F E S T I V A L ／ FEST-031

Ōmi Nakayama Imo-Kurabe Festival (Taro Competition Ceremony)

近江中山の芋競べ祭りおうみなかやまのいもくらべまつり

In the agricultural heartland of Shiga Prefecture, the autumn harvest ceremony at Okitama Shrine involves participants bringing their finest taro root (satoimo) to be judged against the roots brought by their neighbors — and the outcome of that judgment is understood as a prediction of the community's prosperity for the coming year. The Imo-Kurabe ("taro competition") is one of Japan's most endearing bizarre festivals precisely because its mechanism is so transparent: the community's collective agricultural effort is concentrated into its most successful example, that example is presented to the deity, and the deity's evident pleasure (represented by the comparative superiority of the best taro) is taken as a favorable omen. There is no fire, no drumming, no masked procession — just very serious people assessing root vegetables against divine criteria. The specificity and straightforwardness of this arrangement is, in its own way, more interesting than many more spectacular ceremonies.