Guide to Noto’s Satoyama and Satoumi (Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems) by Photos and Movies
Name
Sickle Ritual
Address
Fujii and Kanamaru, Nakanoto Town
Category
Festival
Class
Custom
Designation
Sickle ceremony of Suwa Festival in Noto: Ishikawa Prefecture Intangible Folk Cultural Asset (October 1992)
Comment
On August 27, Sukuna-hikokami-kataishi Shrine in Kanamaru and Sumiyoshi Shrine in Fujii hold this ceremony to pray for protection from typhoons, lightening and tornadoes. According to legend, the two deities, Ônamochi-no-mikoto and Sukunahiko-no-mikoto, conquered Noto, and the deity of Suwa Shrine, Takaminaka-no-mikoto led them by cutting down trees and grass with a sickle and repelling harmful insects and birds. This ceremony has been designated as an intangible folk cultural asset by Ishikawa Prefecture. In the ceremonies of both temples, a wind-calming ritual is carried out in front of a sacred tree (Japanese machilus), and an offering of rice-plant ears and a pair of sickles is made. In the Kanamaru area, the festival head knocks the two sickles into the trunk of the sacred tree with a hammer in the order of left, and then right. In the Fujii area, the priest knocks the male sickle and the ward mayor knocks the female sickle into the sacred tree, and they pray for a good harvest and good health.
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