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Central Area 22-4

Portable Shrine Decorated with Vegetables



Image
Image1
Category
Festivals & Dances
Title
Portable Shrine Decorated with Vegetables
Areas
Central Area 22-4

The portable shrine decorated with vegetables is carried in a parade throughout the Hon-machi area during the autumn festival of Nunoichi Shrine held in the mid-October.
As the name implies, this portable shrine is a small shrine decorated with vegetables and autumn plants. This is very rare in Japan. They decorate the roof with the ears of rice plants, and the head of a phoenix is decorated with chestnut burrs, its eyes with chestnuts, its beak with Japanese radish, and its tail with pampas grass. They decorate a small shrine with colorful agricultural products, including lotus roots for the gate, onion-shaped ornaments on railings, and eggplants and red peppers on the doors.
The route of the parade is predetermined. If they met lions from other areas, the small shrine and lions provide great performances.
There are many opinions about the origin of this small shrine decorated with vegetables. Some say that Ujiko (shrine parishioners) put vegetables on carts and dedicated them to the gods when they had a good harvest, and others say it began when they had a bad harvest at the beginning of the 20th century and decorated the small shrine with vegetables to pray for a good harvest.