August 7, 2015
Twirling and sailing together for Obon – Obon Rituals of the Sadamisaki Peninsula
Kenji Takashima, Ikata Town Machimi Local Museum
The Sadamisaki Peninsula is on the western-most edge of Shikoku, extending long and thin towards Kyushu. During Obon in the summer, a variety of unique events take place in Ikata Town, Ehime Prefecture, which is located on this peninsula. I would like to introduce a couple of those events.
Obon is the time of year when departed souls return to their homes. In the Sadamisaki Peninsula, the first Obon after an important member of the family passes away can be referred to as niibon, miibon or shiibon. The events for those years are always performed more carefully and thoughtfully, to welcome the returning soul and to send it back to the afterlife.
There are events referred to as Moryo or Moro in the Misaki region at the tip of the peninsula, and particularly unique among them is the Mouna event of the Matsu District. In this event, bamboo is fashioned into a cross and is decorated with a kimono. A face is attached and abalone is hung from the sleeves of the kimono. This large doll is constructed for each household whose departed member is experiencing their first Obon. The dolls are placed in the ground and twirled in place while chanting "mona, mona, momidobu." In other regions, variations on the Moryo can be seen that does not include the dolls but that include a similar practice of chanting while going around in circles, or chanting towards the sea.
In the Kawanohama District, there is an event called Nappoido. Children from households with departed members experiencing their first Obon carry bamboo grass adorned with many strips of fancy paper. The children gather on the beach with the bamboo grass, and on a specified signal, begin whipping the bamboo against the beach to try and remove all of the paper from the bamboo grass. Finally, the paper is collected and burned ceremoniously.
In the Ooku, Kawanohama, and Ooe districts, households with departed members experiencing their first Obon construct a large straw boat called an oshorobune, which they release into the ocean. The size and shape of the ships differ by region and are sometimes adorned with traditional dolls (ichimatsu ningyo) resembling the departed person, or "captains" of the ship carved from eggplants or pumpkins.
There are countless other events that occur in each region. These events have been designated as intangible folk cultural properties that need measures such as making records in 2010, and investigations are ongoing in each of these regions. A portion of the event was also captured on film in 2014, as a promotion of documenting endangered intangible folk cultural properties.