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Busha-Shinji of Shimogamo Shrine (May 5th, 2024)
Busha-Shinji of Shimogamo Shrine
Busha-Shinji of Shimogamo Shrine is presented here. Busha-Shinji is held every year on May 5th. Before Aoi Matsuri Festival, Busha-Shinji is a ritual in which the roadside of Aoi Matsuri Festival is purified with a bow and arrow to ward off evil spirits. At Busha-Shinji, yaetsu-shiki is held in which the kabura-ya (arrow) is shot over the roof of Ro-mon Gate. The hikimakabura with a sound is attached to the end of the kabura-ya (arrow) to purify it of evil spirits.
【Busha-Shinji 2024 Schedule (confirmation required)】
Busha-Shinji 2024 will be held on Sunday, May 5, 2024 at 11:00.
Aoi Matsuri Festival 2024
【Shimogamo Shrine Location Map & Directions】
Address: 59 Izumigawa-cho, Shimogamo, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Access (How to get there): Shimogamojinja-mae bus stop (short walk), Keihan Demachiyanagi Station (about 10 minutes on foot)
【Busha-Shinji brief overview】
Busha-Shinji (歩射神事) is the zen-gi (preliminary event) of Aoi Matsuri Festival (葵祭) Roto-no-gi (Period Procession), which is held every year on May 15th, and is held every year on May 5th. (In case of bad weather, Roto-no-gi is postponed to the next day, the 16th.) Busha-Shinji is a ritual in which the roadside of Aoi Matsuri Festival is purified with a bow and arrow to ward off evil spirits.
At Busha-Shinji, a Shinto ritual is first held at Honden (Main Shrine). Then, yaetsu-shiki is held in which the kabura-ya (arrow) shot over the roof of the 13-meter-high Ro-mon Gate. The hikimakabura with a sound is attached to the end of the kabura-ya (arrow) to purify it of evil spirits from Ro-mon Gate through which imperial envoys pass during Aoi Matsuri Festival.Afterwards, momote-shiki is held at a 50-meter archery range is set up between Ro-mon Gate and Buden, where the Ogasawara school, which has been practiced since the Kamakura period (1185-1333), is divided into three groups of Mae-yumi, Naka-yumi, and Ato-yumi, each shooting two arrows.
★It is said that the origin of Busha-Shinji is Jarai-no-gi, which was held at the imperial court during the Heian period (794-1185). In jarai-no-gi, it is said that court nobles and others performed shooting skills in the presence of the emperor on January 17th. It is said that the jarai-no-gi was transmitted from China.
★Ro-mon Gate (National Important Cultural Property) was built in 1628 in the early Edo period. In the western corridor, there is Ken-no-ma (Sword Room) where the emperor’s imperial envoys release the sword. Ro-mon Gate is built in the irimoya-zukuri style with a hiwadabuki cypress bark roof.
★Kyubajutsu Reiho Ogasawara-ryu (Ogasawara School) is a school of samurai tradition, archery, horsemanship, and etiquette of the Kyoto Ogasawara clan, a vassal of the Muromachi Shogunate. Archery and horsemanship were founded by Ogasawara Nagakiyo, a vassal of Minamoto no Yoritomo, the 1st Shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate, and was perfected by Ogasawara Sadamune. The etiquette was established by Ogasawara Nagahide, who taught Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, the 3rd Shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate, and wrote the etiquette book “Sangi-Itto”.
【Shimogamo Shrine History】
Shimogamo Shrine is officially called Kamo Mioya Shrine. Shimogamo Shrine is said to have originated during the reign of the first Emperor Jinmu (660 B.C.-582 B.C.), when the deity Kamo-Taketsunumi-no-mikoto descended on Mt. Mikage-yama, located at the western foot of Mt. Hiei-zan. In the oldest official history of Japan, “Nihon-Shoki” in the article of February, the 2nd year of Emperor Jinmu (659 B.C.), it is written that the clan that enshrined Kamo-Taketsunumi-no-mikoto was the Kamo clan. Later, in 580 B.C., miare ritual was held, and in 28 B.C., the shrine was said to have consecrated a sacred treasure.
【Busha-Shinji of Shimogamo Shrine remarks】
Always check with the organizer for event information. Information on this site is for reference only. Contents of the event may have changed.
葵祭2024日程(行事・・・)