Prayer and Laughter: A New Year's Event of Prayer and Laughter on Yakushima Island (Late Edo Period-Postwar Showa Period)

Prayer and Laughter: A New Year's Event of Prayer and Laughter on Yakushima Island (Late Edo Period-Postwar Showa Period)

Monmawari, a New Year's event on Yakushima Island, is a folk ritual in which children visit each house at the beginning of the year, chanting festive songs and inviting good fortune for the New Year. The origin of this ritual dates back to the late Edo period (1603-1868), and is said to be a fusion of "welcoming the New Year's gods" and "mountain god beliefs" in the island society. The lyrics of the song include such phrases as, "Ou mo osu, kadomatsu, the pine tree at Kido has flourished this year." The song was a ritualistic element that not only wished for the prosperity of each family, but also confirmed the solidarity of the community. Children sang in unison, sometimes improvising lyrics that poked fun at the household members, and the power of laughter was imbued in the folklore. This later developed into the "Turtle Woman Dance" and other comical dances that colored the island's New Year's scenery.

On the seventh day of the New Year, "Onibitaki" was held on the beach in front of the Mashu Shrine. This ritual, in which bamboo and pine decorations are gathered and a fire is built to exorcise the year's impurities with smoke from the burning New Year's decorations, is similar to the "Dondoyaki" event in Kyushu, but in Yakushima it is combined with "mairi" to send mountain deities. The fire connecting the mountains and the sea was believed to be a "sacred fire to start the year's work" for both fishermen and farmers, and it was believed that bringing the embers from the beach to the mountains and sowing them in the fields would bring a bountiful harvest.

Even as forestry and power development advanced in the modern era and the unity of the village community loosened, the singing of the Kadokuri did not cease. During the chaotic period during and after World War II, there is a record that local children spontaneously continued to sing the songs at their school and revived the festival. This was not mere entertainment, but a "ritual of rebirth" for a lost community.

Today, the festival is sometimes re-enacted as a tourist event, but for the elderly people of the island, the gate rounding is the "starting point of society," linking prayers to the gods and greetings to neighbors. On that night when fire, song, and laughter intermingle, the people of Yakushima have reconnected nature, the gods, and the circle of people as one.