🏮 Aofushigaki Shinji

青柴垣神事

Matsue, Shimane (Miho Shrine) · Every year on 7 April

205 days to go
Rooms around Matsue, Shimane fill up while the festival is on.

The Aoshibagaki Shinji is a Shinto ritual held every year on April 7 at Miho Shrine in Mihonoseki-cho, Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture. Led mainly by the shrine's parishioner organizations such as the touya and the kyakujin-gashira, a series of preparations and events begins on March 31. The ritual originates from the legend that the deity Kotoshironushi-no-Mikoto (Ebisu-sama), when consulted by Okuninushi-no-Mikoto about ceding the land, decided to yield and then hid himself by building a blue brushwood fence in the sea. The highlight is the sight of the touya couple, who have secluded themselves in the Kakure-dono from the day before the festival, practicing abstinence and fasting, riding in two boats decorated with blue brushwood fences as they tour the harbor and visit Miho Shrine to worship and present offerings. The boats are fitted with a two-ken square enclosure, and the distinctive style of erecting sakaki trees at the four corners is still passed down today.