Wakayama prefecture

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. Regional Festivals - From Hokkaido to Okinawa .

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Wakayama Prefecture - 和歌山県

located on the Kii Peninsula in the Kansai region on Honshū island.
The capital is the city of Wakayama.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


. Wakayama - Entries of this BLOG .

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. Koya San 高野山 and Kukai Kobo Daishi 空海弘法大師　.
Okunoin Mandokuyo-e Ritual (Candle Festival)


Maguro Tuna Festival
with “kabuto-yaki”
last Saturday in January, Katsuura　勝浦


Mifune Festival
Kumano Hayatama Taisha Shrine


Nachi Fire Festival- Oto Festival
Kamikura Shrine


Shirahama Fireworks Display

Yata Fire Festival


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External LINKS :

- Reference -

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Related words





. Regional Folk Toys from Japan - GANGU .　

. Regional Dishes from Japan - WASHOKU .


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Wakanoura Festival

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Waka Festival (Waka matsuri)

***** Location: Wakanoura
***** Season: Early Summer
***** Category: Observance

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Explanation

Waka matsuri 和歌祭 (わかまつり) Waka festival
Wakanoura matsuri 和歌浦祭（わかのうらまつり）
. Wakanoura festival

saiga matsuri 雑賀祭（さいがまつり） Saiga festival
saiga odori 雑賀踊（さいがおどり） Saiga dance


(Wakanoura is spelled in various ways,
in Japanese and in English.)

The samurai from Saiga / Saika (Saiga shuu, Saika shuu 雑賀衆, 雑賀惣国) where a group which had introduced the use of guns very early. Their fighting groups, often not more than 50 gunmen divided in two groups of 25, shooting one after another, while the other group loaded the guns again, they were able to withstand the onslaught of larger armies of Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, who finally pardoned them because he could not win against them.
They lead a rather free group life and decided everything after a democratic discussion..


source :　wikipedia


The most famous of their armsmen was Saiga Magoichi - Saika Magoichi 　雑賀孫市 / 孫一
the leader of the Saika Renegades, rebels who opposed Nobunaga's rise to power with Kennyo Honganji. After Kennyo's surrender, Magoichi allegedly fought at Sekigahara, and even managed to shoot Hideyoshi in the leg. Later became a mendicant monk, and obtained a government post in the Mito Domain.
The real Magoichi's name and his history are unclear, but there are some regions to claim his grave and his descendants are alive to this day.

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The main festival at the shrine Toshogu in Wakanoura.
Middle of May on a saturday or sunday.

紀州東照宮 Kishu Toshogu Shrine
. . . CLICK here for Photos !

The main deity of this shrine is Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa Bakufu, Edo government.

The founder of the Tokugawa clan in Kishu, Wakayama, Tokugawa Yorinobu, built this shrine to honor his father Ieyasu.

Early in the morning prayers and ritual dances (bugaku, dengaku) were performed in the shrine. In the after noon, the mikoshi palanquin was carried to Suzaki beach 須崎.
Everyone could be at the beach, watch the procession and celebrate. Ritual sumo wrestling was also performed. Other dances, like Mochibana dance, are performed.



source : Wakayama screens Museum

The Saiga dance is especially famous.
Men dressed in samurai attire, rattling bamboo sasara rattles and lift one leg high in the air. It is said to represent the gunmen when walking in the woods and preparing for battle.
sasara dance　ささら踊り/ 笹羅踊


source : 雑賀踊の成立


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Wakayama Prefecture is located in the Kinki Region of the island of Honshu, Japan.
The capital is at Wakayama City.

Located in the southwestern part of Wakayama City,
Wakanoura has been considered a scenic area since the old days. It is well-known as a place visited by many members of the Imperial family and poets who wrote poems of this beautiful land.

It was even featured in Manyoshu, the country's oldest anthology of poems written between late 7th and late 8th centuries. In the area, you will find many historic buildings and structures such as the shrine called Tamatsushima Jinja that symbolizes Wakanoura, the monument at Wakanoura Tenmangu where the god of learning Sugawara-no-Michizane is enshrined,
and Kishu Toshogu designated as an important cultural asset.

On the grounds of the Tamatsushima Jinja are monuments of Akanohito Yamabe and Basho Matsuo who both are famous poets. Yosuien, a Daimyo garden that took eight years to build from 1818, is also one of the places of interest. Wakanoura is indeed an area you would want to slowly look around while thinking of the times of Manyoshu.
source : www.japan-i.jp


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Things found on the way


. Tosho-Gu Shrine in Nikko　日光の東照宮　.
and Tokugawa Ieyasu 徳川家康



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HAIKU


at Wakanoura, in front of shrine Tamatsushima Jinja
和歌山市和歌浦・玉津島神社前


行く春に和歌の浦にて追ひ付きたり
yuku haru ni Wakanoura nite oitsukitari

departing spring:
I've finally caught up with it
here at Wakanoura
Tr. Barnhill


at the end of spring
here at Wakanoura
I have finally caught up (with spring)
quote


(There is no cut marker at the end of line 1 in Japanese.)
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉　 Archives of the WKD .


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sasara instrument ささら / 簓


初蝉は雑賀踊りのささらかな
hatsu semi wa saiga odori no sasara kana

this first cicada
sounds like the rattle
at the Saiga dance

Shun Koo 春耕


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Haiku about Wakanoura


行春にわかの浦にて追付たり
yuku haru ni Waka no Ura nite oitsuketari

The passage of spring
at Waka Bay
have I found, indeed.
Tr. Thomas McAuley

source : dmitrismirnov


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掃溜に鶴の下りけり和歌の浦
hakidame ni tsuru no ori keri waka no ura

cranes land
on the rubbish heap...
Waka-no-Ura

Kobayashi Issa
Tr. David Lanoue


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涼しさや蚊帳の中より和歌の浦
suzushiza ya kaya no naka yori Wakanoura

this coolness -
from inside the mosquito net
(I look at) Wakanoura

Natsume Soseki 夏目漱石
1911, August 14th, Soseki 45


source :　agara no wakayama

Stone memorial at Wakaura Park わかうら園


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Related words

***** . Placenames used in Haiku - LIST . 　


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Awashima Festival

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Awashima Festival

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Mid-Spring
***** Category: Observance

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Explanation

Awashima Matsuri
淡島祭（あわしままつり）Awashima festival
..... Awashima matsuri 粟島祭 (あわしままつり)

March 3 . Awashima Jinja Shrine, Wakayama
. Hina Doll Festival (hina matsuri 雛祭り) 　


The shrine Awashima jinja is well visited by women praying for childbirth, and is most famous for its large collection of hina dolls.
Nagashibina, dolls put on boats and floated in the sea are most popular.




quote
The Shrine Awashima in Wakayama is said to date back to the 3rd century and the legendary empress Jinmu. On the way home from a military expedition to Korea, her ship encountered a storm and was nearly sunk. During the storm, she had prayed to the gods to save her ship, and threw a rush mat called a toma into the sea. She followed the current that the mat was floating down, and arrived safely to an island called Tomogashima (then known as Awashima), where she found a small shrine dedicated to the god Sukunahikona-no-mikoto.

She was so thankful for being saved that she donated the treasures she was carrying on board her ship to the shrine. The Shrine's deity was a medicine god, who had the power to cure female diseases, and to help women become pregnant. Because of the empress's association with the shrine, it became associated with feminine things like dolls, sewing needles, fertility, and gynecological illnesses.

During the Edo period (1603 - 1867), women began to make offerings of their underwear to Sukunahikona-no-mikoto, hoping that he would cure them of karyoubyou (literally 'flower and willow diseases', a euphemism for STDs) and various other women's complaints.
source : www.quirkyjapan.or.tv





There are many Awashima Halls 淡島堂 Awashima Do, in Japan, dating back to Awashima Gannin 淡島願人 and his followers, who walked all along Japan and dispersed the belief in this healing shrine.


. Jingu Kogo 神功皇后 and Japanese Dolls .


. Sukunahikona no mikoto 少彦名命 Sukuna Hikona, Sukuna-Hikona .
deity of medicine


. Boshijin, Hahakogami 母子神　"Mother-Child Deity" .
at Awashima Jinja 淡島神社 .

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Awashima Jinja 淡島神社
Kada Jinja　加太神社　
118 Kada, Wakayama, Wakayama



With more omamori
source : awashima/omamori

Homepage of the Shrine
source : www.kada.jp/awashima


- quote -
Awashima Shinkō
Devotion to the Awashima kami based on beliefs about the kami's efficacy in curing female ailments, helping to conceive children, and ensuring safe childbirth.
Kada Jinja, the head shrine among the Awashima shrines throughout the country, is in Wakayama Prefecture's Kaisōgun county, and is a one of the shikinaisha, or shrines recorded in the classic Shinto text Engishiki.
Kada Shrine is also called Awashima Myōjin, and popularly referred to as the Ebisu kami.
According to legend, the kami of Awashima, who was the divine consort of Sumiyoshi Myōjin, became afflicted with a female ailment (fujinbyō) and exiled to Awashima. Because of her own suffering, she vowed to heal the illnesses of women.
Today, this legend connecting the two kami of Sumiyoshi and Awashima is attributed to the fact that Awashima was a "shrine land" (shinryō) of Sumiyoshi Shrine.
During the Edo Period, devotees of Awashima, known as "Awashima ganjin," traveled the country carrying small portable shrines (zushi) containing anthropomorphized dolls of Awashima Myōjin bound in pieces of cloth. These devotees performed in front of people's homes in exchange for alms or offered their services as "representative pilgrims" (daisan), leading to the country-wide propagation of this devotion to Awashima.
There is a custom at the shrine whereby people make offerings of hina ningyō (dolls used in the annual Hina Matsuri or Doll Festival), combs, or hair ornaments (kanzashi), and the shrine provides paper Awashima bina dolls to visitors.
- source : Satō Masato - kokugakuin


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Awashima sama　粟島さま
The ladies of Edo who could not make it themselves would give a strip of their robe to a special "substitute pilgrim", who was walking around in Edo with a little Awashima Shrine on his back.
When his collection of tokens was big enough, he started his trip to the real shrine, making the offerings and bringing back amulets for the ladies.
(or so they say . . .)


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nagashibina 流し雛 "floating old hina dolls"
Kitagishima 北木島, Kasaoka



The dolls are placed on a simple boat made from wheat straw. The boats are hand-made by each family and not for sale. Some other islands of the Kasaoka island chain also have this custom. The dolls are floated in the ocean one day after the festival on March 3.
The boats are about 80 cm long. Inside are 12 paper dolls, also made by each family. (One imperial pair, one boatman, 9 palace maiden). On leap years there is one more doll of a palace maiden.

On the sail of the boat, the letters Awashima maru あわしま丸 (boat bound for Awashima) are written.
People hope they will float all the way to Wakayama, to the shrine Awashima Jinja 淡嶋神社 at Kada no Ura 加太の浦.

. Folk Toys of Okayama .


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Not to mix this with the island


Awaji Island (淡路島, Awaji-shima, #Awajima, #Awajijima)
is an island in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, in the eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea between the islands of Honshū and Shikoku. The island has an area of 592.17 km². As a transit between those two islands Awaji originally means "the road to Awa", the historic province bordering the Shikoku side of the Naruto Strait, now part of Tokushima Prefecture.

The island is separated from Honshū by the Akashi Strait and from Shikoku by the Naruto Strait. Since April 5, 1998 it is connected to Kobe on Honshū by the Akashi-Kaikyō Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world.

According to the creation myth in Shinto Awaji was the first of the ōyashima islands born from the two kami Izanagi and Izanami.
Awaji constituted a province between the 7th and the 19th century, Awaji Province, and was a part of Nankaido 南海道 Southern Sea Road.
Today the island consists of three municipalities, Awaji, Sumoto and Minamiawaji.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


. The Five-colored Beach Goshiki Hama in Awaji Island 淡路島の五色浜 　


. Takadaya Kahei 高田屋嘉兵衛 　
including my pilgrimage to Shikoku and Awaji, Summer 2005



. だんじり祭り Danjiri Festival at Awajishima 　
賀集八幡神社春祭りだんじり



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HAIKU



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***** . Awa mikan 阿波蜜柑（あわみかん） mikan from Awa
plant kigo for early summer


***** . Folk Toys from Wakayama .
Awashima jinja no omamori bina 淡嶋神社の守雛
hina dolls from Awashima Shrine
. . . CLICK here for Photos !



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Benkei Festival Tanabe

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Benkei Festival (Benkei matsuri )

***** Location: Tanabe, Japan
***** Season: Late Autumn
***** Category: Observance

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Explanation

Benkei Matsuri 弁慶まつり Benkei Festival
first sunday in october



A parade through the town of Tanabe, with his love Tamamushi Gozen 玉虫御前 following him, and later the dynamic dance of Benkei is one of the highlights of the festival.
Every year another young man from the village is choosen to perform the dance, now in the 24th generation.




at shrine Tokei Jinja
闘けい神社 / 闘鶏神社 (とうけいじんじゃ）
Cockfight Shrine

It used to be called 新熊野鶏合大権現.

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quote
Tokei Jinja History

Tokei-jinja Shrine was established in 419 A.D and derives from Kumano Hongu Taisha.
In the times of abdicated Emperor Shirakawa (1053-1129), the Kumano deities were enshrined in Tokei-jinja Shrine. Many imperial and aristocratic pilgrims paid homage here praying for safe passage into the realm of Kumano. Because the Kumano deities were manifested in Tokei-jinja Shrine, some pilgrims didn’t make the voyage into the heart of Kumano, but prayed here, subsequently worshipping the three shrines of Kumano Sanzan from afar.



In the “Tales of Heike”the Kumano Betto Tanzo 熊野別当湛増 (or steward of the Kumano shrines,
who is said to be the father of Benkei)
turned to the gods to decide which side to join forces with during the historic sea battle of “Dan-no-ura” (1185) between the Heike and Genji clans by holding a divinatory cockfight here with a white and a red cock. The white cock, representing the Genji, won the fight.

By the order of the gods the Kumano Navy (Kumano suigun熊野水軍) supported the Genji, turning the tide of the war, and destroying the Heike. During the shrine consolidations that took place in the Meiji era (1868-1912) this shrine was re-named “Tokei-jinja” or “cockfighting shrine” because of this event.

During the peak of the Kumano pilgrimage, Tanabe was an important junction and prospered as the entrance to the Kumano region. The city was a key location for both land and ocean transportation routes. People gathered in Tanabe before continuing onto the Kumano Sanzan or the Saigoku pilgrimage (33 Kannon pilgrimage of Western Japan).
source : www.tb-kumano.jp


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Nearby is also a shrine in his honor

Benkei Jinja, Benkei Yashiro 弁慶神社
. . . CLICK here for Photos !

and a pine in his honor

Benkei matsu 弁慶松
. . . CLICK here for Photos !


and a stone where he sat down

Benkei Koshikake Iwa 弁慶腰掛岩
. . . CLICK here for Photos !

and a few more things in memory of Benkei in his youth.

The whole town of Tanabe is full of Benkei artifacts.


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紀州鈴屋　「弁慶の釜」 Benkei no kama




A Wafer in the form of a small pot, the one that Benkei has his first bath as a baby.
The wafer comes in two parts, with a lid of a slightly different falvor with yuzu citrons.
The flavor of the pot filling is taken from the famous plums of Kishu.
In a nearby museum in Tanabe you can see the real pot 弁慶産湯の釜.
. . . CLICK here for Photos !




A dish made from local chicken, called
弁鶏（べんけい） BenKEI
in a pun with the sound of the name, written with the Chinese character KEI for chicken.
. . . CLICK here for Ben-KEI Photos !




There is also a famous ricewine,　酒
Benkei no Sato 弁慶の里, produced in Tanabe town.




sake barrels offered at the Benkei Shrine


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Tanabe matsuri 田辺祭り　Tanabe Festival

Every year on July 24th and 25th, the annual summer festival of Tokei-jinja Shrine is held. The year 2009 marked the 450th anniversary of the Tanabe Festival. In 1969 this festival, which is filled with much pomp and circumstance, was designated as an intangible folklore cultural asset of Wakayama prefecture.

Yoinomiya: Festival Eve (July 24)

Hon-matsuri: Festival Day (July 25)
At 4:30 the Akatsuki-no-Saiten ritual of dawn begins at Tokei-jinja Shrine.
Kasahoko Floats

In the evening of the 25th, there is
Yabusame, horseback archery demonstration

During the Tanabe Festival you can see eight “Kasahoko" from the eight traditional districts related to the old castle and merchant towns of Tanabe. Locals call the Kasahokos “Okasa”. “Kasahoko” is a sort of “Dashi” which broadly means an attraction of an event. But specifically speaking, Dashi in a Japanese festival performs a sacred role. The Kanji characters for Dashi are 山車, which mean “mountain” and “wheel” or “vehicle”. Literally Dashi are large elegant floats elaborately decorated, and are related to the local history and Kami deities of the area. Dashi are pulled and pushed through the city by many men to pay homage at shrines and sacred sites. There is a great diversity of Dashi, with as many variations of Dashi as there are festivals in Japan.

Look at more photos of the festival HERE :
source : www.tb-kumano.jp



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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way

. Senteisai festival 先帝祭 and Antoku Tenno 安徳天皇 　
Shimonoseki


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HAIKU

闘鶏や兵ものどもの夢は今
tookei ya tsuwamonodomo no yume wa ima

this cockfight -
the dreams of ancient warriors
still alive

Gabi Greve, Autumn 2010


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One of the most famous tsuwamono (Hercules) is maybe super-strong Musashibo Benkei 武蔵坊弁慶, the monk-soldier who accompanied Yoshitsune during his whole life.

. Brave Warrior (tsuwamono) and Haiku



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From ancient times to the Middle Ages, the faith instilled by the Kumano Sanzan of Hongu, Shingu and Nachi was at a peak and many believers ranging from emperors and nobles to the commoner made their pilgrimages to Kumano.
Now a World Heritage Site.

***** . The ancient Kumano Pilgrims Road 　
Kumano Kodoo, Kumano Kodō (熊野古道) and Haiku


***** . yabusame 流鏑馬（やぶさめ）Yabusame
and its related kigo　


***** . Tori awase 鶏合 (とりあわせ) Ritual Cock Fighting
Hahnenkampf, and its related kigo　



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Temple Kokawa-Dera

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Temple Kokawa-Dera

***** Location: Wakayama, Japan
***** Season: Various Temple Festivals
***** Category: Observance

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Explanation

Kokawa-Dera 粉河寺 Kokawa Temple

The name is Kokawa, not Kogawa.
〒649-6531　和歌山県紀の川市粉河2787

Mount Kazaragi san 風猛山
"Strong wind mountain"

This temple is Nr. 3 on the Pilgrimage to 33 Kannon temples in the Kansai area.
It was founded in 770 by Otomo no Kujiko, the son of a hunter in Kishu. His descendants are still in charge of the temple to this day.
One day on his usual hunt in the mountains he passed this area, saw a strong shine in the dark valley and decided to become a monk ... right on the spot. He prayed for seven days and seven nights and carved a statue of Kannon with 1000 arms.

Kokawadera, together with the temple Negoro-ji, was almost as powerful as Koyasan in the area.

There is also a stone memorial of a haiku by Matsuo Basho:


© PHOTO :　kannonyama.com With more photos of the temple !

ひとつぬいで うしろにおいぬ ころもがえ
hitotsu nuide ushiro ni oinu koromogae
ひとつぬぎてうしろにおひぬころもがえ
hitotsu nugite ushiro ni oinu koromogae
ひとつぬきて うしろにおひぬ ころもがえ
hitotsu nukite ushiro ni ohinu koromogae

taking off one garment
I sling it over my shoulder
clothes changing day

source : 　haikustones.blogspot.com, Ad Blankestijn


. . . . . Koromogae, kigo



At the temple there are also memorial stones of haiku by
Matsuo Kaitei 松尾塊亭 槐亭
(1732 - 1815)

He was the official haiku master of the Kishu domain, serving the lords from the 8th to the 10th generation. He died in 1815 at the age of 84.



風猛（かざらぎ）の　名に似ぬ里の　小春かな
Kazaragi no na ni ninu sato no koharu kana

Kazaragi san (Kazaraki san) 風猛山 is the name of Kokawa temple.



and a memorial stone by his disciple Yoshida
吉田五橘亭


水も嘸(さぞ)や白き粉河の山桜
mizu mo sazo ya shiroki Kokawa no yamazakura


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observance kigo for late spring

Kokawabina, Kokawa bina 粉河雛（こかわびな）
hina dolls fro Kokawa

They are made from paper and placed on a bamboo basket to float down the river and take away the impurities of people. This is one of the biggest festivals in the Kishu region of Wakayama.


source and more photos : mama115mama

流し雛大行列 - parade to the river
粉河雛流し - the dolls are floated in the river.



. Hina Doll Festival (hina matsuri 雛祭り) .

. Kishuu bina 紀州雛 hina dolls from Kishu .


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observance kigo for late summer

Kokawa Festival, Kokawa Sai 粉河祭 (こかわまつり)
July 26 / 27

This is one of the three big festivals of the Kishu area.
The head priest of the temple is carried around in a palanquin (togyo shiki 渡御式（とぎょしき）. This parade is in memory of the child of Ootomo no Kujiko 大伴孔子古（おおとものくじこ） in the year 770. Funanushi 船主（ふなぬし） went all the way up to Northern Japan to fight the enemy.
Small children on horseback join the parade.




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observance kigo for early autumn

Offering food and drink to the hungry ghosts
Segaki-E 施餓鬼会（せがきえ）
August 9
People who lost a relative in the past year come here to pray during the O-Bon celebrations.


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Showing the Secret Kannon Statue
西国三十三所　結縁御開帳 gokaichoo

one of the famous Owari Kannon 尾張観音

This is a secret statue and it will be shown to the public in 2008 all throughout October.
It has not been shown for 217 years !



source : 　www.kokawadera.org

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The Legendary Origins of Kokawa-dera Temple
(Kokawadera engi 粉河寺縁起絵巻)


source : 　Nara National Museum

The scroll is about 20 meters long and 30 cm wide and shows the story of the hunter turning monk and then carving the Kannon statue. The story continues to tell how this Kannon statue had the power to heal the sick daughter of a rich merchant in Kawachi. After the daughter was healed, the family became strong supporters of the temple to our day.


Resource : Fisher Fine Arts Library Image Collection
Start with Illustration 224.


The sacred song of this temple

父母の恵みも深き粉河寺ほとけの誓い たのもしの身や


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way


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HAIKU




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Related words

***** Segaki 施餓鬼 Offering food and drink to the hungry ghosts also
Hungry Ghosts, gaki　餓鬼

***** Bon Festival (o-bon) (05) Japan.

***** Secret Buddha Statues (hibutsu) Japan


. OBSERVANCES – SUMMER SAIJIKI .


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Torch Festival (Otomatsuri)

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Torch Fire Festival (Otomatsuri)

***** Location: Japan, Wakayama
***** Season: Early Spring
***** Category: Observance

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Explanation

Torch Festival, O-too matsuri 御灯祭, お燈まつり, 御燈祭

Held in Kumano, in the town of Shingu at the shrine Kamikura Jinja 和歌山県新宮市の神倉神社.
February 6.
This fire festival has a history of more than 1400 years. It welcomes the God of the New Year and was held on the six day of the first month, according to the Asian lunar calendar.


Copyright (C) 2007 JTB Publishing Inc.

Men of all ages, called "those who climbed up, agari ko 上り子, run down the 538 steep stone steps of the mountain shrine, in complete darkness, each carrying a torch, which was lit before the festival on the sacred flame of the shrine.
They wear white cloths to express their will to be "deadly serious" about this. White cloths (shini shoozoku　死に装束, shiro shoozoku 白装束）are worn by many mountain ascetics.
On the night of the festival, men eat only WHITE food, such as cooked white rice, white rice cakes and radish.

The first one to reach the bottom of the stairs used to get a barrel of rice in former times. Nowadays, it is just for the thrill of it. The first few men are called "Tengu", mountain goblins, for being able to make it in such a short time.

More than 2000 men gather every year within the small mountain shrine compound and wrangle for the best place closest to the gate, which is opened at eight o'clock.

Many train all year to get a feeling of the unregular, small stone steps, the curves and problems of the dangerous way down.
Some fathers carry their baby sons on the back, stepping very carefully so as not to fall in the dark.

They take the torches home, place them on the shelf for the gods (kamidana　神棚) and pray for the good luck of the whole family in the coming year.

The whole mountain area of Kamikura is usually off limits for female persons (nyonin kinsei 女人禁制). Mothers, wifes and grandmothers wait at the bottom of the path and pray for the safe return of their menfolk.

Gabi Greve, February 2007

Click HERE to look at more photos !
otoumatsuri


From the song of the shrine Shingu:

「お燈まつりは男のまつり 山は火の滝、下り龍」
This is a festival for real men ! The mountain becomes a waterfall of fire, a Dragon coming down !

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Kumano Hayatama Taisha
includes the compound of the shrine situated near the river mouth of the Kumanogawa River, as well as Mt "Gongenyama 権現山" in the background, where Kamikura-jinja is located, and the ritual sites Mifunejima and Otabisho. Halfway up Mt Gongenyama there is a shrine called Kamikura-jinja, where it is believed that the shrine deity had descended. Around the gigantic rock called Gotobiki-iwa, which has itself been worshiped as a sacred object, many bronze bells of the 3rd century and sutra mounds of around the 12th century have been found.

Annually on the 6th of February the fire festival called Kumano Otomatsuri is held; this festival, which is said to retain its ancient religious traditions, was originally observed on the 6th day of the lunar-calendar New Year.




Read more about the area of Kumano HERE
© Okayama Prefecture : Kumano

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Part of the stone steps on the path, a feat to climb up even in summer daylight.



© PHOTO Wikipedia

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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way

TANAKA,Masaaki [Otoumatsuri – Wakayama Pref]
Woodblock of this festival

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HAIKU


complete darkness -
a dragon of fire races
down the steps

Gabi Greve, 2007



© PHOTO : www.kumano-monogatari.com/

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Related words

***** . Nachi no himatsuri 那智の火祭り Fire Festival at Nachi
main festival at shrine Nachi Taisha, July 14.


***** Fire Festivals of Japan (hi matsuri)

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