F E S T I V A L ／ FEST-168

Anori Jinja Shime-kiri Shinji — Sacred Rope Cutting Ritual (Shime-kiri Shinji / Chigiri Shinji)

安乗神社 しめ切り神事（注連切り神事）あのりじんじゃ しめきりしんじ（しめんきりしんじ）

Each year on January 10th, Anori Jinja on the eastern tip of the Shima Peninsula conducts a New Year ritual in which two large shimenawa (sacred straw ropes) — each approximately eight meters in length and 1.3 meters in diameter at the center — are ceremonially severed with a Japanese sword. The ropes, displayed before the deity throughout the New Year period, are identified with a great serpent, and the cutting rite is understood to re-enact Susanoo-no-Mikoto's defeat of the eight-headed serpent Yamata-no-Orochi. The swordsmen, known as kayō, are young men in formal kamishimo dress selected under the tōya (parishioner-rotation) system; cuts are made in sequence, and an odd total number of strikes to achieve the cut is considered auspicious, while the severed straw is taken home by attendees as a charm against insects. Anori Jinja also hosts the Nationally Designated Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property "Anori no Ningyō Shibai" (Anori puppet theater) on its precinct stage each September 15th and 16th.