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| 1 |
Hitoyo kanjo |
One-night Imperial Servant-girls. A rite held on February 20 at Sumiyoshi Shrine in Nishi-Yodogawa Ward, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture. Seven girls between the ages of ten and thirteen are selected from the families of the shrine's worshippers to become imperial servants. They re... |
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| 2 |
Hote matsuri |
Sail-cord Festival. A festival held on March 10 at Shiogama Shrine ( Shiogama jinja ) in Shiogama City, Miyazaki Prefecture. Beginning two days before the festival, sacred dance and music ( kagura ), a shrine priestess festival, Yamato dances are performed at the Ceremonial Hall ( h... |
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| 3 |
Hōnen matsuri |
Good Harvest Festival. A festival held at Ōagata Shrine ( Ōagata jinja ) in Inuyama City, Aichi Prefecture. The Sunday closest to March 15 is the festival day. Also called the Hime no Miya Hōnen Festival. The festival complements the Good Harvest Festival of Tagata Shrine and is famou... |
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| 4 |
Idori-matsuri |
A rite held on the evening of November seventh at Sugawara Jinja in Noto-chō, Fugeshi-gun, Ishikawa prefecture, in which a mochi (cake of pounded rice) is handed from one group to another in the worship hall. On November first is a kuchiake matsuri (mouth-opening festival). On the th... |
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| 5 |
Igomori matsuri |
Seclusion festival. A festival held from March eleventh to thirteenth at Tosa Jinja in Kōchi City, Kōchi prefecture. From the evening of March first the gūji (head priest) and shinshoku (shrine priests) enter into a period of monoimi (purificatory abstinence) On the afternoon of t... |
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| 6 |
Ikibina matsuri |
Living doll festival. On April third at Ichinomiyaminashi Jinja in Hida, Miya Village, Ōno-gun, Gifu prefecture, a rite is performed in which seven women are chosen to play the role of living dolls, and are lined up in front of the kami . Afterwards the living dolls throw mochi (pounde... |
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| 7 |
Inu matsuri |
Dog festival. A festival of Sugio Jinja in Umamachi, Tsuruoka City, Yamagata prefecture, believed to have once involved human sacrifice. This festival is a ritualization of an oral tradition about a dog that subdued a badger which had been living in the mountain behind the village. ... |
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| 8 |
Janome shinji |
The janome shinji (Snake Eye Ritual) takes place at the Keta Jinja in Hakui City, Ishikawa Prefecture on April 3. According to tradition, when the enshrined kami ( saijin ), Ōnamuchinomikoto, subjugated the region he dispatched a large snake that was living in the Ōchi Lagoon, and th... |
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| 9 |
Jochūsai |
This festival occurs in July, eleven days after the summer solstice, at the shrine Izanagi Jingū in Ichinomiya Town, Tsuna County, Hyōgo Prefecture. The ritual takes place before harvesting and consists of prayers asking for the protection of crops from insect damage. The partici... |
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| 10 |
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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| 11 |
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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| 12 |
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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| 13 |
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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| 14 |
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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| 15 |
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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| 16 |
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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| 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 |
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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| 19 |
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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| 20 |
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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