 *1  *2  *3 |
【 ARASETSU OF AKINA 】 *1
Akina Village, Tatsugo-Town, is nearly the last area in Amami where people still grow rice. Two festivals, called SHOCHOGAMA and HIRASE-MANKAI, on the day of ARASETSU make an important pair of folkloric functions that relate to rice farming. They are designated as phenomenal cultural assets of Japan. The festivals are held on Arasetsu, the first Hinoe of lunar August according to the ten calendar signs. This year, Arasetsu was on September 19. *2
Before dawn, on a hillside overlooking the rice paddies, there stands a newly built hut without walls. Crowds of men, young and old, stand on its thatched roof called Shochogama. They pray for a good rice crop for the next year and sing traditional songs to the beat of hand drums. When the sun rises above the eastern mountaintop, they start shaking the hut by causing the roof to sway from side to side, with a repeated cry of Yora-Mera. The hut leans gradually and eventually collapses. The hut is supposed to fall to the left because
tradition says that a good harvest can be expected if it does. But it fell to
the right just like last year. (The season, however, had a good crop this year.
So let's not discuss this issue any further.)
*3
In the late afternoon of the same day, when the tide starts to recede, a function called Hirase-Mankai is held at the west end of Akina Beach. Five elderly women in white robes play the role of NORO (mistress of spiritual ceremony). They pray on the rock called Kami-Hirase for a bountiful harvest and good luck for the village. On the rock called Merabe-Hirase stand seven men and women in kimono. They sing and dance to the hand drums facing the Noros, who display movements like beckoning gestures as if to invite a fertility God from across the sea. Then they kneel on their knees to pray to God, putting their handstogether in a prayer position. Immediately after the ceremony,
Hachigatsu-Odori (Amami harvest dances) begins on the beach. All the attending
villagers join the dance and enjoy the party.
|
|
| ※To enlarge, please click the photo. |