広島県庄原市西城町（旧奴可郡）の神弓祭

The Shinto priests of Hiroshima prefecture have transmitted rituals called “jinkyusai” or “yumikagura.” In this ritual, the priest sounds the string of a bow priest set on the floor and chants prayers and songs to the sound in order to worship the gods. 　　The present paper describes the jinkyusai transmitted by Shinto priests at Saijo-cho, Shobara-shi (formerly Nuka-gun), Hiroshima-ken, a ritual that has not been introduced much until now. Based on field study and interviews with persons concerned, it examines how the festival is held today and analyzes its characteristics. 　　The jinkyusai of Saijo-cho consists of three parts: welcoming the gods, entertaining the gods, and sending off the gods. Of the three, focus is placed on the second element – entertaining the gods with music and consulting the oracles. To do this, many prayers and ceremonies are created for the various godheads which the shrine parishioners worship. 　　The ritual of jinkyusai is characterized by the tone of voice which is used to chant the words, types of musical instruments employed (ceremonial implements), differences in sounding the bow and drum. When focus is placed on how the ritual is performed, we notice that many musical instruments are used and performed in a lively manner as the priests welcome and send off the gods. Contrary to that, when the priests express their wishes to the gods, the number of musical instruments is less and the tone of voice tends to become monotonous. In these ways, the jinkyusai is a ritual using various characteristics of performing arts in order to express communication with the gods.