Rice-Planting Festival at Osaka

Rice-Planting Festival at Osaka

June 14

There are many rituals associated with the growing of rice in Japanese farming communities. June marks the beginning of the rainy season, and transplanting usually takes place during June and July. In many rural celebrations, young women in costume perform rituals including planting seedlings while singing rice-planting songs to the accompaniment of pipes and drums. Sometimes women light fires of rice straw and pray to the rice god. Shinto priests are often asked to offer prayers for a good harvest season.
On June 14 in Osaka, thousands congregate to observe a group of young kimono-clad women plant rice and sing in the sacred fields near the Sumiyoshi Shrine. Working rhythmically to the music, the young women appear to be participating in a dance rather than the hard work of planting.

CONTACTS:
Osaka Convention and Tourism Bureau
5F Resona Semba Bldg.
4-4-21, Minamisemba, Chuo-ku
Osaka, 542-0081 Japan
81-6-6282-5911; fax: 81-6-6282-5914
www.octb.jp/english

SOURCES:
BkHolWrld-1986, Jun 7
JapanFest-1965, pp. 92, 158

Celebration day: Jun 14