2024/7/30
Sarusawa Pond, a popular sightseeing spot, is known as one of the most representative landscapes of the ancient capital Nara.
On the banks of the small pond, with a circumference of about 360 meters, there is an unusual shrine with a torii gate in the background. It is Uneme Shrine, a branch of Kasuga Taisha Shrine.
The Uneme Festival, an annual autumn festival, is held here.
A “Uneme” was a courtesan who served the emperor and empress at court and took care of their personal belongings.
In the “Yamato Monogatari (Tales of Yamato),” an ancient Heian-period poetry tale written in the middle of the 10th century, there is a story about a courtesan named “Uneme”.
In the Nara period (710-794), there was a very beautiful courtesan who served the emperor. One day, the emperor summoned her to his court, but she soon lamented the decline of his favor and threw herself into Sarusawa Pond. Hearing this, the emperor felt sorry for her and had people recite a poem about her.
Later, a shrine was built to console the spirit of the woman who entered the water, but legend has it that she could not bear to look at the pond into which she had thrown herself, and turned the shrine backward one night.
On the night of the harvest moon in mid-autumn, an annual festival is held at Uneme Shrine to appease the spirit of Uneme and pray for people’s happiness. This is the “Uneme Festival.
Yoimiya Festival: Sep 16th 17:00-
Annual Festival: Sep 17th
Hana-Ougi Dedication Procession 17:00～
Annual Festival 18:00～
Special Shinobue performance “Uneme Otogatari” from around 18:45
＜Shinobue player: Kazuya Sat＞
Kangensen-no-gi 19:00～
Otsukimi Sweets and Oyome Festival will hold a collaborative event.
2For four days from Sep 14th to Sep 17th, we will collaborate with sweets stores around Nara City’s shopping district that offer sweets associated with moon viewing! A special event, “Otsukimi Sweets x Uneme Festival” will be held. Details will be released in early September.
Click here for the flyer▶
The festival begins at 5:00 p.m. with the “Hanaogi Hounou” procession, in which people in Tenpyo-era costumes parade through the city.
The procession is surrounded by a 2-meter-long fan beautifully decorated with the seven autumnal flowers and other plants, and people in ”Juni-hitoe” (12-layered kimono) and Tenpyo-era costumes on a court carriage parade through the city.
At 6:00 p.m., a solemn “Hana-Ougi Houou Shinji (dedication ritual of flower fans)” will be performed by the priests of Kasuga Taisha Shrine at Uname Shrine.
In 2024, a special performance, “Uname Otogatari,” a shinobue (bamboo flute) playing performance by Kazuya Sato, will be held around Sarusawa Pond for about 10 minutes starting around 6:45 p.m. In the moonlight, the pure and beautiful sound of the flute will be played in memory of Uneme.
<Kazuya Sato Profile>
Born in Karatsu City, Saga Prefecture in 1981.
After spending his college years immersed in music, he realized that the shinobue flute was the best way to express his music, and he began his career as a shinobue player when he offered the flute at the dismantling ceremony of the national treasure Yakushiji Temple’s East Pagoda in 2012.
He is widely active both in Japan and abroad as a player who colors scenery with the sound of his flute and as a composer who weaves songs from scenes.
At 7:00 p.m., the event finally reaches its climax.
Many people line up around the edge of Sarusawa Pond to catch a glimpse of the festival.
Two kangen boats (ryutogekisu) will cruise around Sarusawa Pond amidst the echoing sounds of gagaku (traditional Japanese court music) performed by the Nanto Gakuso.
The boats, carrying Hanaogi, the Hanaogi Messenger, Miss Uneme* of Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture, and the NARA CITY Concierge, proceed slowly through the floating lanterns on the pond.
At the end of the event, a flower fan is thrown into the pond to pray for the repose of Uneme’s spirit. The sight of the kangen boats floating in the moonlit night and people dressed in Tenpyo-era costumes is elegant and fantastic.
—memo.—
*The Uneme legend also remains in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture, where the “Koriyama Uneme Festival” is held every year in early August (August 1 to 3, 2024).
The festival is held on the city’s main street, where a large number of citizens dressed in yukata (light cotton kimono) perform the “Uneme Odori Nagashi” (Uneme Dancing Float).
Since both Koriyama and Nara have the Unume legend, the two cities formed a sister city affiliation in 1971, and have continued to deepen exchanges to this day.
Also, “Ito-Uranai” is awarded at Unume Shrine. It is said that if you thread a red thread on a sewing needle in front of the shrine under the moonlight of the mid-autumn moon, your wish will come true.
Although the legend of a tragic love story is the origin of this festival, the Uneme Festival has been passed down from generation to generation as a festival to pray for people’s happiness. Why not visit on the day of the Mid-Autumn Moon?
Video related to uneme Festival
