Meiwa, Mie

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This article is about the town in Mie Prefecture, Japan. There is another town with the same name in Gunma Prefecture, see Meiwa, Gunma.

Meiwa (明和町; -cho) is a town located in Taki District, Mie, Japan.

In 1958, the town of Sanwa and the village of Saimei merged to form Meiwa Town. the district is famous for the close connections it maintained with Ise Shrine, and many historical ruins and kofun temuli have been discovered here.

At the end of the 7th century, an Imperial residence (known as a Saiku) was erected for the Saio, a princess who devotes herself to the service of Ise Shrine, and during the Edo period the area developed into a thriving agricultural center and post-town, providing lodging to people making the pilgrimage to the Grand Shrine of Ise. Vestiages of these ancient times are still to be found today.

As of 2003, the town has an estimated population of 22,617 and a density of 553.52 persons per km². The total area is 40.86 km².

[edit] History

Meiwa is best known as the location of the ancient Saiku, residence of the Saio. A Saio is an unmarried Imperial princess who, in place of the Emperor, was dispatched to serve the goddess of the Grand Shrine of Ise. When the emperor ascended the throne, divination was used to choose a Saio from among the unmarried princesses of the Imperial family. The Saio would then, after a time of purification, leave the capital to reside at the Saiku, just 10km north of Ise. The Saio system began in the latter half of the 7th century and lasted for roughly 660 years, before disappearing during the disturbances of the Nanbokucho period around the mid 14th century.

Legend relates that 2,000 years ago, the divine Yamatohime-no-Mikoto set out from Mt. Miwa, in Nara Prefecture, in search of the place where the goddess Amaterasu-Omikami was enshrined. More than twenty years of travel finally brought her to the goal of her search in Ise. It was from this event that the Saio system gets its origin, and following upon the example set by Yamatohime-no-Mikoto, it is to women that the responsibility of protecting Amaterasu-Omikami has been entrusted.

On her journey, Yamatohime-no-Mikoto traveled down the Kushida River and stopped at Sasafue where she erected a shrine. That shrine remains in Meiwa Town today as the Sasafue-Angu Ruins. She then set out upon the ocean, which at the time was so calm she named the area Ōyodo (translating roughly to "great stillness"), and founded the Ōyodo Shrine.

According to the Man'yoshu (The Anthology of Ten Thousand Leaves), the first Saio was the princess Okunohime-miko, daughter of Emperor Temmu. The Saio was primarily responsible for performing three important Shinto rituals at the Ise Shrine. In June and November she would visit the shrine to pray and hold the Tsukinamisai Festivals. The third was the Kannamesai Festival, held in September, in which she made offerings to the gods of the year's new grain harvest, and of which she herself partook.

In early June in the area around the Saiku Historical Museum, the local Saio Festival is held, treating onlookers to a veritable scene from the ancient picture scrolls of the Imperial Heian court. Following excavations of the Saiku, the Saio Matsuri (festival) was begun to pacify the souls of the Saio and the people who had lived there with her. The festival is held for two days under the supervision of a board of organisers.

[edit] External links

• Meiwa official website in Japanese
• Saiku Historical Museum
• Itsukinomiya Historical Hall in Japanese