U no Matsuri

鵜祭 Cormorant Festival

1 Source and/or Related Material

Cormorant festival rituals and histories of the Keta Shrine

2 Author

Unknown

3 Repertoire

Komparu

4 Synopsis

An imperial envoy and his retinue (waki, wakitsure) travel to Noto Province (Ishikawa) in the Eleventh Month to participate in a festival of the Keta Shrine. Struggling through snow at Matsubara, they encounter two fisherwomen (maeshite, maetsure) who tell them about the origins of the festival rituals at Keta Shrine, mentioning one rite in which cormorants are sacrificed to the Gods. Their curiosity piqued, the envoys ask the women who they are, and they reveal that they are Gods of Keta Shrine, then vanish into the shrine’s main chapel. The God of a lesser shrine (ai) appears and performs a dance. Then, the God Hachijin Gyokuden (nochitsure) appears and opens the gates of the main chapel to reveal the God Keta. The two Gods dance together, and soon night falls, and the cormorants must be sacrificed. At that moment, a cormorant (kokata) flies in and offers itself on the altar. Keta proclaims that the cormorant will go to Paradise because of its willingness to sacrifice itself. Hachijin Gyokuden allows the cormorant to fly away, and the two deities return to the heavens.