Mikoshi

A mikoshi of Hiyoshi-taisha.

Mikoshi fighting on Nada-no-Kenka Matsuri at Himeji.

This mikoshi enshrines Tokugawa Ieyasu at the Tōshō-gū in Nikkō

A mikoshi (神輿 or 御輿) is a divine palanquin (also translated as portable Shinto shrine). Shinto followers believe that it serves as the vehicle to transport a deity in Japan while moving between main shrine and temporary shrine during a festival or when moving to a new shrine. Often, the mikoshi resembles a miniature building, with pillars, walls, a roof, a veranda and a railing.

Shapes

Typical shapes are rectangles, hexagons, and octagons. The body, which stands on two or four poles (for carrying), is usually lavishly decorated, and the roof might hold a carving of a phoenix.

Festival and flow

During a matsuri (Japanese festival) involving a mikoshi, people bear the mikoshi on their shoulders by means of two, four (or sometimes, rarely, six) poles. They bring the mikoshi from the shrine, carry it around the neighborhoods that worship at the shrine, and in many cases leave it in a designated area, resting on blocks called uma (horse), for a time before returning it to the shrine. Some shrines have the custom of dipping the mikoshi in the water of a nearby lake, river or ocean (this practice is called o-hamaori). At some festivals, the people who bear the mikoshi wave it wildly from side to side to "amuse" the deity (kami) inside.

Kind of shouldering types

The most common method of shouldering in Japan is "Hira-katsugi(Normal style) | 平担ぎ" The shout is "wasshoi | wa syoi | わっしょい," and may or may not toss and shake the mikoshi.

One famous way of shouldering is "Edomae style | 江戸前" seen by Asakusa Sanja Festival etc. The shout is "say ya, soi ya, sah, sorya...etc" The mikoshi is swayed rapidly, up and down and a little to the right and left.

(video) A local shrine being carried in Japan. As it is being carried the participants chant.

"Dokkoi | ドッコイ " is seen in Shonan in Kanagawa Prefecture. This shouldering style usually uses two poles. The mikoshi is moved up and down rhythmically, and more slowly than in the "Edomae style" One shout is "dokkoi dokkoi dokkoi sorya" and there is a song called a "Jink | lively song."

Odawara (next to the Hakone) "Odawara style | 小田原担ぎ " This is a peculiar way of shouldering in which multiple mikoshis meet and run (Holy Dash). The shout is "oisah;korasah/koryasah." and there is a song called a "Kiyari | "log-carriers(fishermans) chant" The bearers do not sway the mikoshi. In this "united" style, the mikoshi uses the full width of the road, moving from side to side and turning corners at full speed.

Theories

Roots

• The altar of the harvest festival carried out to the time which repeated migration by hunting and collection is the origin of a mikoshi.^{[citation needed]}
• Some theorize that "The origin of Japanese mikoshi is ancient Jewish tabernacle ark".^{[citation needed]}

Actually, mikoshi and the ark of the covenant do not have much in common. They differ in production and decoration (a phoenix or a crane being very different from cherubim.)^{[citation needed]}. See Japanese-Jewish Common Ancestor Theory.

First use

A mikoshi was believed to have been first used to transport Hachiman to Tōdai-ji temple from Usa Shrine 八幡宇佐宮御託宣集 in 749.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Honden

References

• Sokyo Ono, William P. Woodward, Shinto - The Kami Way, Charles E. Tuttle Company, Tokyo 1992, ISBN 4-8053-0189-9
• Basic Terms of Shinto, Kokugakuin University, Institute for Japanese Culture and Classics, Tokyo 1985

External links

• Mikoshi Photos of Shinto shrine (English version)
• Mikoshi Festival
• Shin'yo, in the Encyclopedia of Shinto by the Kokugakuin University

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