Healing Setsubun Devil Exorcists at Nagata Shrine in Kobe

-


Setsubun at Nagata Shrine in Kobe. Setsubun is a spring exorcism ritual on February 3rd which used to be on the old Chinese New Year's Eve. Bad luck in the form of devils (oni) are driven away with a handful of tossed beans. At Nagata Shrine though the oni are actually the good guys and they drive away evil with fire and sword.



The men who are to perform the ceremony prepare themselves with fasting and purification rituals such as misogi. Misogi is plunging into cold water to cleanse one's self body and soul.

Tsuina Shiki or Oniyari is the exorcism ritual to drive away evil and disaster. Nagata Shrine is unique in that oni perform the ritual. This particular ritual is believed to be over 500 years old.



These two particular oni are known for their healing properties. They will touch their temples then lay their hands on a person to heal them and protect them.

 Sickness is part of the evil that oni drive away. In olden days sicknesses was just as much a matter of luck and magic that any kind of protection was sought after from amulets to mystical ceremonies. A number of Japanese religious structures and festivals have their origins in attempts to appease the gods in order to end epidemics.


































Location: 3-chōme-1-1 Nagatachō, Nagata-ku, Kobe, Hyogo 653-0812, Japan

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Japanese Monks Cutting Bamboo Festival - Takekiri-eshiki

-
Image
On June 20th, on Mt Kuruma north of Kyoto an interesting ritual is held where Japanese Buddhist monks hack at thick bamboo stalks in order to drive out evil and ensure good harvests. The ritual is known as Takekiri-eshiki and goes back over a thousand years. The origin of the ritual is said to come from an encounter a monk had with two huge snakes in the 9th Century. The snakes were male and female and they no doubt saw the monk as a meal. The monk, however, was able to kill the male snake with a well-aimed prayer. The female snake pleaded for mercy and promised to guard the waters of the mountain. In the Takakiri-eshiki ritual, bamboo stalks representing the male snake are cut by sword-wielding monks. There are two teams representing the ancient provinces of Omi and Tamba. It's believed that whichever team cuts the quicker their represented area will have the better harvest. The monks are dressed as Sohei who were fighting priests of Old Japan ...
Read more

Japanese Children Sumo Festival

-
Image
The Sumo festival in the small town of Wadayama in Hyogo Prefecture may not have the most skilled sumo wrestlers or the heaviest for that matter but they make up for it with a lot of energy and for their grandmothers with cuteness.  To celebrate the autumn harvest, the boys of the village gather at the local shrine to wrestle with each other in sumo fashion wearing the traditional sumo loincloth known as fundoshi. Officiating them is a referee dressed in stylish robes of the Heian Period (794-1192) known as a gyoji.  The boys range in age from about 5 to 11 or 12. There is no ritual significance in the age of the contenders. It's just that most of the boys feel embarrassed to stand around in a loincloth once they start Junior High School.  The purpose behind the sumo event other than to give their grandparents something to awe about is to bring good fortune to the community. This harkens back to sumo's origins before it became a professional sport. In ...
Read more

Japanese Penis Festival - Kanamara Matsuri

-
Image
The Kanamara Matsuri of Kawasaki, Japan is a cocky little festival where the floats would make a sailor blush. It's a balls-to-the-wall festival where zaniness reigns supreme with giant penis floats, unconvincing drag queens, people sucking on penis lollipops, and dick-themed hats and costumes. The origins of the festival go back to the Edo Period (1603-1867). Supposedly there lived a girl who had a demon take up residence in a certain part of female anatomy. When she was married her husband found out about her hidden inhabitant to his horror. In the process of consummating the marriage, the husband was castrated when the devil bit off the poor fellow's member. A second husband also suffered the same fate (presumably no one told him about the first husband). A local blacksmith forged an iron phallus and when this was put in the proper (or improper) place, the devil broke its teeth on it and thus fled. The devil-quelling device was enshrined and in later times lad...
Read more