NIPPON Kichi - 日本吉

2007/8/7

滝山寺 鬼まつり Takisan-ji Oni-matsuri Oni Matsuri (Ogre Festival) at Takisanji Temple

Jp En


Takisanji Temple in Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture, is a temple of the Tendai sect of Buddhism. The principal object of worship is Sho Kannon. Oni Matsuri (Ogre Festival) is held to pray for peaceful life and a good harvest in the coming year. It is held on the Saturday closest to February 7th as this is the New Year in the old Lunar Calendar. The festival is famous in the Mikawa region as a traditional religious ceremony to greet the beginning of spring.

It originates in the prayer service performed for Minamoto no Yoritomo in the Kamakura period (1192-1333). The festival was discontinued for some time and revived as an official event of the Tokugawa Shogunate in the era ruled by the 3rd Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu in the early Edo period (1603-1868).

The highlight of the festival is a valiant fire ceremony, in which the demons are being chased away with fire and noise. The men in white clothes are chasing the demons around the main hall while hitting the burning torches hard against the balustrades of the decks. The big bamboo torch placed in the center of the precinct bursts with big noises and fire sparks are falling like powder snow. The fire on the big torch is flaming up as if it is going to burn the main hall. The dance performed by the demons is very gallant. After the ceremony, people pick up the burned-out bamboo branches and bring them home as a talisman to get rid of ill-luck.

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address
107 Aza-Yamagomori, Taki-cho, Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture 444-3173
name
Oni Matsuri (Ogre Festival) at Takisanji Temple
phone
0564-46-2296




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