Cormorant Festival - Umatsuri

This festival is held on December 16th at Keta Shrine in Hakui City, Ishikawa Prefecture. Before the Meiji period, it was held on the middle day of the horse in November. From the village of Kadoshima in Unoura, Nanao City, three households who are descended from the cormorant catching clan take turns to offer a cormorant. The captured cormorant is placed in a cormorant cage and placed at the shrine offering place, and the festival begins at 3 am on the day. After the recitation of prayers and the sound of small drums from the awakening Kagura dance, a question-and-answer session is held between the priest and the cormorant catching clan. The cormorant catcher then releases the cormorant in front of the altar, and when it lands on the table in front of the altar inside the main hall, two priests quickly hold it down with their imishiba. The captured cormorant is then handed over to a priest below, who then carries it outside the worship hall, releases it on Ichinomiya Beach, and returns without looking back. If the cormorant does not enter the inner sanctuary, a purification ritual and a purifying Kagura dance are performed. There is a custom of fortune-telling based on whether the cormorant is white or black, or whether it lands on the table or not.

[Hidezaburo Hagiwara]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

石川県羽咋(はくい)市の気多(けた)神社で12月16日に行われる祭り。明治以前は11月の中の午(うま)の日であった。七尾(ななお)市鵜浦(うのうら)の鹿渡島(かどしま)という村落から、鵜捕部(うとりべ)の系譜を引く人々が、当番として3戸があたり鵜を献上する。とらえた鵜は鵜籠(うかご)に入れられて神饌所(しんせんしょ)に置かれ、当日午前3時から祭事が執り行われる。祝詞(のりと)奏上、寝覚めの神楽(かぐら)の小太鼓ののち、神官と鵜捕部との間に問答が交わされる。そして鵜捕部が神前で鵜を放ち、本殿内の案(つくえ)（神前の机のこと）の上に止まったとき、すばやく神官が2人して斎柴(いみしば)でこれを押さえる。とらえた鵜を下にいる神官に渡すと、渡された神官は抱いて拝殿の外へ出、一ノ宮海岸でこれを放ち、後ろを見ずに戻る。もし鵜が内陣に入らぬときは、清めの祓(はらい)と清めの神楽を行う。鵜の鳥の色が白か黒か、あるいは案に止まる・止まらぬで豊凶を占う風習がある。

［萩原秀三郎］

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