《15》Hakozaki Shrine's Hojoe(Part 1)...Hakata's representative autumn festival
- The Hojoe (Also known in Fukuoka as 'Hojo-ya') held at Hakozaki-gu Shrine in Fukuoka. This is one of the three major festivals in Hakata, along with Hakata Dontaku in spring and Gion Yamakasa in summer. The festival is held every year from September 12 to 18, and attracts more than one million people in one week (in that time before the Corona disaster).
- Originally, the Hojoe was a ritual (Shinto ritual) to offer sacrifices to creatures that were sacrificed for the sake of human life, but by the Edo period (1603-1868), it had taken root among the common people as a festival. Nowadays, the approach to the shrine is lined with 700 stalls, making it one of the biggest festivals in western Japan.
-Hakozaki Shrine is a Hachimangu shrine that built a magnificent shrine building in 921 during the Heian period (794-1185) as an act of national protection at this site facing the Genkai Sea, according to an oracle from Emperor Daigo. It is considered to be one of the three major Hachimangu shrines in Japan. /
筥崎宮放生会（その１）…博多を代表する秋祭り
- 博多の街に秋の訪れを告げる筥崎宮（福岡市東区）の放生会は、春の博多どんたくや夏の祇園山笠と並ぶ博多三大祭りのひとつです。毎年9月12日～18日の間に開かれ、1週間で100万人以上もの人出（コロナ禍前）でにぎわいます。
- 放生会とはもともと人間が生きるために犠牲になった生き物を供養する儀式（神事）でしたが、江戸時代までに祭りとして庶民の間に定着しました。現在は参道に700軒もの露店が立ち並ぶ西日本有数の祭りとなっています。
- 筥崎宮は平安時代の921年に醍醐天皇の神託により、玄界灘に面したこの地に国家鎮護のために壮麗な社殿を建立した八幡宮で、日本三大八幡宮の一つとされています。