F E S T I V A L ／ FEST-214

Toga no Hatsuuma (Toga First-Horse-Day Rite)

利賀の初午とがのはつうま

Toga no Hatsuuma is a New Year rite held over two days around January 15 in the Uemura district of Toga, Nanto City, Toyama, and has continued for about 200 years since the Bunka era (1804–1818) of the late Edo period. It was selected as a National Selected Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 1982 and designated a Toyama Prefecture Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 2004. A rare rite carried out by children alone, elementary pupils in grades 1–6 take on the roles of priest, horse, drum, singer, and straw-bale roller, donning a 'horse curtain' fitted with a straw tail and horse-head and visiting each house in the hamlet door to door. At each home they set up a talisman of the silkworm deity and the horse-role child dances to the chant 'norikonda' ('we have ridden in'), praying in this deep-snow Gokayama region for a bountiful harvest, household safety, and the prosperity of sericulture. Once held in the three districts of Uemura, Shimomura, and Iwabuchi, depopulation has limited it to Uemura since 1999.