Chinkasai - Chinkasai

Japanese: 鎮花祭 - ちんかさい

This festival is held on April 18th every year at Omiwa Shrine in Sakurai City, Nara Prefecture, and its branch shrine, Sai Shrine. It is also called the "Hanashizume Festival." It is a spring festival recorded to be held at both shrines in the Nara period text, "Ryo Gige." In ancient times, it was a national ritual performed by the Shinto priests of the Imperial Court. It was believed that when the flowers fall, the gods of plague also disperse and spread epidemics, so it came to be held to calm them. It is said that the reason it is held at Omiwa Shrine and Sai Shrine is that when an epidemic broke out during the reign of Emperor Sujin, the deity enshrined at Omiwa Shrine was worshiped, and the epidemic ceased. Today, it is also called the Medicine Festival, and pharmaceutical professionals from not only Nara Prefecture but all over the country gather to participate in the rituals at Omiwa Shrine and then Sai Shrine, offering medicinal herbs such as lily roots and honeysuckle as sacred offerings. Similar festivals include the Yasurai Festival at Imamiya Shrine in Murasakino, Kita Ward, Kyoto City, which is said to have begun in the Heian period and is held today on the second Sunday of April every year.

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

Japanese:

奈良県桜井市の大神神社とその摂社である狭井神社（さいじんじゃ）で毎年 4月18日に行なわれる祭り。「はなしずめのまつり」ともいう。奈良時代の『令義解』にもこの両社で行なうことが記されている春の祭りで，古代においては朝廷の神祇官によって行なわれる国家的祭祀であった。花の散る頃に疫病神も分散して疫病をはやらせると考えられていたことから，それをしずめるために行なわれるようになった。大神神社と狭井神社で行なわれるのは，崇神天皇の治世に疫病が流行した際に，大神神社の祭神である大物主神をまつったところ疫病がやんだことによると伝えられる。今日では薬祭りとも呼ばれ，奈良県内はもちろん全国の薬業関係者が参集し，神饌として薬草でもあるユリの根とスイカズラを供えて，まず大神神社，次いで狭井神社で神事に臨む。同様の祭りには，平安時代に始まったと伝えられ，今日では毎年 4月第2日曜日に行なわれている，京都市北区紫野の今宮神社のやすらい祭などがある。

出典　ブリタニカ国際大百科事典小項目事典ブリタニカ国際大百科事典小項目事典について　情報

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