郡上八幡では土日に春祭りが賑やかに行われた。新型コロナの影を引いていた昨年までとはちょっと趣きが異なる。沸き立つとまでは言えないとしても、心なしか老いも若きもふわふわしている感じである。

土曜日の午後、日吉神社の大神楽が我が家の前で披露された。獅子舞いあり、ささらする凛々しい少年がおり、おかめやひょっとこが踊るなど本格的な神楽だ。揉めるようなこともあったが、神楽が嫌いということはない。この歳になれば色々いきさつがある。

ふと頭に浮かんできたのは神楽の笛や太鼓の音が身に染みているのかなあというものだった。これから何度も神楽に出会えるとは限らず、一年一年である。そろそろしっくり来てもいいように感じるのに、何故か心底に届いていない気がする。

一つは私がこちらへ来たのが二十代後半になってからだったので、少年期の燃えるような激しい思いはもうなかった。本貫地の祭は屋台が巨大で、子供が担ぐのは危険だった。いつ頃だったろう、担ぎ棒を担えるようになった時に自分が役に立っているような高揚感があったものだ。

私の上の孫は名古屋で生まれ育ち、小学校低学年で八幡に引っ越してきた。幸い町内に受け入れられて、春祭りは必ず加わっていた。今彼が祭についてどう感じているのか分からない。ただ郡上踊りに相当入れ込んでいるところから、神輿や神楽にも懐かしさがあるのは間違いなかろう。

昔は分からないとしても、私が来たあたりでは既に子供中心の祭になっていたと思う。子供を持つ世代が各町内でそれぞれテーマを決め、子供たちと協力して神輿を造っていた。さすが城下町だけあって各町内に職人がおり、電飾も含め善いものが沢山あった。本年度の我が町内はエッフェル塔と凱旋門だ。パリで行われるオリンピックに因んだのだろうと思っていたが、どうやらそうではなかった。我が町内にフランス人が別件で二軒引っ越してきたのを記念して作ったと云う。電飾も中々よかったらしい。

子育ての終わった世代はやはり神楽に目が行くようである。神楽といえば、もう結構前の情景がよく浮かぶ。もう何年前になるだろう、明宝寒水の祭だった。友人の誘いがあり、何度かお邪魔したことがある。最後に行った時の事だったか。彼の母親を含め一家で食事をしているところへお邪魔していると、笛や太鼓の音が聞こえてきた。彼女が昔を思いやるような、遠くを見るような表情で聞き入っていたのが印象深かった。音が彼女の皮膚にしみこむような感じがした。彼女が亡くなったのはそれから間もなくだったように記憶している。彼女が病院通いをしているのは知っていたが、あの時には病状が相当悪かったのかも知れない。 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　髭じいさん

Kagura sound

A lively spring festival was held in Gujo Hachiman on Saturday and Sunday. The atmosphere is a little different from last year, when the shadow of the new coronavirus was overshadowed. Although I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s brimming with excitement, it does give off a sense of fluffiness among young and old alike.

On Saturday afternoon, a large Kagura performance from Hiyoshi Shrine was performed in front of my house. It is authentic kagura, with a lion dance, a brave boy rustling, and Okame and Hyottoko dancers. There have been times when I’ve gotten into trouble, but I don’t dislike Kagura. A lot of things happen when you get to this age.

One thing that suddenly came to mind was that the sounds of Kagura’s flutes and drums were ingrained in my mind. From now on, she won’t be able to meet Kagura many times, every year. I feel like it’s about time for it to come, but for some reason I feel like It’s not reaching the bottom of my heart.

One is that I came here in my late twenties, so I no longer had the burning passion of my youth. The stalls at the Honkanji festival were huge and dangerous for children to carry. I don’t know when it happened, but when I was finally able to carry the pole, I felt a sense of elation as if I was helping others.

My eldest grandchild was born and raised in Nagoya and moved to Yawata in the early grades of elementary school. Fortunately, it was accepted by the town, and they always attended the spring festival. I don’t know how he feels about the festival now. However, since he is deeply involved in Gujo Odori, there is no doubt that he also has a nostalgic feeling for mikoshi and kagura.

I don’t know what it was like in the past, but I think it was already a festival centered around children around the time I was there. Each generation with children decided on a theme in each town and worked with the children to build the mikoshi. As expected from a castle town, there were craftsmen in each town, and there were many good things, including electrical decorations. This year, the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe are in our town. I thought it was because of the Olympics being held in Paris, but apparently that wasn’t the case. It was built to commemorate two French people who moved into our town for unrelated reasons. The electric decorations seemed to be quite good as well.

The generation that has finished raising children seems to be paying attention to Kagura. When I think of Kagura, scenes from a long time ago often come to mind. How many years ago was the Meiho Kansui Festival? I was invited by a friend and I visited him several times. Was it the last time you went there? While I was visiting his family, including his mother, having a meal, I heard the sound of flutes and drums. I was impressed by the way she listened with such a distant look on her face, as if she was thinking about her past. The sound seemed to sink into her skin. I remember it as not long before she died. I knew that she had been going to the hospital, but her condition might have been quite bad at that time.

bearded old man