F E S T I V A L ／ FEST-222

Oshira-kō Ritual Gathering at Kudō-ji Temple

久渡寺のオシラ講くどじのおしらこう

Once a year, believers from across the Tsugaru region carry their household deity—the Oshira-sama—to Kudō-ji Temple in this singular act of collective worship. The Oshira-sama is a paired male-and-female effigy carved from mulberry wood, handed down within each home and village and dressed in layers of brightly patterned cloth (osendaku). At the temple's main hall, each effigy receives a stamped seal in a ritual called 'raising the rank,' and it is believed that the deity's rank rises with every annual visit. After the lavishly dressed Oshira-sama are arrayed across the altar, a priest sweeps a great purification wand held over the goma fire to cleanse both the effigies and the worshippers at once. It is a rare chance to see the living face of Oshira-sama belief—a deity of silkworms, agriculture and horses—gathered in one place, and the practice is designated a Selected Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan as 'The Customs of the Oshira-kō at Kudō-ji.'