Sanja Festival - Sanjamatsuri

Japanese: 三社祭 - さんじゃまつり

This is the annual festival of Asakusa Shrine, adjacent to the grounds of Sensoji Temple in Taito Ward, Tokyo. It is said to have begun in 1312, and was originally held on March 17th and 18th, but in 1872 it was moved to May 17th and 18th, and today it is held from the Friday closest to these dates to the Sunday. Asakusa Shrine was called Sansha Gongensha in the Edo period, as it enshrines the three fishermen who pulled up a statue of Kannon Bodhisattva from the Sumida River, as told in the legend of the founding of Sensoji Temple. Even after it was renamed Asakusa Shrine in 1873, it has remained popularly known as Sansha Myojin or Sanshasama, and the annual festival is commonly known as the Sansha Festival. The main event of the festival is the parade of three shrine mikoshi (→Mikoshi) through the parishioners' neighborhoods on Sunday, but until the end of the Edo period, the main event was a boat festival based on the story of the Kannon statue, the deity of the shrine, being raised on a boat from the Asakusabashi wharf to Komagatabashi, and then returned to the shrine. Prior to the boat parade, floats from each neighborhood would visit the shrine and offer performances. Today, after the annual festival rituals on Saturday, about 100 shrines from each neighborhood gather, are purified at Asakusa Shrine, and then parade through the neighborhoods. In addition, on Friday, the first day of the festival, there are offerings of the Sagimai and Binsasaramai (→Sasara) dances.

Sanja Festival

Kabuki dance piece. Original title: Yayoi no Hana Asakusa Matsuri. Also known as Good and Bad Guys. First performed in 1832 at the Edo Nakamuraza. Lyrics by Segawa Jyoko II, music by Kiyomoto Saibei, choreography by Fujima Kanjuro II and Matsumoto Goroichi. The piece is based on the annual festival of Edo Sansha Gongen, the guardian deity of Asakusa Kannon. The existing Miyatogawa scene is the part after the dance of Empress Jingu and Takeuchi no Sukune, who are depicted as float puppets, is pulled out. As two fishermen dance after pulling up the Kannon statue from Senso-ji Temple with a net, the statue is suddenly possessed by good and bad characters that descend from the sky. The good and bad characters are inspired by Santo Kyoden's yellow-covered book Shingaku Hayasensou. The fast tempo and light-hearted choreography make this piece a unique masterpiece.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

東京都台東区の浅草寺境内に隣接する浅草神社の例祭。正和1（1312）年に始まったと伝えられ，本来は 3月17，18日の祭りだったが，1872年以降 5月17，18日となり，今日ではこの日に近い金曜日から日曜日にかけて行なわれている。浅草神社は，浅草寺創建伝承に語られる隅田川から観音菩薩像を引き上げた 3人の漁師を祭神とすることから，江戸時代には三社権現社と呼ばれ，1873年に浅草神社と改称してからも三社明神，三社さまの名で親しまれており，例祭も三社祭と通称される。祭りの中心行事は，日曜日の 3基の宮神輿（→神輿）の氏子町内渡御だが，江戸時代末までは，祭神の観音像引き上げの故事にちなんだ船祭りが中心で，宮神輿は浅草橋の船着場から駒形橋まで大森の漁師の船に乗って船渡御し，神社にかえっていた。また，船渡御に先立って，各町から出された山車が神輿に参って芸能を奉納していた。今日では，土曜日の例大祭の神事のあと，各町から出された約 100基の神輿が集合し，浅草神社でお祓を受けて各町に向けて渡御する連合渡御が行なわれている。このほか，祭り初日の金曜日には，鷺舞やビンササラ舞（→ささら）の奉納もある。

三社祭
さんじゃまつり

歌舞伎舞踊曲。本名題『弥生の花浅草祭』。通称『善玉悪玉』ともいう。天保3 (1832) 年江戸中村座で初演。作詞2世瀬川如皐，作曲清元斎兵衛，振付2世藤間勘十郎，松本五郎市。浅草観音の守護神とされた江戸三社権現の例大祭に題材をとったもので，現存の宮戸川の場は，山車人形に擬した神功皇后と武内宿禰の踊りを引抜いたあとの部分。浅草寺の観音像を網打ちで引上げて2人の漁師が踊っていると，にわかに天から降りた善玉，悪玉が乗移る。この善玉，悪玉は山東京伝の黄表紙『心学早染草』に趣向を仰いでいる。速いテンポと軽快な振りがこの曲を特異な秀作としている。

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