Rice Ceremony - Inasakugirei

This refers to the magical and religious rites performed at each stage of the rice production process. Wet-rice cultivation is the core of agriculture in Japan, and its rites can be divided into five stages: pre-celebration, sowing, transplanting, transition, and harvesting. Pre-celebration rites are rites held at the beginning of the year prior to the actual start of rice cultivation to pray for fertility. They are called "kuwahajime" or "nodate," and involve formally plowing the fields, offering mochi rice cakes and roasted rice, chanting celebratory words praying for fertility, and inserting pine needles into the fields as if they were seedlings. Many pre-celebration rites are associated with the Little New Year in particular, such as making mochi flowers, planting rice in the garden, rice planting festivals, and chasing birds. Seeding rituals include the Minakuchi Festival, which is held after sowing rice seeds in the rice paddy, and the Naejirushi ritual, in which a sacred skewer is erected in the middle of the rice paddy as a place for the rice god to reside. Rice planting rituals that stand out are those that call for the descent of the rice god. The Otaue and Hanataue rituals handed down in the mountainous areas of the Chugoku region are clear indications that rice planting was a religious ceremony. Rituals called "Sanobori" or "Shiromite" are used to give thanks for the completion of rice planting and to send off the rice god. Transition rituals are held to prevent predicted disasters during the rice growth process, and include Mushi Okuri, Amagoi, and Kazamatsuri. The harvest ritual is divided into three stages: (1) the ceremony of hanging the rice ears on the ground, (2) the ceremony of reaping, and (3) the ceremony of threshing the rice, which concludes with a celebration of the threshing of the rice after threshing is complete, and a celebration of the rice being brought up to the garden after threshing is complete.

The elements of rice-growing rituals mentioned above show regional differences even within mainland Japan, with Niwataue as a pre-celebration ritual being most prevalent in the Tohoku region, and Otaue as a rice-planting ritual and Hanataue in southwestern Japan. In Okinawa rice-growing rituals, emphasis is placed on sowing and harvesting, and rice-planting rituals are underdeveloped. Also noteworthy is the fact that while on the mainland rice-growing rituals are primarily carried out on a family basis, in Okinawa it is carried out on a "monju" basis. Furthermore, the concepts of "mother rice" and "couple rice" are widely distributed among rice-growing peoples in the islands of Southeast Asia, including Japan, and the belief that the grain mother gives birth to and raises the grain child, as well as the existence of the motif of death and resurrection at the root of this, are noteworthy.

[Naoe Koji]

"Study of rice-growing rites" by Kanji Ito (1974, Jitsuryo Shobo) " "Rice-growing rites in Malaysia" by Enku Uno (1944, Nikko Shoin)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

稲作の生産過程の折り目ごとに営まれる呪術(じゅじゅつ)、信仰的儀礼をいう。日本の農耕の中心は水稲栽培であるが、その儀礼は予祝、播種(はしゅ)、田植、推移、収穫の5段階に分けて考えられる。予祝儀礼は、実際の稲作開始に先だち、年頭にあたって豊饒(ほうじょう)を祈る儀礼をいい、「鍬(くわ)始め」「農立て」などとよんで、形式的に田を耕し、餅(もち)や焼き米を供えて豊饒を祈念する祝言(しゅうげん)を唱えたり、松葉を苗に見立てて田に挿したりする。とくに小正月には、餅花づくり、庭田植、お田植祭、鳥追いなど、多くの予祝儀礼が結び付いている。播種儀礼としては、種籾(たねもみ)を苗代に播(ま)いたあとの水口(みなくち)祭、苗代田の真ん中に田の神の依代(よりしろ)として斎串(いぐし)を立てる苗印(なえじるし)の儀礼がある。田植儀礼としては、田の神の降臨を求める儀礼が目だつ。中国地方山間部に伝えられる大田植、花田植は、田植が神事であったことをよく示している。田植の終了を感謝し、田の神を送るものとしては、「さのぼり」あるいは「代(しろ)みて」とよばれる儀礼がある。推移儀礼は、稲の成長過程に予測される災害を防ぐためのもので、虫送り、雨乞(あまご)い、風祭(かざまつり)などがある。収穫儀礼は3段階に分かれており、(1)穂掛けの儀礼、(2)刈り上げの儀礼に続いて、(3)稲扱(いねこ)きが済んでの扱き上げ祝い、脱穀が済んでの庭上げ祝いによって、収穫儀礼が終了する。

　以上指摘した稲作儀礼の諸要素は、日本本土内においても地域差が認められ、予祝儀礼としての庭田植は東北地方に、田植儀礼としての大田植、花田植は西南日本に、顕著な分布を示している。沖縄の稲作儀礼では、播種と収穫に重点が置かれ、田植儀礼は未発達である。また、本土では稲作儀礼の担い手が主として家族単位であるのに対して、沖縄では「門中(もんじゅう)」単位である点が注意をひく。さらに、日本を含めて東南アジア島嶼(とうしょ)地帯の稲作民の間には、母稲とか夫婦稲という観念が広く分布しており、穀母が穀童を産み育ててゆくとの信仰、さらにその根底には死と復活のモチーフの存在が注目される。

［直江広治］

『伊藤幹治著『稲作儀礼の研究』（1974・而立書房）』▽『宇野円空著『マライシアに於ける稲米儀礼』（1944・日光書院）』

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