Hari Kuyō
Hari Kuyō ( Japanese 針 供養 '(sewing) needle devotion') is a religious ceremony in Japan that is celebrated annually as a Buddhist devotion ( kuyō, from Sanskrit puja ) in a nearby temple or shrine for the sewing needles broken during the year . The ritual is performed on February 8th and December 8th as a tribute to the popular belief Awashima no kami ( 淡 島 神 ). In parts of the Kantō and Tōhoku regions, Hari Kuyō only takes place on one of the two days. While February 8th is common in the Kantō region, it is December 8th in Kansai and Kyūshū .
origin
The approximately 400-year-old practice of sewing night goes back to the period from February 8th to December 8th, formerly called Kotoyōka ( 事 八日 ), with the two days marking the beginning and the end of agricultural work. On these two days one kept moderation and spent the day without sewing with idleness. On these days, broken sewing needles were brought to a nearby temple, put in soft tofu or konnyaku , held a devotion and prayed for the progress and improvement of the tailoring trade or the art of sewing. The needled tofu and konnyaku pieces were then placed on a river or in the sea and given to the water. It was customary not to use sewing needles that day. In the prefectures of Toyama and Ishikawa , this day is also called Hari seibō ( 針 歳 暮 ). After visiting the temple, people eat manju and mochi and go to friends and acquaintances to give them presents.
With less and less sewing work being done at home, the ceremony has gone out of fashion in private circles. In the tailoring trade, on the other hand, as well as at fashion schools, one still carries out a needle night in the present.
Web links
- David Boyd: Hari-kuyo. The Japan Foundation, Sydney, accessed July 23, 2012 .
- Sophie Hardach: Japanese tailors' needles find soft grave in tofu. Reuters UK, February 8, 2007, accessed July 23, 2012 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ 事 八日 . In: デ ジ タ ル 版 日本人 名 大 辞典 + Plus at kotobank.jp. Retrieved July 23, 2012 (Japanese).
- ↑ Hari-kuyo - The Festival of Broken Needles, 2012. eDreams, 2012, accessed on July 23, 2012 (English).
- ^ Debbie Bates: Hari-kuyo: Festival of Broken Needles (Needle Mass Day, Feb. 8). (No longer available online.) February 8, 2012, archived from the original on February 25, 2014 ; accessed on July 23, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Needle mass: Hari-kuyo. The beauty of Kimono, February 8, 2009, accessed July 23, 2012 .
