Butsumyo-E ceremony

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Buddha's Name Ceremony (butsumyoo-e)

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Late Winter
***** Category: Observance

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Explanation

butsumyooe 仏名会 (ぶつみょうえ)
Ceremony of chanting of the Buddhas' Names
"depictions of the Buddhas", Butsumyo-E, Butsumyo Ceremony
..... o butsumyoo 御仏名（おぶつみょう）

kazukewata, kazuke wata 被綿（かずけわた）"covering cotton"
Kaenashi no kenpai 栢梨の献盃（かえなしのけんぱい）
a ritual drink of sake brewed with the juice of Japanese pears (nashi) from the village of Kaenashi in Settsu province 摂津国栢梨.
Used for a toast to the New Year.

A special ceremony held at many Buddhist temples throughout Japan.

For three days from the 19th of the 12th lunar month a memorial service is held.
The 11.093 names of the Buddhas of past, present and future (butsumyoo) are read out.
While the priests read out the names, the visitors may sit in another room and drink riutal sake.

People pray for forgiveness of the sins of the passing year and hope to purify the heart for the coming year.

At the imperial court, this ceremony has been held since the year
775, Hooki 5 宝亀五年.


The priests clad themselves in white cotton robes to express a pure heart.

As with many ceremonies, the placing of the season is problematic.
This is a ceremony for the New Year, on the last lunar month of the year. But now it falls in January.
Some saijiki place it in "early spring".


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chanting the names of Buddha



names of the Buddha


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way


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HAIKU

板敷に光るつぶりや仏名会
itajiki ni hikaru tsuburi ya Butsumyoo e

all these shaven heads
shining on the floor panels -
Butsumyo Ceremony

. Miyake Shoozan 三宅嘯山 Shozan (1718 - 1801) .

(Priests with their shaven heads lean over to read the names from their scrolls. Their reflection can be seen in the polished panels.
Nowadays they sit on tatami mats and we can not see this any more.)


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仏名会腰のぬけたるおはしけり　
Butsumyooe koshi o nuketaru ohashikeri

Butsumyo Ceremony -
some honorable priests
unable to stand up　

Yukifusa 之房

(Maybe some of the participants had a bit too much
of the good ritual ricewine . . . )

ohashi keri, owashi keri . owasu 御座す . polite language
御座けり


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Related words

***** . Namu Amida Butsu　
南無阿弥陀仏 the Amida Prayer 　

***** . kiku no kisewata 菊の着綿 Chrysanthemum covers .


. Amulets and Talismans from Japan .　

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