LIST - Hiroshima Prefecture Festivals

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Festivals in Hiroshima Prefecture


External LINK
source : www.hiroshima-bunka.jp



Gionsan Festival in Hichi 忠海の祇園祭みこし行事
Susa Shrine, Hichi, Konu-cho, Miyoshi City. Gion San
three days from the third Sunday of July

Annual summer festival of Susa Shrine, which originated 1,200 years ago and is dedicated to Susano no Mikoto (a deity in Japanese mythology).

The festival starts when 170 members of the Yano Shingi Group (important intangible folk-cultural asset of the prefecture) from the sacred ceremony in Joge-cho (Fuchu City) put on blue happi coats and visit the shrine playing gongs, Japanese drums, and Japanese flutes. When Susano no Mikoto toured the district, he is said to have entered Hichi in Konu-cho(Miyoshi City) by crossing a ridge from Yano in Joge-cho (Fuchu City). The procession of Yano Shingi
symbolizes the entrance of the deity to the mansion and is carried out by imitating
the wedding ceremony between him and the deity Kushiinadahime.

After the Yano Shingi Group performs the soul-stirring beating of drums in front of the shrine, the group, along with a children's mikoshi (portable shrine) and large mikoshi symbolizing Kushiinadahime, an important cultural property of the prefecture, proceed to Otabisyo Muto Shrine, which is about 100 meters from Susa Shrine.


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Hanadaue Event of Mibu (rice planting event)
Mibu, Kitahiroshima-cho, Yamagata-gun. Taue

It is a rice planting event complete with beautifully harnessed bulls, saotome (rice planting maidens) in splashed-pattern kimono and sugegasa hats, and master drummers. Performed in a paddy field, the Hanadaue portrays an image right out of an old Japanese picture scroll.

The Hanadaue is also called dengaku or hayashida, which both roughly mean "paddy field music event". It is believed that Hanadaue originated either as a religious performance asking for a rich harvest or as entertainment to ease the pains of hardworking farmers.

On the day of the event, "Arita Kagura", a designated important intangible folk-cultural asset, and "Hanagasa Hat Dance" are also performed. "Arita Kagura" (sacred dance of Arita) features Yamata no Orochi (the eight headed monster python), Ama no Iwato (the rock door to heaven), and Kamioroshi (the welcoming ceremony for the god).


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Hayashida Event of Shinjo (rice planting event)
Kitahiroshina-cho, Yamagata-gun

Originally a local rice planting event in the
Chugoku district, the event became widely known through its appearance at the All Japan Folk Dance and Music Festival representing the Chugoku district in 1928.

Soon after the appearance at the event, the Shinjo Provincial Art Preservation Committee was founded to preserve traditional entertainment. The committee was forced to cease activities during World War II, but after the war it was started again.

Hayashida is basically a traditional folk event worshipping "Sanbai", the god of rice fields, rather than an exhibition. Notably it has inherited the function of kamioroshi, in which the god of rice fields is welcomed to the ground. At the event, saotome, or rice planting maidens, and the music players are dressed in a rather subdued fashion.


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Hiroshima Flower Festival
Peace Memorial Park. August 6

During the festival, a variety of groups stage a parade using the tune "Hana Guruma" (flower floats) as its theme. Starting from a colorful flower gate, the parade is led by beauty queens on flower floats including Miss Flower. They are followed by the Peace Drummers, The Flower Ondo (dance song) dancers wearing fashionable hanagasa hats, jazz dancers and baton twirlers. The local omikoshi, or portable shrines, are also featured in the parade.

A festival of "Flowers, Music and Dancing" is held on Heiwa Odori (Peace Boulevard) and at Peace Memorial Park during May 3-5, or Golden Week.


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Kaidenma Race 櫂伝馬（かいでんま）
Osaki Kamijima-cho, Toyota-gun

Former Higashino-cho (present Osakikamijima-cho) is located in the northern area of Osakikamijima Island.

Sumiyoshi Shrine is located in Furue, a little north of Shiramizu. The summer festival of the shrine is held on June 29 of the lunar calendar, featuring the Kaidenma barge with oars
race.

The barge race has been held since the completion of Sumiyoshi Shrine in 1827. The shrine, which branched out from Sumiyoshi Shrine in Osaka late in the Edo period, is dedicated to prayer for prosperity of the marine transportation business.

The barge race has been held since the completion of Sumiyoshi Shrine in 1827. The shrine, which branched out from Sumiyoshi Shrine in Osaka late in the Edo period, is dedicated to prayer for prosperity of the marine transportation business.

The race is completed with the first barge rowed up on shore winning. Toward the night, the five barges are decorated with lights and then are towed back home, accompanied by court music. It is a graciously beautiful sight reminding us of the triumphant return of suigun (naval forces).

The size of a barge must be 12 meters long and 1.8 meters wide. Seven oars are fixed on each side. A barge accommodates 18 members, including 14 rowers, a chief bargeman, a drummer, and cheering children (their gestures are called Daifuri and Kengaifuri). Each barge has a rectangular flag flying at its middle to show which area it comes from.


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Kojin Kagura Performance
Tojo-cho and Saijo-cho, Shobara City

The Hiba district becomes a village of kagura in late autumn. A small scale kagura is called "Kojinsan". People put great efforts into a large scale kagura in special ceremonial years, such as the seventh, thirteenth, and thirty-third, as the greatest events in the district.

For large scale kagura, first a giant pan with boiling water is prepared in the garden of a farmer's house where the first kagura is to be prepared. Next, a Shinto priest dips bamboo branches in the hot water; he then proceeds to purify the site by waving the branches in the air. Then the people greet the shintai (an object of worship) from Kojin Shrine and place it on an altar.

To begin with, the music, played on Japanese drums, flutes, and gongs, is harmonized in "Uchitate". In seven dances, including Kyokumai, Sakakimai, and Kamimukae, several Shinto priests, wearing silk garments called "Kariginu", dance with fans, pendant paper strips and bells.

At dusk, the celebration moves to a shrine. After the seven ritual dances are performed again, Noh dancing begins. Based on ancient mythologies, such as "Opening the Gate of the Celestial Rock Cave" and "Handing Over the Country", dances appearing like stories seem to last without end.

When the sky begins to grow light, Takusen (divine revelation) starts, in which one of the Shinto priests works himself into a trancelike state, the climax of the ritual. People finally return the shintai to the shrine.


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Tokasan Festival とうかさん
Temple Enryu-Ji and Chuo Dori Avenue

Tokasan is the summer festival for the god of Toka Daimyojin at Enryuji Temple, Mikawa-cho, Hiroshima City.

Since the name Tokasan can be a pun on the "10th day" (toka　十日 tooka) in Japanese, it is held annually June 8-10. The festival is also known as the Yukata Festival ゆかたできん祭. Yukata is a kimono of lightweight cotton, like a summer robe. People in Hiroshima are supposed to begin wearing their yukata from this day on.

During the three days of the festival, hundreds of street stalls with games and snack foods appear along Chuo Dori Avenue, including popular goldfish scooping, balloon fishing, grilled cuttlefish and more. The festival site is jammed with children in yukata and young couples indulging in kakigori, or flavored shaved ice. Yakuyoke uchiwa,or fan to ward off evil, is sold as a Tokasan specialty at the festival. Participants may be reminded of bygone days by the sight of little girls with these fans.

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. Mihara Daruma 三原だるま .


Yassa Matsuri Festival 三原やっさ祭り
Mihara Yassa Daruman やっさだるマン　- Second Sunday in august.

Along with shamisen (a three-stringed musical instrument), taiko (a drum) and cheerful accompanying music, dancers clad in yukata, simple summer kimono made of cotton, continue dancing wildly. Shouting, "Hah yassa, yassa", groups of dancers move by, one after another: dancing legs and hands that weave their way through the crowd; sweating youths, intoxicated with dancing; maiden groups with exuberant gestures responding to the sound of the powerful beating drums. Highlighted dancing on summer nights lasts, knowing no end. Shouts of "Yassa, yassa" surround the castle town until midnight.

Yassa Odori dancing, one of the prominent forms of traditional summer entertainment in Hiroshima Prefecture, is held as a three-day pageant in August every year, the last day being the second Sunday. The origin is not clear, but it is said that the songs belong to Haiya-bushi folk songs. It is possible that Haiya-bushi, sung at port towns, spread and became Yassa Odori. The dance has been influenced by characteristics of Nenbutsu Odori, sutra chant dancing, too. When Takakage Kobayakawa built Mihara Castle in 1567, the town people are said to have danced, celebrating its completion.

Although gestures of Yassa Odori were arranged and established after World War II, people danced freely and wildly as they liked before the war. Yassa Odori was presented in Mihara-shiko, a local history written in 1819.


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Chinkasai chinka sai 鎮火祭（ちんかさい）
Fire extinguishing festival
廿日市市宮島


Doounji no hana matsuri / Flower Festival at temple Doun-Ji
洞雲寺の花祭り（とううんじのはなまつり）



. Fude matsuri 筆まつり（ふでまつり）
brush festival 　
Kumano town, day of spring equinox (fude no hi 春の筆の日)



Fukuyama bara matsuri / Fukuyama rose festival
福山ばら祭（ふくやまばらまつり）


Hane odori / jumping and dancing
はねおどり（はねおどり）


Higashimura no kakashi matsuri 東村町のかかし祭り
scarecrow festival


Hitomoshi matsuri 火ともしまつり（ひともしまつり）
"fire making" festival


. Itsukushima Shrine (Itsukushima Jinja)
Miyajima 宮島
Kashiwajima no Kangensai
柏島の管絃祭（かしわじまのかんげんさい）



Kaida shin machi choosai
海田新町頂載（かいたしんまちちょうさい）


Kameyama Hachiman san
亀山八幡さん（かめやまはちまんさん）



Kure minato matsuri / Kure harbour festival
呉みなと祭（くれみなとまつり）


Mitsu Gion matsuri / Gion festival at Mitsu
三津祇園祭り（みつぎおんまつり）


Nigata no kai odori
仁方の櫂踊り（にがたのかいおどり）


Ondo Kiyomori matsuri
音戸清盛祭（おんどきよもりまつり）


Ono matsuri 大野祭り（おおのまつり）


Onomichi Minato Matsuri / Onomichi Harbour Festival
尾道みなと祭（おのみちみなとまつり）


Otebi shinji / "handheld fire ritual"
お手火神事（おてびしんじ）


Sannose no boo no mai matsuri / Stick festival at Sannose
三之瀬の棒の舞祭り



Tamatori sai 玉取祭（たまとりさい）


Yagura matsuri 櫓祭り（やぐらまつり）


Yoshiwara jingi 吉原神儀（よしわらじんぎ）


Yumi matsuri / Bow Festival, archery
弓祭り（ゆみまつり）


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Mitarai Port
呉市豊町御手洗（港町 広島）

Facing the Inland Sea, the port town is given a sedate air by the narrow streets lined with black tiled eaves. Reminders of the port's past prosperity include the port inns, Manshuji Temple, Daitoji Temple, the shrines of Ebisu and Sumiyoshi, and the remains of the House of Wakaebisuya and Shichikyoochi (an old house where seven court nobles stayed on their return to their homeland after being defeated by the Shogunate government).

The liners of the Seto Inland Sea were originally jinori, coastal liners. Later they changed into okinori, offshore liners. In the Kanei era (1624-1644), Mitarai, located in Ocho Village, became a shipping center and many ships came to call there partly because of the land formation which protects it from the wind.

At first, people of Ocho Village would only sell vegetables, logs, or water in Mitarai. But in 1666, houses were allowed to be built in Mitarai by the feudal clan, and Mitarai has followed the path to a major port town since then.

Machi toshiyori, a senior statesman, was dispatched there in 1713.
The port was very busy with foreign ships from the Netherlands and China, diplomatic ships dispatched by the Ryukyuan king, ships of Shogunate government officials, ships of feudal lords who were required to go up to Edo (now Tokyo) for alternate-year attendance, and westbound liners. The port was also an important point for trade. With its inner and outer harbors, the port was capable of taking in several hundred ships, and was the leading port of the Chugoku district.

Mitarai matsuri 御手洗祭り Mitarai Festival

source : www.hiroshima-bunka.jp


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Related words

. Folk Toys from Hiroshima Prefecture .


. WASHOKU
Food from Hiroshima Prefecture 　　


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