Chanting - Chanting

Japanese: 唱言 - となえごと

While proverbs are used by people, chanting is a set phrase that is mainly used to pray to or appeal to invisible things such as gods, Buddhas, and spirits. Many are chanted in unison by groups, especially children, and have clear meanings. As many of these chantings originate from religious beliefs, their number has decreased as faith has declined, but they still remain in annual events and religious ceremonies. A typical example is the Setsubun chanting "Fuku wa in, oni wa out" (Good fortune in, demons out), and on Little New Year's Day there are chantings in the form of a question-and-answer session of Nariki-jime (will it happen, will it not happen?), "It will, it will," and children circling the village chanting "Morning bird hoi-hoi, evening bird hoi-hoi" (bird-chasing), and chanting to call on ancestors and water gods is also used in Obon to send off spirits and to pray for rain.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

ことわざが人に用いられるのに対して，主に神仏や精霊など目に見えないものに祈願したり呼びかけたりする定型的な文句をいう。集団で，とくに子どもが声をそろえて唱えるものが多く，意味もはっきりしている。信仰に起源をもつ唱言が多いため，信仰の衰退に伴い数は減じてきているが，今でも年中行事や神事の中に残っている。節分の〈福は内，鬼は外〉は代表的な例で，小正月には〈なるか，ならぬか〉〈なります，なります〉という成木（なりき）責めの問答形式の唱言や〈朝鳥ホイホイ，夕鳥ホイホイ〉と唱えながら子どもたちが村を巡回する鳥追などがあり，盆の精霊送りや雨乞いにも先祖や水神に呼びかける唱言が使われる。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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