Onibitaki is one of the New Year events of Kagoshima. In Kaseda, people call it Oneppo etc. It is the big fire festival performed at a river side or a crossing. This has the meaning of a talisman.
The New Year event of Kaseda is divided into three groups- the New Year's
Day (Ganjitu), the seven spring herbs (Nanakusa), and the Japanese New Year (Koshougatu)-. In Kaseda, the day of the seven spring herbs is called Nankanse. This means the seasonal festival on the seventh of January. From seven
houses of neighbors or a relatives, 7-year-old children get Nanazushi (rice gruel containing the seven spring herbs). In the same day, there
is a big fire festival in a dry riverbed or an open space. People burn
the New Year decoration tidied up on the day before (Muikadoshi). This event is called Onekko, Oneppo, Oneppoppo, Onikenbi, etc. It is the dialect of Onibitaki. Even now, it is performed in many parts of this city except Tsunuki and
Kominato.
In Atagokami, people perform Oneppoppo on the night of January 6. They construct a tower with a bamboo. And they put the New Year decoration which children have collected. The children of Toshiotoko or Toshionna - man or woman who was born in a year with the same sign of the Chinese zodiac as the current year - attach fire. Just then, a bamboo bursts with a clap. Once, children prepared on the evening of the 6th of January. And, they kept watch all night, and they burn the tower on the early morning of the 7th of January.
In Atagokami, people believe that they began the fire festival as a talisman to an infectious disease. They say that they do not become sick in the smoke of Oneppoppo even now. Once, They toasted pieces of rice cake by this fire, and wished the health for one year. Instead Now, A parent-and-child meeting prepares Zenzai (adzuki-bean soup with rice cake).
Moreover in Nakayama of Kukino, people hang the paper describing a demon's picture from the top of the tower of Onibitaki. And children threw firewood at it and they dropped it . In Kaseda, there are some communities which performs a fire festival at a crossroads or a junction of three roads. People believe that an evil spirit gather in a crossroads. A fire festival is meaningful in "expelling a demon and praying for health."
Photo: Oneppo in Ichiki-Yamashita, Kaseda (43.8KB)
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