| Traditional Event of Rinnoji Temple |
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Traditional event of Rinnoji Temple has history of over 1,200 years.
General public can participate in the following events.
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| *Saitan Meeting |
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Bell will start ringing in the night of New Year's Eve. Also, the
Saitan meeting will start at the same time as the ringing bell.
The Saitan meeting will continue until the morning of January 1st.
National peace and personal safety will be prayed in this ceremony.
It will last until January 7th.
In the morning of January 1st,
place of the ceremony will be moved from Hondoh main hall to Taiyuin
Mausoleum in order to carry out Nenshi new year meeting. Shoshou
Buddhist meeting will follow the Nenshi meeting. The Shoshou meeting
will be carried out in Jogyo-doh hall. That meeting is to eliminate
evil of last year, and pray luck for the New Year. Then Nenga-shiki
new year's greeting ceremony will be carried out in Honbou main
house. The successor of Rinnoji Temple will hand seaweed out to
priests. The Nenga-shiki also is called Otekobu-shiki.
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| *Festival Day for the God
of Toyama Bishamon-ten |
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The festival will be carried on January 3rd. Religious followers
can borrow money from Toyama Bishamon-doh hall. They spend it for
their basic fund of business. The borrowers repay by doubling the
amount of money next year.
Followers
start climbing the mountain in the night, and wait for the dawn
because they want to worship the sunrise. Then the ceremony of money
lending goes on. However, there is no actual contract because Toyama
Bishamon-doh hall and its followers are tied with deep faith.
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Festival day for the God of Toyama Bishamon-ten
(At the top of Mt. Toyama)
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| *Setsubun Meeting |
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Setsubun festival celebrates the eve of the beginning of spring.
That will be carried on February 3rd. Priests from all over the
Nikko assemble at Sanbutsu-doh hall under the instruction of successor
of Rinnoji Temple. Participants of this ceremony will be over 100
people. However, it does not mean that anyone can attend the ceremony.
Participants must have a certain status regarding their birth year.
The Setsubun festival goes
on in the following order.
1, Fire burning for invocation
2, Sutra skip reading
3, Bean-scattering ceremony
4, Garamaki-scattering ceremony
The Garamaki is that participant
scatter goods to visitors.
The goods are believed to celebrate luck if visitors pick it up.
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| *Kaizan Meeting |
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This Buddhist rite will be carried out on April 1st. That day is
the anniversary of Priest Shoto's death. This meeting will be taken
place in Kaizan-doh hall, where seated image of Shoto is enshrined.
Priests
of Rinnoji Temple and its followers gather in this hall, and they
will read Hokke sutra intensively.
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| *Ennen-no-mai
Dance |
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This ceremony will be carried on May 17th to pray national peace
and long life. The Ennen-no-mai dance will be dedicated on the dance
stage of Sanbutsu-doh hall.
According
to a historical record, Ennin Saint Jikaku introduced this dance
from Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907). Two of new successor will take
each place and dance on the stage. Other priests recite vocal music
while in dance.
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Ennen-no-mai Dance
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| *Takigi Noh-play |
This event was revived in recent year. Stage is built near the Sanbutsu-doh
hall. You should confirm date and program because it will slightly
be changed every year.
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Takigi Noh-play at Rinnoji Temple
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| *Etsunen-goma |
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The Etsunen-goma is a fire burning for invocation. It starts in
the night of December 31st. Buddhist altar will be set in front
of the Sanbutsu-doh hall. Priests burn a holy fire in dignity.
The
fire will burn all sins out. Priests recite sutra while the fire
is burning, and its voice resounds in the night sky.
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Noten-saitou-oogoma
Big fire burning under the sky
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| *Two ceremonies
of compulsory rice eating |
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The ceremony of compulsory rice eating is called Gohhan-shiki. It
has a long history in Rinnoji Temple. The Gohhan-shiki will be carried
out on April 2nd inside the Sanbutsu-doh hall.
Participants
of the Gohhan-shiki will receive the big rice bowl, which contains
5.4 litters of rice. It is believed that the participants will have
a family fortune and a healthy life without accident.
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Compulsory rice eating in Rinnoji Temple
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On the contrary, the ceremony of compulsory rice eating also is carried
out for children in Ikuoka Shrine. It will be carried out on November
25th. In this ceremony, children will be forced to eat piles of taro
instead of rice.
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Child Gohhan-shiki in Ikuoka Shrine
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