F E S T I V A L ／ FEST-240

Tanemaki Gonbei Festival

種まき権兵衛祭りたねまきごんべえまつり

Gonbei, known nationwide through the folk song 'Gonbei ga tane makya, karasu ga hozekuru' ('When Gonbei sows the seeds, the crows dig them up'), is said to have been a real person who lived in what is now Bennoyama, Miyama district, Kihoku Town. The Tanemaki Gonbei Festival is a memorial festival for this Gonbei, held every year on the spring equinox at his family temple, Hosen-ji, and at the 'Tanemaki Gonbei no Sato' (Gonbei Village) in Bennoyama. At the memorial rite in Hosen-ji, the 'zunbera stone' and a matchlock gun said to have been Gonbei's prized possessions are enshrined on the altar for prayers. Afterward, at Gonbei Village, a preservation society offers the 'Gonbei Dance,' the kagura dance handed down in Bennoyama, a costume dance (fancy-dress procession), a boat-crossing of Gonbei across the garden pond, an open-air tea ceremony, mochi-throwing, and many other events. The Gonbei Dance, performed in brown-striped costumes, is a distinctive local performing art in which a well-known folk song is joined to a community memorial rite — a rustic, approachable festival set in the springtime hill-country.