Opening the mouth - Kuchiake

Japanese: 口明け - くちあけ

The opening of the ban on entering shared mountains and fields, fishing grounds, and beaches for the purpose of collecting. Kuchiake originally meant the beginning of something, and the opening of the ban on entering common mountains is often called Yama no Kuchiake or Yama no Kuchi, while the opening of the ban on beaches and fishing grounds is often called Hama no Kuchiake or Iso no Kuchiake. Yama no Kuchiake is the first day on which people can enter freely, but some villages open all the mountains used by the village at the same time, while others set opening times for each type of harvest. There are also places where a certain period of time after opening is called Kuchiake, and some places impose certain restrictions on the tools that can be brought into the mountains and the methods of transporting them during that time.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

共同利用している山野や漁場，磯浜に採取を目的に入ることを解禁すること。口明けは元来もののはじまりを意味する言葉であり，入会山への入山の解禁を山の口明けとか山の口と呼び，磯浜や漁場への解禁を浜の口明けとか磯の口明けということが多い。山の口明けは自由に入ってよい最初の日のことであるが，ムラが利用している山すべてについていっせいに口明けにする所と，採取物ごとに口明けの時期を決める所があり，また解禁してからの一定期間を口明けと呼び，その間入山については持参できる道具や搬出方法に一定の制限を加える所も各地にある。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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