This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (March 2013) |
Harvest Festival (
Hōnensai | |
---|---|
Observed by | Japan (specific locations) |
Type | Religious |
Significance | Celebrates the blessings of a bountiful harvest and all manner of prosperity and fertility |
Date | 15 March |
Next time | 15 March 2025 |
The best known of these festivals takes place in the town of Komaki, just north of Nagoya City. The festival's main features are Shinto priests playing musical instruments, a parade of ceremonially garbed participants, all-you-can-drink sake, and a wooden phallus.[2][3]
The festival starts with celebration and preparation at 10:00 a.m. at Tagata Jinja, where all sorts of foods and souvenirs (mostly phallus-shaped or related) are sold. Sake is also passed out freely from large wooden barrels. At about 2:00 p.m. everyone gathers at Shinmei Sha for the start of the procession. Shinto priests say prayers and impart blessings on the participants and mikoshi, as well as on the large wooden phallus, which are to be carried along the parade route.[2][3]
The 280 kg (620 pound), 2.5 meter (96 inch)-long, 200–250 year old Japanese cypress wooden phallus called youbutsu (
When the procession makes its way down to Tagata Shrine the phallus in its mikoshi is spun furiously before it is set down and more prayers are said. Everyone then gathers in the square outside Tagata Shrine and waits for the mochi nage, at which time the crowd is showered with small rice cakes which are thrown down by the officials from raised platforms. The festival concludes at about 4:30 p.m.[2][3]
The venerated Shinto deities are Mitoshi (
In Inuyama City, there is another festival Sunday before at Ōagata Shrine. This festival includes floats shaped like a vulva, which complement the phallic-shaped mikoshi used in the festival.[4]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Honen Festival (Tagata Jinja Shrine)". AichiNow. Retrieved 2023-04-27.
- ^ a b c d e f Philbert Ono. "Tagata Shrine Honen Festival
田縣 神社 豊年 祭 (photos)". photoguide.jp. Retrieved 2023-04-27. - ^ a b c d e f "Japan: Nothing says springtime like penis and vagina festivals".
- ^ D, John (2012-03-24). "Fertility festival (Oh-agata/ Oagata Jinja)". Green Shinto. Retrieved 2023-04-27.
Sources
edit- Tagata Shrine Honen Festival
田縣 神社 豊年 祭 (contains photos showing many of the events described above) - Japan: Nothing says springtime like a penis festival (Global Post, March 16, 2010)
External links
edit- http://www.tagatajinja.com/index.html (Japanese; official homepage of Tagata-Jinja)
- Yamasa Institute Tagata Jinja - Hounen Matsuri site (English) Archived 2006-04-14 at the Wayback Machine
- http://farstrider.net/Japan/Festivals/HounenMatsuri/
- Phallus photos and bits of info