2014 Volume 7 Issue 1 Pages 1-12
The Nanajugo-za-no-shinji as Shinto Ritual, offering hijiki Sargassum fusiforme as ambrosia, has being handed down since the end of the 13th century at Iwafune district of Kazusa-no-kuni in Boso Peninsula. At present, this district is part of the Isumi City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It has been performed by the tradition that local people at Iwafune district rescued noble Fujiwara Kanesada and his group who were wrecked and dropped off to Iwafune in 1275. The Nanajugo-za-no-shinji as Shinto Ritual offers 75 tables that put raw hijiki, dried bonito shavings, rice cake, boiled rice and sliced raw eggplant with half-split chopsticks in menu as ambrosia, for the 75 Gods. In the 8th to 12th centuries, Hijiki-Wake clan performed the noble person's funeral, especially for the Imperial clan. They offered Hijiki-Obono at the funeral, that was the boiled rice with a seaweed. The term“hijiki”, which is used today as a seaweed name, may be derived from Hijiki-Wake clan or Hijiki-Obono as one of the symbols of funeral. The Nanajugo-za-no-shinji as Shinto Ritual, as autumn festival at present, may originate in memorial funeral ceremony with hijiki for the Kanesada group.
