Oyamato Shrine Festivals

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for koma inu　狛犬 guardian dogs see below


Ooyamato Shrine Festivals

***** Location: Nara, Tenri Village
***** Season: See below
***** Category: Observance

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Explanation

Ooyamato shinkoosai 大和神幸祭 (おおやまとしんこうさい)
Festival at shrine Oyamato Jinja
chanchan matsuri ちゃんちゃん祭 Chanchan festival

observance kigo for late spring



source :　iron.cocolog-nifty.com/matsuri
大和神社ちゃんちゃん祭り


April 1
at the shrine Ooyamato Jinja 大和神社 Oyamato Jinja
奈良県天理市新泉

The mikoshi is carried to the large stone otabisho 御旅所 resting place.

source and more photos :　tyantyan/index.html
中山町での「お旅所祭」
The tabisho is also called 岸田の市場.


Many prayer gongs (shooko) 鉦鼓　are rung when the mikoshi arrives, therefore the festival is also called "chanchan", like the sound of the gongs.


Chimaki mochi 粽餅 steamed rice dumplings are offered to the deities.

Various dances are performed.
ryuu no mai 龍の舞 "dragon dance"
.....「竜の口」舞い

ta no mi no mai 田の実の舞 "field fruit dance"
ogina mai 翁舞 a kind of sarugaku dance

Showing the sacred horse 神馬曳き and other rituals.



MORE
photos from this festival :
source : 09-6tyantyan



quote
Held on April 1, this is the annual high festival (reitaisai) of Ōyamato Jinja in Tenri City, Nara Prefecture.
On the day before the festival, those people who are to participate in the togyo (sacred procession) present offerings of taihei (large nusa, ritual purification wands) at the shrine. In an event called the yoimiya watashi, the shinshoku (priest) receives the taihei and makes a ceremonial offering (hōbei) with the performance of a norito.

The Chan-chan matsuri begins at ten o'clock the next morning, and with the transfer of the god (mitama utsushi) to the shin'yo (sacred palanquin) at approximately two o'clock, the procession sets forth. The syllables "chan-chan," representing the sound of the bells that accompany the procession to the otabisho (temporary destination or resting point), became the common name of the festival.

This is also the largest shinkō procession among festivals in the Yamato region. During the otabisho rites, there are offerings (kensen) of steamed rice cakes (chimaki mochi) and dedications (hōnō) of artistic performances.
source : Mori Sakae, Kokugakuin 2007


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Deities in residence are

Yamato no Ookuni Tama no Kami 倭大国魂神
（やまとのおおくにたまのかみ）
Okunitama no Kami
日本大国魂大神 in the central hall 中殿

Yachihoko no Kami 八千矛神（やちほこのかみ）to the left

Mi-Toshi no Kami 御年神（みとしのかみ） / 御年大神 to the right

. Toshigami 年神 God of the Year .
, Toshidon and other names


quote
Yamatonoōkunitama
[Yamato no ōkunitama] (Nihongi)
Other names: Yamato no ōkunitama no kami
The central deity (saijin) of the Ōyamato Shrine, but possessing ambiguous attributes. According to Nihongi's record of the sixth year of Emperor Sujin's reign, Yamato no Ōkunitama was originally enshrined together with Amaterasu ōmikami inside the palace, but the emperor feared the power of the two kami, and decided to no longer dwell under the same roof with them. Amaterasu possessed the maiden Toyosukiirihime no mikoto and led her to a new place of enshrinement at Kasanui no mura in Yamato, while
Yamato no Ōkunitama possessed Nunakiirihime no mikoto and was enshrined at the Ōyamato Shrine.

In his Kojikiden, Motoori Norinaga denied the theory that Yamato no Ōkunitama was the same as Ōkuninushi no kami, but the Ōyamato Jinja chūshinjō (1167) claims that Ōkunitama is the "rough spirit" (aramitama) of Ōnamuchi (another name for Ōkuninushi).
source : Matsunaga Naomichi, Kokugakuin 2005


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Other festivals


1月4日 -- January 4
O-yumi hajime 御弓始式 First Archery Offering
from the Ogasawara line of archery 小笠原流弓術

Sansan kudebasami shiki 三々九手挟式 shooting ritual

The arrows for this ritual are called
jintooya 神頭矢 and made from white shirano bamboo 白箆.
Feathers from an eagle or hawk.
source :　ogasawararyu kamakura


. WKD : Horses and Yabusame .

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6月30日 -- June 30
chinowa kuguri 茅の輪くぐり Summer purification

. Summer Purification Ceremony (nagoshi) .
chinowa 茅の輪 sacred ring
passing through the sacred ring, wagoshi matsuri　輪越祭


More festivals at the shrine:
source : ooyamato

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quote
Oyamato Shrine
is located in Tenri City, Nara Pref. It was called “Yamato no Miya” in ancient times. It is said that Emperor Sujin (B.C. 97-30), who was afraid of the sacred power of Okunitama no Okami, which was enshrined at the Imperial Place with Amaterasu Okami, ordered his daughter, Nunaki Iri Hime, to relocate it to this place. Later the emperor built the shrine here, assigning Ichishi no Nagaoichi as the head priest.


In the early Heian period, the shrine flourished and possessed the second largest shrine territory next to Ise shrine.
However with the capital relocation to Kyoto, the shrine fell into decline. From the nominal link, the deity of this shrine was imparted to Battle Ship Yamato, and the war memorial stone for the crew on Yamato is placed in the precinct.
Annual festival of “Chan Chan Festival,” in which a parade of people in ancient costumes walk through the town, carrying mikoshi and beating shoko (bronze gongs), is enjoyed by people as the charming sight of the spring.
source : nippon-kichi.jp




Homepage of the shrine: OOYAMATO SHIRINE 大和神社
source : ooyamato


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狛犬大神 Komainu Daijin
八幡大神 Hachiman Daijin
道祖大神 Dooso Daijin
The amulets come in a beautiful wooden box.


a shrine with the same kanji, but different reading

小諸市の大和神社（やまとじんじゃ)
Shrine Yamato Jinja, Komoro Town, Nagano
from 宗教法人「紀元会」Kigen Kai
source : cult.s295


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way


. Ookunitama 大国魂神社 Okunitama Jinja .
Miya-Machi,Fuchu-Shi,Tokyo


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quote
komainu, koma inu　狛犬
Lit. 'Korean dog'.
A pair of lion-like guardian figures placed at each side of a shrine or temple entrance; believed to ward off evil spirits. Thought to have been brought to Japan from China via Korea, their name is derived from Koma 高麗, the Japanese term for the Korean kingdom of Koguryo 高句麗.

In the early Heian period (9c) the two statues were clearly distinguished: the figure on the left, called shishi 獅子 (lion), resembled a lion with its mouth open agyou 阿形;
the figure on the right, called komainu 狛犬 (Korean dog), resembled a dog with its mouth closed ungyou 吽形, and sometimes had a horn on its head.
Gradually the term komainu came to be used for both statues, and their shapes became indistinguishable except for the open and closed mouths a-un 阿吽. In the Heian period (9-12c) komainu were used as weights or door-stops for curtains and screens in the Seiryouden 清涼殿, Kyoto Gosho 京都御所.

Other famous examples include a pair of painted wooden komainu (10-11c) at Yakushiji 薬師寺, Nara; 14 painted and lacquered wooden figures at Itsukushima Jinja 厳島神社,(12-14c) Hiroshima prefecture, and the stone figures inside the south gate of Toudaiji 東大寺, Nara, made by the 12c Chinese sculptor Chinnakei 陳和卿.
source : www.aisf.or.jp/~jaanus






. Shiisa シーサー Lion Dogs from Okinawa.



- quote -
The term A-un (阿吽) is the transliteration in Japanese of the two syllables "a" and "hūṃ". Written in Devanagari as अहूँ.
The original Sanskrit term
is composed of two letters, the first and the last of the Sanskrit alphabet. Together, they symbolically represent the beginning and the end of all things. In Japanese Mikkyō Buddhism, the letters represent the beginning and the end of the universe.
The term is also used
in Shinto and Buddhist architecture to describe the paired statues common in Japanese religious settings, most notably the Niō and the komainu. In most cases one of the two, the right one, has its mouth open to pronounce the sound "a", while the other has it closed to utter the sound "um". The symbolism is the same already seen. The generic name for statues with an open mouth is agyō (阿形 lit. "a" shape), that for those with a closed mouth ungyō (吽形 lit. "un" shape").
The term a-un
is used figuratively in some Japanese expressions as "a-un breathing" (阿吽の呼吸 a-un no kokyū) or "a-un relationship" (阿吽の仲 a-un no naka), indicating an inherently harmonious relationship or non-verbal communication.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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Komainu Daruma　だるま狛犬


source : facebook

市ヶ谷亀岡八幡宮 Kameoka Hachimangu

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. shishigashira 獅子頭 lion head mask .


. koma usagi 狛兎 rabbit statues as guardians at the gate .
Tsuki Jinja 調神社 , Saitama


. koma ...　 狛　 shrine guardian animals .

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in the limelight
for two seconds -
photographer's luck!


. Shrine Ichi no Miya, Wadakita, Ohaga .
和田北 一宮神社, my local shrine


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HAIKU



郷中の旗押し立てて春祭　　
gojuu no hata oshi-tatete haru matsuri

all over my home village
the flags are jostling -
spring festival

丘ひとつすっぽり包む桃の花

常朝
With more photos
source : teisyo.blogspot.com



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Related words

***** . NEW YEAR - the complete SAIJIKI

***** . Drums and Gongs .



source :　facebook
Tokyo Asakusa Sanja Jinja 浅草『三社神社』　
. Amulets and Talismans from Japan .　

BACK : Top of this Saijiki


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. Join the Komainu Gallery on facebook .
The latest updates are here !

. koma-inu 狛犬 / 高麗犬 / 胡麻犬 "Korean Dog" .
- Introduction -

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