Kitahiroshima, a town about 40km north of the city of Hiroshima, is located in a farming region known for its smooth rolling hills covered in rice fields. On the first Sunday of June each year, a series of rituals takes place to celebrate the rice deity and ensure a good harvest. Collectively, these rituals are known as "mibu no hana taue".
By the first Sunday of June, actual rice planting has ended. Mibu no hana taue marks the end of planting by re-enacting the stages of planting in a special field reserved for the custom. The ritual begins at the local shrine, where cows are dressed in elaborately decorated harnesses and mountings. The local people don beautiful traditional robes and hats and depart from the shrine accompanied by drumming and flute playing. The procession then makes its way to the rice fields, led by an elder with a sacred stick.
In the field, the decorated cows enact the plowing of the field. After this, girls dressed in colorful clothing bundle the seedlings together while singing ritual songs under the direction of the elder. When the bundling is finished, the rice field is leveled with a tool called an "eburi" which is said to contain the deity of the rice fields. At the end of the ritual, the eburi is planted upside down in the field’s water with three bundles of rice seedlings.
Mibu no hana taue is said to have been celebrated since the 15th century, and its associated songs and dances are handed down orally from generation to generation. If you find yourself around Hiroshima in early June, consider making the trip north to experience this unique and ancient traditional event that is recognized on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
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Diarmuid O'Connor
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