Agricultural Rites - Noukougirei

This refers to religious rites performed at each stage of the agricultural production process. Wet-rice cultivation is the core of agriculture in Japan, and agricultural rites have also placed emphasis on rice cultivation. If we list the main rites according to the development of rice cultivation, they can be divided into five stages: pre-celebration, sowing, rice planting, transition, and harvesting. Pre-celebration rites are rites held at the beginning of the year to pray for a good rice crop in advance, and involve formally plowing the rice field with three hoes, offering rice cakes and roasted rice, chanting congratulatory words for a good harvest, and inserting pine needles into the rice field as if they were seedlings. Many pre-celebration rites are also performed during the Little New Year, such as making mochi flowers, planting rice in the garden, and chasing birds. Seeding rituals include sowing rice seeds in the seedbed, celebrating by making offerings at the water outlet, and then erecting an imigushi (a sacred skewer) in the center of the seedbed as a place for the rice field god to reside. Rice planting rituals that attract attention include the rites to welcome and send off the rice field god. The Otaue and Hanataue rituals (hayada) that are handed down in the mountainous areas of the Chugoku region clearly show that rice planting was a religious ceremony. Transitional rituals include sending off insects to exterminate insect pests, praying for rain in preparation for droughts, praying for good weather in the event of long periods of rain, and wind festivals to avoid damage from typhoons. Harvest rites include a ceremony to hang the rice on Hassaku (August 1st) or on the shrine day, followed by a celebration of the harvest on the day of the boar in October or the night of the tenth (October 10th). The threshing ceremony is held after the rice threshing is complete, and a celebration of the harvesting is held after the threshing is complete. It is noteworthy that the concept of a husband and wife rice or a mother rice and a child rice, and various rituals based on this concept, are widely distributed among the rice-growing peoples of the islands of Southeast Asia, including Japan. In the Yaeyama Islands of Okinawa, rice piles and human birth chambers are both called shira. What can be seen from these rituals is the belief that the grain mother gives birth to and raises the grain children to continue on, as well as the existence of the motif of death and rebirth.

There are field crop rituals associated with the cultivation of wheat, millet, barnyard millet, and taro, but they are simplified compared to rice cultivation rituals. However, considering the situation before the spread of wet-rice cultivation, field crops and slash-and-burn farming also played a large role in Japan. As for millet and barnyard millet, there are still some areas where ears of millet and barnyard millet are displayed for New Year's ceremonies. In addition, there are many areas where the fifteenth night of the eighth month of the lunar calendar is called the potato harvest moon, and rituals in which taro is offered are prominent. It is thought that the rituals held on the fifteenth night of the eighth month, which were originally a harvest festival for taro-related potatoes, became linked to rice harvest rituals as wet-rice cultivation became more widespread. Taro-related potato harvest festivals are important among many ethnic minorities living in the mountainous regions of mainland China, and are an issue that should be studied comparatively.

[Naoe Koji]

"Study of Rice Cultivation Rites" by Mikio Ito (1974, Jitsuryo Shobo) " "Rice and Rites" edited by the Niname Research Group (1967, Kyodo Publishing)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

農耕の生産過程の折り目ごとに営まれる信仰的儀礼をいう。日本の農耕の中心は水稲栽培であり、農耕儀礼も稲作に重点が置かれてきた。稲米栽培の展開にしたがっておもな儀礼を記すと、予祝、播種(はしゅ)、田植、推移、収穫の五段階の儀礼に分けられる。予祝儀礼とは、年頭にあらかじめ稲作の豊饒(ほうじょう)を祈っておく儀礼で、形式的に田を三鍬(くわ)耕し、餅(もち)や焼き米を供えて豊饒を願う祝い言を唱えたり、松葉を苗に見立てて田に挿したりする。また、小(こ)正月には餅花(もちばな)づくり、庭田植、鳥追いなど、多くの予祝儀礼が営まれる。播種儀礼としては、種子籾(もみ)を苗代に播(ま)いたあと、水口(みなくち)に供え物をして祝い、ついで苗代の中心部に田の神の依代(よりしろ)として斎串(いみぐし)を立てる儀礼がある。田植儀礼には、田の神を迎え、また送る儀礼が注意をひく。中国地方の山間部に伝えられる大田植・花田植の儀礼（囃田）は、田植が神事であったことをよく示している。推移儀礼としては、虫害駆除のための虫送り、干魃(かんばつ)に備えての雨乞(あまご)い、長雨に際しての日和(ひより)乞い、台風の被害を避けるための風祭などが営まれる。収穫儀礼としては、八朔(はっさく)（8月1日）または社日(しゃにち)に穂掛けの儀礼、ついで10月の亥(い)の日や十日夜(とおかんや)（10月10日）に刈り上げの祝いが営まれる。稲扱(こ)きが済んだ段階で扱き上げ祝い、脱穀が済んでの庭上げ祝いなどがあって、収穫の諸儀礼が終了する。なお、日本を含めて東南アジアの島嶼(とうしょ)地帯の稲作諸民族の間には、夫婦稲(ふうふいね)とか母稲・子稲という観念と、それに基づくさまざまな儀礼が広く分布している点が注目される。沖縄八重山(やえやま)列島では、稲積みと人間の産室とを同じくシラとよんでいる。それら諸儀礼を通じてうかがえることは、穀母が穀童を産み育てて続いてゆくとの信仰、さらには死と再生というモチーフの存在であろう。

　畑作儀礼としては、麦、粟(あわ)、稗(ひえ)、里芋(さといも)などの栽培に伴うものがあるが、稲作儀礼と比較すると簡略化されている。しかし水稲栽培普及以前の状態を考えれば、日本においても畑作・焼畑の占める比重は大きなものがあった。粟や稗については、現在でも正月行事に粟穂・稗穂を飾る土地が点々とある。また旧八月十五夜を芋名月とよぶ地域は広く、里芋を供える儀礼が顕著である。元来タロイモ系統の芋の収穫祭であった八月十五夜の祭儀が、水稲栽培の普及に伴って、稲の収穫儀礼に結び付くようになったものと考えられる。タロイモ系統の芋の収穫祭は、中国大陸の山岳地帯に住む多くの少数民族の間で、大きな比重を占めており、比較研究すべき問題である。

［直江広治］

『伊藤幹治著『稲作儀礼の研究』（1974・而立書房）』▽『にいなめ研究会編『稲と祭儀』（1967・協同出版）』

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