected from a nearby marsh are cut into pieces of equal length, then used to wra... |
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| 14 |
Chinka sai |
"Festival for the Pacification of Fire." A monoimi (purificatory abstinence) ritual held on the evening of July 19 at Mononobe Jinja Shrine in Ōda City, Shimane Prefecture. In the past, this ritual was observed in the evening of all the Days of the Horse in the sixth month o... |
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| 15 |
Chōnahajime shinji |
First Planing of the Year. Held on January 11 at Hinomisaki Shrine in the town of Taisha, Hikawa District, Shimane Prefecture. After the service, the miyashō performs a ceremony at the haiden . Offerings of kelp and dried squid are heaped in earthen vessels and presented before the de... |
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| 16 |
Daitōsai (Nagano) |
A festival in which offerings of freshly harvested grains are made by local community leaders ( tōnin ). Celebrated between December 10 and 14 at Takemizuwake Shrine in Kōshoku City, Nagano Prefecture. The name of the festival is derived from the term designating the position of the ... |
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| 17 |
Daitōsai (Saitama) |
A festival celebrated at Hikawa Jinja in Ōmiya City, Saitama Prefecture, on December 10. During the night, a bonfire is lit on the shrine precincts ( keidai ). It is believed that touching the flame has evil repelling efficacy, and therefore the festival was called Ohisai (the Fire Fe... |
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| 18 |
Fuigo matsuri |
Bellows Festival. Bonfire stakes dedicated by believers throughout the country are burnt as the central rite of a bonfire festival ( hotakematsuri ) celebrated on November 8 at Fushimi Inari Shrine ( Inari Taisha ) in Fushimi Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture. Called the "Be... |
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| 19 |
Funa-hiki matsuri |
Boat-Pulling Festival. A festival held on March 2 at Kanbe Shrine in Kushigata Town, Naka-Koma County, Yamanashi Prefecture. A rite commemorating the invocation ( kanjō ) and the journey of the shrine's kami Miwa-myōjin, from the Ōmiwa Great Shrine ( Ōmiwa Taisha ) in Yamato. A boat... |
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| 20 |
Gechinsai |
In the past it was believed that ekishin , the kami of pestilence, were particularly active during the third month of the lunar calendar, the time when cherry blossoms scatter. The gechinsai festival occurs on April 18 at Sai Shrine (Sai Jinja), the sessha (auxiliary shrine) of Ōmiwa ... |
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