Sumiyoshi Otaue Rice Festival

Japan is well known for loving their rice so it’s not surprising that they have festivals all over the place dedicated to rice farming. The Sumiyoshi Taisha in Osaka has one of the more famously known rice planting festival with a long tradition.

Center stage of the festival is a little plaform in the middle of a rice paddy field. While farmers tend to the planting of rice seedlings there are dances, songs (traditional “Kagura” songs), and ceremonies performed on the stage.

The dancing is believed to enhance the vitality of the grains. People living in the remote past used to believe that powerful spirits dwelled inside the rice seedlings that were to be replanted in Mother Earth.

The prayers of the people participating in the festival are hopefully answered in the form of fine rice crops in the autumn, and once the rice has been harvested, offerings of rice are made to the shrine deity in October. Also, on November 23rd, a ceremony is held to express gratitude for a bountiful crop.