Uzuki 8th - Uzukiyoka

It refers to April 8th and the events held on that day. At temples, the Buddha's birthday is celebrated by erecting a statue of Buddha on a roof covered with flowers and pouring sweet tea over it. However, many of the events held on this day in various regions have nothing to do with Buddha. To summarize, they include decorating the eaves with flowers, attaching flowers to the end of a pole and setting it up, going to the mountains to pick flowers, climbing a mountain to view the flowers, climbing a mountain without regard to flowers, and offering flowers at the Buddhist altar or grave. They can be broadly divided into decorating with flowers and climbing a mountain. Based on the idea that ancestral spirits pass through the mountains to reach the human village, these are intended to welcome the ancestral spirits possessed by flowers back from the mountains to the village, or directly by attaching flowers to a pole without passing through the mountains. The beginning of April, along with O-bon, is an important time for ancestral festivals, and also marks the start of agricultural work, so this was the time to welcome the rice field gods, who acted as ancestral spirits, and pray for a good harvest.

[Shoji Inoguchi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

4月8日、およびその日の行事をいう。寺院では釈迦(しゃか)の降誕日として灌仏会(かんぶつえ)が行われ、草花で屋根を葺(ふ)いた中に釈迦の像を立て、甘茶を注ぎかける。ところが、各地のこの日の行事は、釈迦とは無関係のものが多い。それらを要約すると、軒(のき)に花を飾る、竿(さお)の先に花をつけて立てる、山へ花をとりに行く、花見のために山に登る、花に関係なく山に登る、仏壇か墓に花を供える、などの形があり、花を飾ることと、山に登ることとに大別することができる。これは、祖霊が山を通って人里に来臨するという考えを背景として、花に憑依(ひょうい)させた祖霊を、山から里へ迎え帰り、あるいは山を経由しないで直接、竿に花をつけて迎えようとするものである。4月初めは盆とともに重要な先祖祭りの機会で、また同時に農作業の開始時期にあたるので、このとき祖霊の一機能としての田の神を迎え、豊作を祈願したのが始まりであった。

［井之口章次］

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