I
was lucky enough to meet the famous festival of Suwa Taisha Shrine in Shimosuwa
Town when I was walking there in my Nakasendo walk.
Suwa
Taisha Shrine is one of the oldest shrines in Japan. It has about 1000 brunches
throughout the nation.
Suwa
Taisha Shirine consists of four shrines; Haru-miya and Aki-miya in Shimosuwa
Town in the northern side of Lake Suwa and Mae-miya and Hon-miya in Chino City
and Suwa City in the southern side of the lake.
The
Onbashira Festival is held in every six year. They bring big trees called
Onbashira, which are regarded as gods, from the mountains to towns and set them
up in the shrines.
The
shrine parishioners stand on the trees and sing ritual songs. (see also the top photo)
The trees are
pulled with ropes by tens of people. It is dangerous when the trees move down
the steep slopes. Not a few people were killed in the accidents in the past.
I
saw on May 14th hundreds of people pulling a tree in the slope (it
is Nakasendo) from the mountain to Haru-miya. The participants wore happi, traditional Japanese festival
contume.
On
May 15, I saw they walked around the town pulling the treed. Thousands of
tourist enjoyed the festival. (see also the photo 2nd from the top)
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