F E S T I V A L ／ FEST-148

Mino City Mushi-okuri (Ueno & Mitarai)

美濃市虫送り（上野・御手洗）みのしむしおくり（うえの・みたらい）

An insect-sending rite transmitted in the Ueno and Mitarai districts of Mino City, Gifu, in late July — a Mino City Designated Intangible Folk Cultural Property. Based on the 'Sanemori legend' — that Saitō Sanemori, defeated by Genji forces in the Genpei War, fell when he tripped on a rice stalk and in resentment became a rice pest — straw effigies of Sanemori, his wife, and her attendant are carried with lanterns and torches across the fields to 'send away' the pests and pray for a good harvest. The Gifu-side representative example of Japan's Sanemori insect-sending rites.