F E S T I V A L ／ FEST-225
Bandai Festival of Ariuji Shrine
有氏神社の盤台祭りありうじじんじゃのばんだいまつり
A 'naked festival' handed down since the Edo period at Ariuji Shrine in Shimo-akuhara, Kamikawa Town, Saitama. Parishioners stripped to white loincloths hoist a bandai—a large wooden tub-like vessel about a meter across—heaped with sekihan (red-bean rice), and to the cries of 'Up! Down!' they jostle and rock it up and down, scattering the rice in every direction. It is said that eating the scattered red rice wards off the year's misfortune and brings an easy childbirth, and worshippers vie to gather it up. A distinctive feature is the tōya system, in which the parishioners take annual turns as festival stewards responsible for everything; the rite is said to date to 1713 and is designated an Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Saitama Prefecture.
H I G H L I G H T S
Highlights
- 01Parishioners in white loincloths hoist a meter-wide bandai heaped with red rice and rock it up and down as they jostle
- 02Red rice flung in all directions to cries of 'Up! Down!' as worshippers scramble to catch it across the autumn-tinted grounds
- 03A 'naked festival' bound to food: the scattered red rice becomes a charm for warding off misfortune and for safe childbirth, and eating it is the point
D E E P D I V E