NIPPON Kichi - 日本吉

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2007/2/19


十五夜 jyuugo-ya Jugoya, The 15th Night

Jp En

Jugoya, or the 15th Night, refers to the 15th night of the 8th month in the lunar calendar when the moon is supposed to be especially beautiful. People enjoy looking at the moon and eating dango dumplings and taro, as well as making decorations with autumn plants such as susuki (Japanese pampas grass).

This custom comes from the mid-autumn festival in China. In Japan, in the Heian period, it became an Imperial event and was called 'Moon Feast'. Courtiers looked at the moon, wrote poems and played music.
  
Commoners called this event 'Taro Beautiful Moon' and it was a harvest thanksgiving festival, in which dumplings, taro, chestnuts and persimmons were eaten.
  
One month later, the 13th Night takes place on the 13th of the 11th month in the lunar calendar. Beans and soybeans are dedicated, and the festival was known as 'Bean Beautiful Moon'. You were supposed to enjoy the moon on both 15th and 13th Nights because if you did not, it was believed to cause bad things.
  
In some local versions of these festivals, local people are allowed to steal offerings or crops as a form of good luck, and these have formed parts of much-loved autumn or harvest festivals.
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2007/1/6


広瀬絣 Hirose-gasuri The Hirose-gasuri

Jp En

A type of dyeing and hand-weaving technique based in Jyoukamachi-hirose, Yasugi City, Shimane Prefecture, hirose-gasuri has been handed down from the 7th year of the Bunnsei period when Sadako Nagaoka, the daughter of the town doctor, brought back the gasuri dyeing and weaving techniques from the town of Yonago and taught the techniques to the women of Hirose. Soon after, the high quality of the gasuri caught on, and from the end of the Edo period to the early Meiji period, hirose-gasuri came to compete with kurume-gasuri in skill, fame, and reputation. Prior to the development of the gasuri, ordinary clothes were made of linen, so the smooth texture and design of the gasuri motivated the people of Hirose to learn its skills. Its distinct characteristics lie in its making, in which persimmon juice is brushed over rice paper, and a large peculiar paper mold is used to enlarge the long vertical designs. The gasuri is famous for its large picturesque designs, in which the fabric is weaved in such a way that the design can be seen clearly. It is designated as a Traditional Hometown Handicraft.
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