The tranquil and pure air fills the sanctuary at night. Stars hang overhead. Occasionally, the cawing of a flying squirrel can be heard, echoing prominently among the trees.

Approximately 1500 festivals are held at Ise Grand Shrine throughout the year. Among these, the three festivals, known as the Kanname Festival in October and the Tsukinami Festival in June and December, are held in pure darkness known as Joan. The noisy air of the day is cleared away, and the only light is from torches and bonfires, barely enough to illuminate hands and feet.

This time, we will introduce the Kanname-sai festival, one of the night festivals held in this extraordinary sacred area.

Kannamesai, a festival to offer new grain to Amaterasu Omikami and give thanks for the harvest

The Kanname-sai festival, held every October, is the most important festival at the shrine, in which the new grain harvested that year is offered to Amaterasu Omikami and other gods as thanksgiving for their blessings.

On this day, special offerings called Yuki no Omike are made, including steamed rice (miii), oval-shaped rice cakes (mimochi), and sake (miki), all made from new grains.

It was believed that the gods would eat the new grain and gain new energy, thereby greatly increasing their power.

The god's clothes are replaced with new ones, and the sakaki tree is also renewed, and the day of the Kanname-sai festival approaches.

At the Kanname-sai festival, not only new rice but also a variety of other things are prepared anew.

One example is sacred salt (mishio), which is essential for offerings to the gods and purification rituals. During the summer, coarse salt (arajio) is refined using traditional Japanese salt-making methods in salt fields called Mishiohama. Every year in October and March, the salt is packed into earthenware vessels and baked to harden into hard salt (katashio), which is then preserved.

Additionally, the divine garments known as Kanmiso are woven every year for around ten days from October 1st using traditional looms from Nigitae (silk) and Aratae (hemp), and are offered to Amaterasu Omikami at the Kanmiso Festival, held the day before the Kanname-sai festival.

Furthermore, on the day before the Kanname-sai festival, the priests clean the main hall, and all of the sakaki branches decorating the torii gates, gates, and sacred fences, as well as the paper streamers made of Japanese paper attached to the branches, are also renewed.

The day of the festival begins when all the gods' food, clothing, and shelter are purified.

Meanwhile, the priests who serve in the festival also purify their bodies and minds. First, on the last day of the previous month, that is, on September 30th, they perform a purification ceremony to purify themselves of their sins and impurities, and then they seclude themselves in the Saikan (a sacred hall) from two days before the Kanname-sai festival.

Every time I visit the shrine, I feel refreshed and pure in both body and mind. This is probably due to the accumulation of over 1000 years of work by priests and other service workers who have devoted themselves to providing food, clothing, and shelter for the gods, and who have continued to perform festivals while striving to maintain purity themselves.

The first harvest of rice is brought by the citizens of Ise before the festival begins.

The centerpiece of the Kanname-sai is the Yukino-Omike ritual, in which food offerings are made to the gods. It is held twice a year, at the Geku on October 15th and 16th, and at the Naiku on the 16th and 17th. All festivals at the Ise Jingu are Geku-sensai, meaning that the Geku festival is held first.

However, prior to the evening festival, in the morning of October 15th, citizens of Ise dressed in happi coats load the first fruits onto a float and parade through the streets of Ise accompanied by lively chants and singing kiyari songs, before pulling the float into the grounds of the Outer Shrine in a public event called Okabiki.

During the Kanname-sai festival, the Emperor personally plants and harvests the first harvests of rice in the paddies within the Imperial Palace grounds, and farmers from all over the country also offer the first harvests. These bundles of rice are called kakechikara and are offered to the gods in gratitude.

Furthermore, in the morning of the following day, October 16th, the first offerings are again placed on boats called Hatsuho-bune and pulled up the Isuzu River into the grounds of the Inner Shrine.

The Kanname Festival begins with prayers to the local gods,
From a ritual to divine whether each priest who serves is in line with God's will

The Kanname-sai festival begins at 5pm.

Prior to the Yukinoomike ceremony, which takes place in the evening, the Okitama Shrine Festival and Miura ceremony are held at the main shrine of the Inner Shrine.

Okitama-no-Kami is the local deity of Omiyadokoro, the site where Amaterasu Omikami resides. He is enshrined inside the fence that surrounds the main hall, in the northwest corner of the Mikakiuchi. In front of this altar, all the serving priests offer prayers for the upcoming Kanname-sai festival to be carried out without any problems.

Afterwards, the chief priest and all the other priests take their seats on the clean stones of the Nakanoe area of ​​the Mikakiuchi. The Miura ritual is then performed, in which each priest is divined to see if they are in line with the will of the gods.

The traditional garden bow (teijozarei)

The rituals at the shrine are not performed on the floor inside the main hall or other buildings as at other shrines, but are all performed outdoors on a paved area of ​​white stones, like this Nakanoe, where the worshippers sit on a thin mat called a fusetsu, in a style known as teijozarei (sitting bow in the garden).

In ancient rituals before shrine buildings were built, it was believed that gods would descend from heaven in response to people's invitations or prayers, spending a time in the human world using large rocks or trees as a medium before returning to heaven. The rituals performed in the gardens of the shrine give a glimpse of this ancient ritual.

The unique Japanese sensitivity to sound that tells us whether something is in accordance with divine will

The divination ceremony is conducted by three priests. First, one calls out the name of each priest who will be serving. Each time, another priest takes a breath and makes a whistling sound called a "usobuki," followed by another priest striking the koto board with a shaku (wooden scepter) to produce a "kon" sound. If both sounds are produced successfully, the service of the priest whose name was called is deemed to have been in accordance with the will of the gods.

One thing to note in particular is that the sound of "usobuki" is produced by "inhaling" rather than "exhaling." The following passage is found in "Kotai Jingu Nenchu ​​Gyoji," a book written in the Kamakura period:

"If it makes a sound, it is considered pure; if it does not make a sound, it is considered impure."

"In other words, the sound of the puffing indicates whether the object is pure or impure," says Satoru Otoha, deputy director of the shrine's public relations department.

The determination of whether something is in accordance with the will of the gods places great importance on whether it is pure or impure, and the fact that sound is used to announce this gives us a glimpse into the unique Japanese sensibility towards sound.

The Yuki Omise offerings are a sumptuous array of 30 delicacies. Offerings made with the utmost care.

And then, night.

The drum is struck three times, and the Yukinoyube no Omike ritual finally begins. The Yukinoyube no Omike ritual is performed twice, at yoi (10 PM) and aki (2 AM), with yoi representing evening (yube) and aki (ashita) representing morning (ashita).

Soon, the drums were struck three times again, and the sound of the priests approaching could be heard from afar. The sound of them walking in perfect unison on the gravel stopped for a moment as they entered the purification hall to perform a purification ritual, and then they continued on their way toward the main shrine.

The sound of the procession approaches. Accompanying it is the soft "Oh" of the kami (prior purification). Along with the quiet, yet definite sound, priests in pure white robes emerge from the bonfire. Soon, their figures disappear behind the white shroud.

From this point on, we can imagine what the ritual was like by relying on the various sounds we hear from time to time and the written records.

According to the book "An Outline of the Shrine Rituals" written by the Taisho-era Shinto priest Sakamoto Kotaro, the Yuki-Omikaze offerings are placed on a large table called Shiraki no An, which is placed in front of the main hall.

By the way, Yuki means "sacred and supremely precious," and Omiseni means "a splendid meal." True to their names, the offerings include vegetables and fruits harvested from the gardens known as Jingu Misono, as well as 30 other seasonal ingredients from the sea, rivers, mountains, and fields.

In particular, abalone is prepared in a ceremony held just before the Yuki-Omisen-no-gi ceremony at the Naiku Shrine, at the Minie Chosha shrine located under the stone steps in front of the Main Shrine.

In this ceremony, Toyouke no Omikami, the Miketsukami deity who oversees meals for Amaterasu Omikami and the enshrined deity of the Outer Shrine, is welcomed, and in front of the altar, a priest uses a clean knife and chopsticks to make three cuts in the abalone and then mixes it with salt.

This single ceremony shows how much heartfelt offerings should be made to the gods.

Furthermore, when offering food to the gods, Kagura songs are sung to the accompaniment of musical instruments such as the Ryuteki flute and Hichiriki flute.

By the way, during the Yuki-Omisen ceremony, three offerings of sake are made, and with each offering, music is played with different words and tunes, and Kagura songs are sung.

The shrine's unique worship rituals of eight bows and eight open hands, as well as the sounds of music and Kagura songs,
A night festival filled with pure sounds

After the first offering of sake, the chief priest recites a prayer in a soft voice (so quiet that only the gods can hear it), followed by the eight-fold bow and eight open hands, a ritual unique to the shrine.

This bowing procedure involves first standing up from a seated position, a gesture called "kihai," which is repeated four times, then clapping one's hands eight times while lying down. Then, remaining seated, one more bow is made, and the same sequence is repeated again, with four kihai and eight claps of hands.

In the pure darkness, the occasional sounds of music and Kagura songs could be heard. And the solemn sound of the eight-hand bell. The night festival of the Kanname-sai, where new rice is offered once a year, was filled with pure sounds that could be described as a heartfelt offering.

The ceremony in which the Imperial Envoy presents the offerings made by the Emperor
The final Mikagura ceremony

The following day, October 16th, the "Hohei no Gi" ceremony will be held at the Outer Shrine from noon (the Inner Shrine will do so on the 17th), in which an Imperial Envoy will present a heihaku (offering) to be offered by the Emperor. A heihaku is an offering other than the sacred food. In the days before currency, silk fabrics were considered the most valuable items, and so the shrine continues this tradition today, accepting offerings of various types of fabric, including five-colored silk.

The festival concludes with a Mikagura ritual by the shrine's musicians. The four-hour offering of music and dance from evening into the night brings the festival to a close.

"Night is the time when the gods are active. When the sun sets and it gets dark, the day ends and a new day begins. At the beginning of this most important day, we comfort the gods' hearts. This way of thinking of ancient people has been passed down to the present day," says Otowa.

The rituals at the shrine, which retain their ancient traditions, are filled with the spirit that the Japanese people hold dear.

Text by Misa Horiuchi

Writer

When I went to Europe to cover classical music, I was asked a lot of questions about Japan.This experience of being unable to answer most of the questions prompted him to begin researching Japanese music, culture, and prayer.This year marks his 16th year. His books include "Adult Nara: A journey to clear your mind" and "Adult Nara: A journey through breathtaking views" (both published by Tankosha), and "The World of Kamuy" (published by Shinchosha).

Photo by Akihiko Horiuchi

Photographers
He currently photographs mainly shrines and Japanese prayers. His photo books include "Ainu Prayers" (Kyuryudo) and "To the Forest of Brahms' Music" (Sekai Bunka Publishing). He is also a photographer who loves Bach, Evans, and sacred mountains.