| Description |
“Oku-noto no Aenokoto” is an agricultural ritual transmitted from generation to generation in Suzu and Wajima Cities, and Noto and Anamizu Towns of Housu County, all of which are located on the Noto Peninsula on the Sea of Japan, in order to worship a deity of the rice field. As people in Suzu and Wajima Cities, and Noto and Anamizu Towns of Hosu County have long lived by rice-farming, the deity of the rice field is considered an important one who promises good growth and an abundant harvest of rice.
This ritual is performed twice a year, after the rice harvest, and before planting, by each housemaster at his home. In December after the harvest, he welcomes the deity of the rice field from the rice field into his house and offers hospitality, giving thanks for the harvest in the course of a ritual. In February before planting, he offers hospitality and sees the deity off to the rice field, praying for an abundant harvest in the course of another ritual. Guessing from these performances, “Ae” (or “Aé”) can mean hospitality while “koto” a ritual.
In December a housemaster begins to prepare food from early in the morning to welcome the deity, and puts straw bags containing seeds for the next spring in the toko no ma, a narrow space at the side of the room for flowers and calligraphy, or under the kami-dana, an inner shrine installed high on a wall. In the afternoon, he prepares a bath and pounds mochi, a ball-like rice cake. The deity of the rice field is said to get ready to leave the rice field when he hears the sound of mochi-pounding. In the evening the housemaster dresses himself up in kami-shimo, a formal Japanese garment, and goes to the rice field taking a kuwa (spade), a chochin (lantern), and a sensu (folding fan), with him in order to welcome the deity. In the rice field, he cultivates it with kuwa three times, speaks to the deity of the rice field with grateful remarks for its protection during that year. Then, he shows the deity the way to his home by lighting the way with the chochin or directing it with the sensu. His family is waiting for the deity at the gate.
The housemaster shows the deity into a guest room, lets it rest a little, and then serves a bath for it. He helps it to wash as if it were actually in front of him in the bathroom, asking if the temperature of the water is comfortable. After the bath, he seats the deity on straw bags of seeds in the toko no ma or under the kami-dana, and offers it two meals. Because a deity of the rice field is sometimes regarded as consisting of a couple, two dinners are served.
The menu is ama-zake, sweet sake as an aperitif brewed from new rice, a bifurcated radish, abundant steamed rice with red beans, mochi, and a whole fish, provided with chopsticks made from a chestnut tree. As it is said that the deity of the rice field has bad eyes, the housemaster describes each dish as he serves it.
After dinner, he moves the straw bag of seeds to a higher position inside a box room or in an earthen-floor space. It is said that the deity of the rice field rests in this bag or inside the kami-dana until the following year. Then, families eat the dinner served to the deity.
In February of the new year, the same ritual takes place again; a housemaster serves a bath for the deity, provides it with food, and sees it off to a rice field. In the rice field, a housemaster cultivates it with kuwa three times, with prayers for an abundant harvest in autumn.
There are some differences in detailed contents or procedures from family to family, but we can find such common features as welcoming the deity of the rice field at an important stage of rice-growing, offering it hospitality, and finally seeing it off. By performing this ritual, the safety and sustainability of the rice cultivation in this area can be assured, and identity and continuity can be confirmed among the people of this area. It is unique among agricultural rituals of similar kinds throughout Japan in that the householder behaves as if an invisible deity of the rice field were actually there in the course of the ritual. This ritual is a typical agricultural ritual reflecting the underlying culture of everyday life of the Japanese who have been engaged in rice cultivation since ancient times. |
| Social and cultural significance |
This is a ritual to worship a deity of the rice field who will promise good growth and an abundant harvest of rice.
This ritual is performed twice a year, in December after the rice harvest, and in February before planting. by each housemaster at his own house. In the December ritual, he gives thanks for the harvest; he welcomes the deity of the rice field into his house, serving a bath, and offering food. In the February ritual, he prays for an abundant harvest; he again serves a bath, offering food, and finally seeing off the deity from his house to the rice field. In the course of a whole ritual, the housemaster behaves as if an invisible deity of the rice field were actually there in front of him.
There are some differences in detailed contents or procedures from family to family, but we can find such common features as welcoming the deity of the rice field at an important stage of rice-growing, offering it hospitality, and finally seeing it off.
By performing this ritual, the safety and sustainability of the rice cultivation in this area can be assured, and identity and continuity can be confirmed among the people of this area. It is unique among agricultural rituals of similar kinds throughout Japan in that the householder behaves as if an invisible deity of the rice field were actually there in the course of the ritual.
This is an agricultural ritual, reflecting the underlying culture of everyday life among the Japanese engaged in rice cultivation. |
