![]() ![]() The offerings are then withdrawn and the kami respectfully requested to retire. Individual worshippers present offerings of branches of a sacred tree ( tamagushi), and ceremonial music and dancing ( gagaku and bugaku) are performed. Prayers ( norito) are recited by the priests. Next the food offerings ( shinsen) are presented and on occasion other offerings, heihaku (literally, “cloth,” but in modern usage including also paper, jewels, weapons, money, and utensils). The kami is then requested to descend into its symbol or object of residence ( shintai) in an invocatory rite that consists of opening the inner doors of the shrine, beating a drum or ringing bells, and calling the kami to descend. The participants first purify themselves ( see harai) by periods of abstinence, which may vary from a number of hours to days, and by bathing ( misogi), preferably in salt water. A matsuri generally falls into two parts: the solemn ritual of worship, followed by a joyous celebration. The term matsuri-goto, which literally means “affairs of religious festivals,” in common usage also means “government.” This is in accordance with the tradition that the ceremonies of Shintō were the proper business of the state, and that all important aspects of public just as of private life were the occasions for prayers and reports to the kami. Matsuri vary according to the shrine, the deity or sacred power ( kami) worshipped, and the purpose and occasion of the ceremony and often are performed in accordance with traditions of great antiquity. Matsuri, ( Japanese: “festival”), in general, any of a wide variety of civil and religious ceremonies in Japan more particularly, the shrine festivals of Shintō. ![]()
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