Sekitei - Sekitei

A festival for Confucius. People offer sacrifices of cows and sheep and various other offerings to worship him. In ancient China, Shun, Yu, King Wen, and other sages and virtuous people were worshiped as predecessors, but after the Han and Wei dynasties, the Duke of Zhou and Confucius, or Confucius and Gan Hui, came to be worshiped, and after the Jiajing period of the Ming dynasty (1522-1566), the worship of only Confucius was called Shadeian. In 1914 (the third year of the Republic of China), it was renamed Shikou. In the past, it was held at schools, mountains, rivers, and shrines as needed, but in 246 (the 7th year of Zhengshi in the Wei Dynasty), it was held in two seasons, spring and autumn, and in the Northern Qi Dynasty, it was held in two periods (February and August) during the Spring and Autumn Period, and from the Sui Dynasty, it was fixed to the first day of the Ding Dynasty in both months. For this reason, it is also called the Ding Festival or Shang Ding Festival. Lighter festivals than the Shakten include the Sekisai (offering mainly vegetables) and the Sekihei (offering sacred offerings).

[Yu Tanaka]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

孔子(こうし)の祭り。牛や羊などの犠牲(いけにえ)やいろいろな供物を捧(ささ)げて祀(まつ)る。古代中国では舜(しゅん)、禹(う)、文王などを先聖、高徳の人を先師として祀ったが、漢、魏(ぎ)以後は、周公と孔子、あるいは孔子と顔回(がんかい)を祀るようになり、明(みん)の嘉靖(かせい)（1522～1566）以後、孔子のみ祀ることを釈奠という。1914年（民国3）祀孔(しこう)と改称された。古く学校、山川、廟社(びょうしゃ)で随時行われたが、246年（魏の正始7）春秋の二季とされ、北斉(ほくせい)には春秋二仲（2月・8月）となり、隋(ずい)からは両月の上丁(じょうてい)（初めの丁(ひのと)の日）に固定した。これによって丁祭、上丁祭ともいう。釈奠より軽い祭りとして釈菜(せきさい)（主として野菜の類を供える）、釈幣(せきへい)（幣帛(へいはく)を供える）がある。

［田中　有］

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