NIPPON Kichi - 日本吉

2007/12/20

諏訪大社 御柱祭 Suwataisha Onbashira-matsuri Suwa Taisha Grand Shrine Onbashira Festival

Jp En


Suwa Taisha Grand Shrine, located in Nagano Prefecture, is comprised of four shrines. One of the shrines, Kamisha Honguu, is situated in Nakasu Miyayama, Suwa City. The other three shrines are Kamisha Maemiya, Shimosha Akimiya and Shimosha Harumiya.  The deity enshrined here are Takeminakata-no-Mikoto and Yasakatome-no-Mikoto. The shrine was ranked the most important in Nagano region.
Suwa Taisha is one of the oldest shrines, its name first appearing in Engishiki Jinmyouchou (edited in 927). It is the head shrine and represents more than 10,000 Suwa Shrines nationwide.
Onbashira Festival is an awe-inspiring grand festival held once every six years in the Year of the Tiger and the Year of the Monkey. The festival is designated as an intangible folklore cultural asset by the prefecture.
In the festival, participants cut down sixteen gigantic fir trees 16m high and 1m diameter in the mountains and take them down to the shrines. The participants then erect one tree trunk at each corner of the four shrines.
The festival takes place on two separate occasions over the course of two months. The first part of the festival called “Yamadashi” is held in April and the giant fir trees are brought down from the mountain down steep slopes and hauled with straw ropes across Miya River.
The second part is held in May and called “Satobiki” in which the logs are paraded along with the cavalry and are then erected in the shrines. For these two months, Suwa region is in a continuous state of festivities.
Onbashira Festival at Suwa Taish Grand Shrine is one of the foremost Japanese festivals with its long history and grand scale.

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address
Nakasu Miyayama, Suwa, Nagano Prefecture 392-0015
name
Suwa Taish Grand Shrine, Kamisha Honmiya
phone
0266-52-1919
hp
http://onbashira.jp/




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