Float - Dashi

A float with processed goods that appears in festivals. It is decorated with floats, spears, dolls, and other items, and is carried by a large group of people or pulled on a cart. Dashi means "display" and comes from the name of the decoration that protrudes from the center of the float as a dwelling place (kamikura) for the gods to be invited to the festival. Other props such as floats, spears, floats, and danjiri have the same meaning. Its ancient form can be seen in the shimeyama (signpost mountain) of the Daijosai festival, which appears in documents from the Heian period. Shimeyama means a mountain marked (occupied or possessed) by a god, and the gods are invited to the shimeyama and pulled from Shinsenen Garden to the festival grounds in the Imperial Palace. In the Middle Ages, this style of mobile shrine became more elegant, and beautifully decorated and ornate, like the floats in the Gion Festival at Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto. In the early modern period, floats modeled after the floats in the Gion Festival spread to local cities and became a national event. They have a variety of names and forms, but in eastern Japan they are called dashi (floats) or yatai (floats on the yatai), and in western Japan they are often called kasaboko (floats with a hat), yamakasa (floats with a yatai), yamahoko (floats with a yatai), danjiri (floats with a yatai), or hikiyama (floats with a yatai). These floats play festival music with flutes, drums, and gongs, and in some places mechanical puppet shows, kabuki plays, and dances are performed on the floats. Famous festivals featuring floats and street stalls include the Kyoto Gion Festival, the Hida Takayama Festival, the Omi Nagahama Hikiyama Festival, the Hakata Gion Festival, and the Chichibu Night Festival.

[Nobuo Watanabe]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

祭礼に出る練り物の屋台。山、鉾(ほこ)、人形などで飾りたてて、これを大ぜいで担ぐか車に乗せて引く。ダシは「出しもの」の義で、祭りに招き寄せる神の依代(よりしろ)（神座(かみくら)）として、屋台の中心に突き出した飾りの名に由来する。山、鉾、屋台、だんじりなどの作り物も同じ意味のものである。その古い姿は平安時代の文献にみえる大嘗祭(だいじょうさい)の標山(しめやま)にみられる。標山とは、神の標めた（占有・領有した）山という意味で、神を標山に招き寄せて、神泉苑(えん)から宮中の祭場まで引いてくる。この移動式神座の形式は、中世になると風流(ふりゅう)化され、京都八坂(やさか)神社の祇園(ぎおん)祭の山鉾のように風流の飾り物を美しく仕立て華美になった。近世になると祇園祭の山鉾をモデルとした山車が地方都市に普及し、全国的に行われるようになった。その名称、形態はさまざまであるが、東日本では山車、屋台などとよび、西日本では笠(かさ)鉾、山笠、山鉾、楽車(だんじり)（車楽、地車、壇尻、段尻とも書く）、曳山(ひきやま)などとよぶことが多い。これらは笛、太鼓、鉦(かね)の祭囃子(ばやし)を奏するが、山車の上でからくり人形、歌舞伎(かぶき)芝居、舞踊を演じる所もある。山車、屋台の出る祭礼では、京都祇園祭、飛騨(ひだ)高山祭、近江(おうみ)長浜曳山祭、博多(はかた)祇園祭、秩父(ちちぶ)夜祭などが有名である。

［渡辺伸夫］

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