Aso Shrine Festivals Kumamoto

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Fire-swinging festival (hiburi matsuri)

***** Location: Kumamoto, Japan
***** Season: Mid-spring
***** Category: Observance

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Explanation


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hiburi matsuri 火振り祭 (ひぶりまつり)
"fire-swinging festival"

March 16

This festival revolves around the Shinto shrine dedicated to Mount Aso in Kumamoto, where festivals with prayers for a good harvest are held every season.

Aso jinja 阿蘇神社 Aso Shrine
Ichinomiya village
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quote
Aso-no-Ōkami 阿蘇大神, the kami or spirit who dwells at Aso Shrine has been worshipped from early times as the guardian deity of safety in navigation, and today, Aso-no-Ōkami is popular as a god protecting worshippers from traffic accidents and other untoward events.

Yabusame is an annual festival which brings together horse-mounted archers, special arrows and targets, and Shinto ritual at Aso Shrine.

The Aso no Himatsuri festival has its origin in the month of March festivals such as
Aso no Noyaki (the first burning in Aso) and
Aso jinja no Hifuri shinji (the fire ritual of Aso Shrine).

Although rarely performed today, ceremonies which honor ancestors who settled near the Aso caldera do continue to be associated with the Aso jinja.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


阿蘇神社の火振り神事

hiburi shinji 火ぶりしんじ Shinto torch ritual
hifuri shinji. Aso Fire Festival

Large ropes of about one meter length are made from kaya reedgrass, which are then bound to hemp ropes of two meters lenght. The reed grass is then set on fire and the rope wrung in a large circle around its holder, forming a circle of fire. With so many people participating in this ritual, the shrine looks like on fire itself or like a huge fireworks celebration.




The origin of this ritual goes back to welcoming the god of the fields back in spring, to greet his wife (goze mukae 御前迎え(ごぜむかえ) .


. Ta no Kami 田の神さま God of the Rice Fields 　




source : www.asoict.jp/bokin/


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. WKD : Mount Aso in Kyushu 阿蘇山 　
Read this entry for more information about this huge volcano mountain.

including

Aso matsuri 阿蘇祭 (あそまつり) Aso festival
gotaue matsuri, go taue matsuri ごたうえまつり . 田植え祭り
rice-planting festival
Aso no Onda Matsuri 阿蘇の御田祭

observance kigo for late summer
July 28 and 29



quote
The onda matsuri for Aso Jinja in Ichinomiya Town, Aso County, Kumamoto Prefecture, occurs on July 28 and 29. As the otaue matsuri and the shinkō have been merged, the correct name for this festival is otaue shinkō shiki.

On the day of the festival, a procession of nearly one hundred attendants, beginning with a person wearing a mask of the kami, Sarutahiko, followed by saotome, fourteen unari (young women) carrying rice chests, lion dancers (shishi), dengaku, field laborers, oxen, and four sacred palanquins (shin'yo), proceeds to the first temporary shrine (ichi no angū ) and ceremonially present offerings of food (kensen) and norito.

Then a ritual rice planting occurs and the procession moves to the second temporary shrine (ni no angū). In the evening, the procession returns to the main shrine (kangyo) where all of the shrines are ceremonially visited (miya mawari shiki), and another ritualized rice-planting is held in the shrine grounds (keidai).
source : Kokugakuin University.


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at Shimo Jinja 　霜神社　 "Frost Shrine" :

. 霜宮火焚（ひたき）神事 Shimomiya hitaki gyooji 　
making fire to keep the deities warm
from August 13 till October 29



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Aso Shrine, Fukuoka
Haki Hosaka, Asakura-shi, Fukuoka
泥打祭り（福岡県・杷木町）


Doro-uchi matsuri 泥打祭 どろうちまつり mud-throwing festival

observance kigo for mid-spring

March 28



quote
The Mud Throwing Festival is a unique festival held at Aso Shrine on March 28 of every year. People throw mud at a priest who acts as the god of rice fields in an attempt to foretell whether they will have a bountiful or lean harvest.

On the day of the festival, the priest (who is selected annually by lottery) changes into pure white shrine ritual robes and sits in a sacred area of the shrine grounds. After that, 12 children (parishioners) accompanying him simultaneously douse the priest in mud, and as he makes his way towards the traveler’s deity statue about 500 meters (1,640 feet) away, people grab mud that is prepared along the route and throw it at him.
It is said that the more mud sticks to his body, the more bountiful the year’s harvest will be!
source : www.crossroadfukuoka.jp


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Things found on the way

April 15, 2016 - Kumamoto Earthquake　熊本大地震



Asojinja shrine: 2 billion yen needed to repair quake damage
Kumamoto Prefecture--Asojinja shrine here said it will need 10 years and 2 billion yen ($18.65 million) to restore buildings and facilities, including culturally important properties, that were damaged or destroyed in the recent earthquakes.

The shrine will set up a support group and collect donations for the reconstruction project.
According to shrine officials, the “romon” two-storied gate, a government-designated important cultural property, was destroyed in the magnitude-7.3 earthquake on April 16.

The shrine’s three main halls, as well as the Miyukimon and Kangyomon gates, all of which are also listed as important cultural properties, were severely damaged.

“The romon, the symbol of the shrine, collapsed, and other facilities in the precincts were also damaged, but we will work hard to prevent the traditional Shinto ceremonies that we have preserved from being terminated,” said Harutaka Aso, 63, chief priest of Asojinja. ...
- source : Asahi Shinbun May 15 2016 -


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HAIKU


swinging fire -
grandmother holds hands
with the new bride

Nakayama Ishino 中山石野, 2005


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Related words

***** . Fire Festivals of Japan 　


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