The Moon, the Hole, and Women - Wakayama Prefecture - circa 1973

The Moon, the Hole, and Women - Wakayama Prefecture - circa 1973

Around 1973, there is a record of a "moon-waiting event" held exclusively by women in a mountainous area of Wakayama Prefecture. In this event, women would gather at night in a mountain hut, quietly wait for the moon to rise and talk with each other, then dig a hole in the ground and bury something in it. At first glance, the custom may seem simple, but it is believed to have been a deeply rooted folk belief that combined the physical senses with cosmic rhythms.

At the time, Japan was in the final stages of its rapid economic growth, and urbanization and industrialization were spreading to the countryside. Life was becoming more mechanical, and the connection with nature and communal rituals of the past were beginning to disappear. Especially in the early 1970s, the depopulation of rural villages and the exodus of young people to the cities were becoming more pronounced, and the roles and sense of time of the women who remained in the villages were changing dramatically. Against this backdrop, the "moon-waiting," based on the cosmic rhythm of the waxing and waning of the moon, may have been a quiet ritual of resistance against the rapid currents of the times.

Although there is no clear documentation of the act of "digging a hole and burying it," from a folklore perspective, it could have symbolic meanings of rebirth, purification, and sealing. In particular, since it is a ritual performed by women, it is highly possible that it was associated with physical experiences such as menstruation and childbirth. The moon has long been considered a mystical presence linked to the female body, and in many cultures, "moon-waiting" has been associated with prayers for safe childbirth and the spiritual protection of women.

By the time this event was recorded in 1973, the tradition was already fading away, and even the recorder himself seemed to have lost track of the details. However, in these fragmentary memories, the silent wisdom and solidarity of the women, exchanged at the boundary between the everyday and the otherworldly, are still alive. Although such rituals are rarely seen today, there once existed an endemic world in which the moon and the land, the body and nature gently resonated with each other.