F E S T I V A L ／ FEST-211

Sagami Kōnomachi Festival

相模国府祭さがみこうのまち

The Sagami Kōnomachi Festival is an ancient rite held every May 5 in Kokufu-Hongō, Oiso, the site of the old provincial capital (kokufu) of Sagami Province, and is a Kanagawa Prefecture–designated Intangible Folk Cultural Property. Six shrines — Samukawa (first rank), Kawawa (second), Hibita (third), Saetori (fourth), Hiratsuka Hachimangū (the province's single grand shrine), and Rokusho Shrine (the consolidated sōja) — bring their portable shrines together on the hill of Kamizoroiyama, and in the afternoon the provincial-governor's rite is held at Ōyaba (Baba Park). The high point is the Zamonndō, a ritual that dramatizes the historical dispute over which shrine ranked first in the province. Samukawa and Kawawa each lay out tiger hides in turn to press their claim, but no verdict is reached: the third-rank Hibita Shrine mediates with the words "let it wait until next year," deferring the matter annually. The deliberate withholding of a winner and the archaic use of tiger pelts preserve the memory of a provincial rite roughly a thousand years old.