Hōnen-Matsuri

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Hōnen-Matsuri ( Japanese 豊 年 祭 , Hōnen means "rich harvest year ", Matsuri is a festival or holiday) is a fertility festival that is celebrated every year on the Sunday before March 15 in some parts of Japan. One of the two most famous festivals takes place at the Tagata Shrine (Tagata-jinja) in the city of Komaki north of Nagoya .

The other Hōnen-matsuri, also called Hime-no-miya-matsuri ( 姫 の 宮 祭 り ) or Hime-no-miya-Hōnen-matsuri , is held on the Sunday before March 15 at the Ōagata Shrine in Inuyama , also in the Aichi Prefecture celebrated. The festival and associated ceremony celebrate the blessings of a rich harvest and prosperity and fertility in general.

Both festivals differ in that the former is characterized by a phallic symbolism, the latter by a vagina symbolism.

Hōnen-matsuri at Tagata Shrine

Hōnen Matsuri at Tagata Shrine
Hōnen Matsuri at Tagata Shrine

Shinto priests play traditional instruments at the festival . There is a procession of traditionally dressed participants. Sake as much as you can drink and a 280 kg heavy, 2.5 m long wooden phallus are also included. This is carried down from a shrine on a large hill called Shinmei-sha to another shrine, Tagata-jinja .

The festival begins at 10 a.m. on Tagata-jinja with festivities in preparation for the procession. All kinds of food and souvenirs (mostly phallus-shaped or related) are sold. Sake - a symbol of the harvest because of its origins from rice - is poured in large quantities from large wooden barrels. At around 2 p.m., people gather at Shinmei-sha to begin the procession. Shinto priests say prayers and bless the participants and the mikoshi who are carried along with the procession, as well as the large wooden phallus.

The following procession is led by priests, followed by the masked goblin Tengu , followed by musicians playing Gagaku music. This is followed by a number of 36 year old women wearing 60 cm long phalluses. Then follows a cart from which sake continues to be distributed to the crowd. Then finally follows the Mikoshi with the large phallus. This is only worn by 42 year old men in white clothing. Then comes a mikoshi with a doll of the god Takeinadane-no-mikoto .

While the procession is on its way down to Tagata-jinja , the phallus is waved back and forth in its mikoshi , then set down, and more prayers are said. People then gather in the square in front of the shrine and wait for the mochi nage, where the crowd of helpers is showered with small rice cakes ( mochi ) from elevated platforms . The festival ends at around 4:30 p.m.

See also

Web links

Hōnen-matsuri at Tagata Shrine

Commons : Hōnen Matsuri (Tagata Shrine)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Hōnen-matsuri at the Ōagata shrine

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Oagata Shrine Fertility Festival, Celebrating the Power of Femininity . In: Japan Info Swap . February 26, 2018 ( japaninfoswap.com [accessed October 13, 2018]).