Matsubara Yatai Festival Float
| Area | Folkways |
|---|---|
| Collection name | |
| Age | From the Meiji period (1868-1912) to the Showa period (1926-1989) |
| Century | From the late 19th century to the 20th century |
| Creator | |
| Pronunciation of the creator’s name | |
| Date (year, month, day) | |
| Year (Christian Era) | |
| Volume | One item |
| Material | |
| Size | 730.0 × 242.0 and 418.0 tall |
| Designation |
Explanation
The autumn festival at Matsubara Hachiman Shrine in Shirahama-cho, Himeji City, is famous as a “fighting festival in Nada.” The festival is held on October 14 (Yoimiya) and 15 (Honmiya).
Parishioners from seven communities (Higashiyama, Kiba, Matsubara, Yaka, Mega, Usazaki and Nakamura) play out floats on October 14 and show an epic float performance within the grounds of the shrine. During this performance, the parishioners swing a bamboo stick with pieces of paper called shide on its tip around the floats and go wild.
On October 15, people carry a portable shrine. On the early morning of that day, men of climacteric age in Matsubara district hold a purification ceremony drawing a Shishi Danjiri (lion float) and men in the district in charge of carrying a portable shrine hold a purification ceremony called shiokaki at sea. The districts in charge carry three portable shrines and travel to the foot of Mt. Otabiyama, otabisho, a facility that serves as the temporary destination or midway resting point of deities. While traveling, people strike three portable shrines hard against each other in front of the outer shrine and two-storied gate of Matsubara Shrine and in the open space on the foot of Mt. Otabiyama. The “fighting festival in Nada” was derived from this wild feature.
This is a float used by the Matsubara district for this festival. The inside of the float is equipped with a drum, which was played by drummers who boarded the float during the festival. The float can be broken into parts and damaged parts were exchanged. For the carved wooden panel under the roof, one that was created in October 1880 remains. The total weight is 500-kan (approximately two tons) with four people aboard.
(The Second Collection of Works in the Possession of the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of History, 2002, written by Masanobu Kagawa)