F E S T I V A L ／ FEST-165

Sanjin Shishimai Shinji — Mountain-God Lion Dance Ritual (Sanjin Shishimai Shinji)

山神獅子舞神事やまがみししまいしんじ

Conducted annually on the fourth Sunday of January at Yamada-dera (a Rinzai Buddhist temple) in the Sanjin district of Tamaki Town, Watarai District, Mie Prefecture, this ritual lion dance (shishimai) has a documented history of more than four hundred years and employs a pair of male and female lion heads (shishi-gashira) believed to have been crafted around Kōji 1 (1555), now designated a Mie Prefectural Tangible Cultural Property. Following a Dai-hannya sūtra prayer conducted by the resident priest, performers wearing black-faced and red-faced tengu (mountain demon) masks appear; audience members then pelt the tengu with water-soaked pine cones, provoking the tengu to retaliate by chasing children through the crowd. The combination of a Buddhist ritual context, tengu iconography, and participatory audience combat reflects a pre-modern syncretic form in which Buddhist practice and folk belief remain integrated. The ritual was designated a Mie Prefectural Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 1965 (Shōwa 40).