Izaiho - Izaiho

This is an event held on Kudaka Island in Nanjo City, Okinawa Prefecture. It is known locally as Ijaiho. It is known as an old-fashioned festival that retains the legacy of the Shuri Kingdom era. It is held once every 12 years, in the 11th month of the lunar calendar in the year of the horse. It is one of the rites of passage based on age hierarchy, and corresponds to a female shaman-turned-priest ceremony. The main focus of the event is that women called Nanchu, between the ages of 30 (by the Japanese age reckoning system) and 41, seclude themselves in a temporary hut on Mount Izai behind the village's festival grounds for three nights from the 15th. During that time, for four days, under the presiding of a female priestess, women older than the Nanchu perform a religious ceremony accompanied by song and dance, with the participation of women older than the Nanchu.

Nanchu means "a person who has become a newborn", and after completing Izaiho, a boy is qualified to participate in the village's Shinto rituals and to officiate at the Shinto rituals of his or her marriage home. It is the counterpart of Najiki (naming), which is a coming-of-age ceremony for boys aged 15 to 26 and is also held on August 10 of the lunar calendar in the year of the horse. Due to a lack of successors, Izaiho has not been held since 1978 (Showa 53).

[Yo Kojima]

"The Ancient Layers of the Gods 5: The Moment a Housewife Became a God" by Yasuo Higa (1990, Niraisha)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

沖縄県南城(なんじょう)市の久高(くだか)島の行事。地元ではイジャイホーという。首里王府時代の名残(なごり)をとどめる古風な祭りとして知られる。12年に一度、午(うま)年の旧暦11月に行われる。年齢階層制による通過儀礼の一つで、女の成巫(せいふ)儀礼に相当する。行事の主眼は、ナンチュとよばれる30歳（数え年）から41歳までの女が、15日から3晩、村の祭場の後ろにあるイザイ山の仮小屋にこもるところにあり、その間、4日にわたり、祝女(のろ)の主宰で、ナンチュ以上の年齢の女たちが参加して、歌や踊りを伴う神事を行う。

　ナンチュとは「成り人」の意で、イザイホーが済むと、村の神事に加わり、婚家の神事をつかさどる資格を得る。同じく午年の旧暦8月10日に行われるナージキー（名付け）が15歳から26歳までの男たちの成人儀礼であるのと対(つい)をなしている。後継者不足のため、1978年（昭和53）以降、イザイホーは行われていない。

［小島瓔］

『比嘉康雄著『神々の古層　5　主婦が神になる刻』（1990・ニライ社）』

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