Kasuga-Jinja - Yatsurugisha, Kasuga-cho, Takahama City, Aichi
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愛知県高浜市春日町 春日神社 八剱社
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First Saturday and Sunday of October
10月第1土曜日・日曜日
Takahama-city Tourism Association
+81-566-52-2288
高浜市観光協会/0566-52-2288
Takahama Omanto Festival is a powerful and lively festival. Young people wearing the happi coat and jikatabi (cloth footgear) jump on to horses saddled with bells and artificial flowers. In fact, the young people, with their bare hands, try to jump on the horses again and again, even if shaken off. The horses gallop at approximately 40 km/h around the ring. “Omanto” is held in some places in Takahama City and the Chita Gulf area. In particular, the Omanto at Kasuga Shrine/Yatsurugi Shrine is especially magnificent. This Omanto festival has been designated a Takahama City Intangible Cultural Property. (The festival is held on the first Sunday of October every year and the preceding Saturday.)
On the day before the festival, the young generation of each town walk with horses to encourage people to come to the festival. It is a spectacular view as they walk while ringing bells throughout the towns where Onigawara (gargoyles) made from Sanshu-gawara (special local tiles) are located in many places. In addition, an essential signature of the “Omanto festival,” the Ohayashi (festival music accompaniment) called “Charaboko” is played on taiko drums and flutes and creates a more exciting mood in the town.
The history of the festival in the Takahama district is recognized as having started around 1803 in the late Edo era. At the time, the festival seemed deeply involved in the rain making rituals. Even today, a ceremony to pray for rain and fishing is performed for Ryugu, a sea and water god (Shinto), on the first day of the “Omanto Festival.” People and horses participating in the festival are splashed with a little sea water to exorcise evil spirits from them. This ceremony is called “Ryugu Festival.” Since many of the sacred horses are the black horses dedicated to the rain making rituals, the “Omanto Festival” has been shown to be deeply involved in praying for rain.
The word “Omanto” is considered to have been derived from the ceremony “Uma-no-To (the leading horse)” including two ceremonies. One, “Kazariuma Hono,” dedicates the horse with the decorative harness back to the temple, while the other ceremony is “Hashiriuma,” to run the horse in the ring.
法被(はっぴ)に地下足袋姿の若者が、円形の馬場を、鈴や造花を背負って、時速約40kmで全力疾走する馬に素手飛びつき、なんども振り落とされながらも駆け回る、迫力のある勇壮な祭り。“おまんと”は高浜市内、知多湾岸各地で行われているが、春日神社・八剱(やつるぎ)社で開催されるものは特に盛大で、高浜市無形文化財に指定されている。(例年10月第一日曜日とその前日の土曜日に開催)
祭りの前日には、各町の若者が馬と一緒に、特産の三州瓦の鬼瓦が随所にある町並みで鈴を鳴らしながら、町内を礼廻りする風情のある光景が見られる。さらに、太鼓と笛で演奏される「おまんと祭り」には欠かせない「チャラボコ」と呼ばれる囃子で、町中の祭りのムードが一気に高まる。
高浜地区の祭礼の歴史は江戸時代後期の1803年より見られ、当時の祭礼は雨乞いに深く関わっていたとされている。現在でも、「おまんと祭り」の1日目には海の神・水の神である竜宮に豊漁と雨乞いを祈願し、祭りに参加する人馬が海水によるお祓いを受け、身を清める「竜宮祭」が行われている。また、祭りの神馬が雨乞い祈願の際に献馬される黒馬が多いことからも、「おまんと祭り」が雨乞い祈願に深い関わりがあることが示されている。
“おまんと”という言葉は、背に飾り馬具をつけた馬を社寺に奉納する「飾馬奉納」と、馬場で馬を走らせる「走り馬」の二つの行事による祭礼「馬の頭=塔(うまのとう)」から派生したと考えられている。