Shinto Festival Carries on Centuries-Old Tradition in Japan

choi

Malcolm Foster, Shinto Festival Carries on Centuries-Old Tradition in Japan. Associated Press, Dec 5, 2019
https://apnews.com/86bd4bfa84564f29adb8d4bac78e0563

Note:
(a) The Scpttish surname Malcolm is "from the Gaelic personal name Maol-Choluim 'devotee of (Saint) Columba [521 – June 597; born in Ireland and died in Scotland].' "

(b) "scores of men, women and teenagers crying 'washoi, washoi' haul the last of six towering, lantern-covered floats up a small hill and into the town center, the culminating moment of a Shinto festival that has evolved from a harvest thanksgiving into a once-a-year meeting between two local gods. * * * The Chichibu Night Festival 秩父夜祭 * * * two-day festival * * * Minoru SONODA 薗田 稔, the chief priest of the Chichibu Shrine and a former Kyoto University professor of religious studies.  In 2016, it was designated a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage. * * * During medieval times, the festival evolved into a celebration of an annual rendezvous between the nearby mountain god and the goddess of the town. * * * the festival, which draws about 200,000 people every December * * * the town, about 90 minutes by train northwest of Tokyo * * *
(i) The correct romanization of the chant is wasshoi; わっしょい (hiragana) or ワッショイ (katakana).

PJ Leonard, 'Wasshoi'! All About Japanese Festivals. WanderWisdom, Oct 18, 2017
https://wanderwisdom.com/travel- ... -Japanese-Festivals
(" 'Wasshoi' is the distinctive chant of many a festival across Japan, usually by the people who are carrying the mikoshi [神輿] or wheeling the dashi around town. The exact meaning is shrouded in mystery")

The "dashi" is defined in (c).
(ii) Chichibu Shrine  秩父神社
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichibu_Shrine (in City of Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture 埼玉県 秩父市)

(c) "Susumu Shimazono 岛薗 进, a professor of religion at Tokyo's Sophia University 上智大学, a Jesuit school"

Japanese-English dictionary:
* dashi 山車; 花車 【だし; さんしゃ(山車)】 (n): "parade float; festival float"
* 園(P); 苑 【その; えん】 (n, n-suf): "(えん usually when a suffix) (See りんご園) garden (esp. man-made)"
* daijōsai 大嘗祭  (n): " first ceremonial offering of rice by newly-enthroned Emperor"
* kōshi 皇嗣 【こうし】 (n): "Imperial heir; Crown Prince"
* uta-makura 歌枕 【うたまくら】 (n): "oft-repeated descriptive epithets in poetry"  (枕 in Japanese also means pillow.)

(d) "visitors to the Ise Grand Shrine, Japan's most important shrine, have grown in recent years * * * [prime minister Shinzō] Abe drew attention to Shinto by hosting the 2016 Group of Seven summit in Ise-Shima and took fellow leaders to visit the Ise Grand Shrine, dedicated to the sun goddess. He also attended a once-every-20-years event at Ise in 2013, only the second prime minister to do so."
(i)
(A) Ise Grand Shrine  伊勢神宮
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ise_Grand_Shrine
("The old shrines are dismantled and new ones built on an adjacent site to exacting specifications every 20 years at exorbitant expense, so that the buildings will be forever new and forever ancient and original. The present buildings, dating from 2013, are the 62nd iteration to date and are scheduled for rebuilding in 2033. * * * as a part of the Shinto belief of the death and renewal of nature and the impermanence of all things and as a way of passing building techniques from one generation to the next. The twenty-year renewal process is called the Shikinen Sengū [式年遷宮 (the ceremony associated wit it is 式年遷宮祭)]")

is located in present-day 伊勢市.
(B) Joe Miranda, Grand Shrine of Ise. Spacesmith.com, Aug 28, 2018 (photos)
https://www.spacesmith.com/blog/grand-shrine-of-ise
("The Shrine is Reborn [which is sectional heading:] From the aerial perspective, two identical shrines are visible. One is the newly constructed Grand Shrine and the other is the previous shrine, completed exactly 20 years before. To mark this transition, a sacred mirror where Amaterasu is enshrined is carried from the old temple to new where it shall reside, meticulously cared for and protected.   The shrine is not finished with lacquer or paint, and the purity of the wood is celebrated. Time and nature take their natural course and the shrine itself begins its temporary life, serving its purpose until the next cycle is completed. * * * The Japanese Cypress trees are chosen hundreds of years in advance")
(ii) Ise-Shima

This shima is not an island. Instead the name (of a present-day city 志摩市) came from the former 志摩国, whereas City of Ise, from the former 伊勢国.  (Both 伊勢市 and 志摩市 are within Mie Prefecture 三重県.)  伊勢志摩 is the current region that straddles both 伊勢国 and 志摩国, and that forms 伊勢志摩国立公園.

(e) "Last month, newly enthroned Emperor Naruhito 徳仁 spent the night in a makeshift shrine built (and which will later be demolished) with public funds in a ceremony called Daijosai, or the Great Thanksgiving. According to authorities, in this most important succession rite, he gave thanks for harvests, prayed for the peace and safety of the nation and hosted the imperial family’s ancestral gods."

Daijōsai  大嘗祭
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/大嘗祭

(f) "Crown Prince Akishino, Naruhito's younger brother"
(i) Fumihito, Prince Akishino
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fumihito,_Prince_Akishino
(ii) The ja.wikipedia.org [age for him is under the title of "秋篠宮," which says, "宮号は、和歌の歌枕として有名な奈良県奈良市の「秋篠（あきしの）」に由来する。"

my translation: His title is derived from frequent motif in 和歌 of 秋篠 [篠 is dwarf bamboo] for which 奈良市 is/was  famous.

歌枕 is defined in (c).

(g) "Rightwing groups such as Nippon Kaigi"
(i) Nippon Kaigi  日本会議
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nippon_Kaigi
(1997- ; Founder  塚本 幸一 Kōichi Tsukamoto (founder of Wacoal (1949- ; based in Kyoto) ); based in Tokyo)
(ii) Corporate History. Wacoal Holdings Corp, undated
https://www.wacoalholdings.jp/en/company/grouphistory/index.html
(1946 Wak[ō] Sh[ō]ji [和江商事] (precursor to Wako Corp) founded by K[ō]ichi Tsukamoto; 1949 Wak[ō] Corp [和江商事株式会社] established; 19576 Company name changed to Wacoal Inc [ワコール株式会社])
(iii) グンゼは「郡是」、キヤノンは「観音」？ 社名のルーツが面白い！  朝日学情ナビ, undated
https://asahi.gakujo.ne.jp/commo ... aper/detail/id=1844
("◆ワコール   江州（ごうしゅう）とも呼ばれる滋賀にちなみ「和江商事」で創業。「江州に和す」の意。「和江の名を永遠に留める（＝和江留）」の意味を込めて「ワコール」に")

my translation: Wacoal   eatsblished 和江商事 based on Shiga Prefecture 滋賀県, formerly known as 江州 [where 塚本 幸一  hailed from]. Meaning: Harmonize with 江州. Wacoal sounds like 和江留.

(h) "participants clad in traditional happi coats"
(i) happi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happi
(ii) The ja.wikipedia.org for  says the name came from 半臂 hanpi. Indeed, search images.google.com with 法被 shows photos of men and women showing forearms.