October 24, 2023　神輿体験記

　はーい、こんにちは。2年生の出口 天仁です。2023年9月17日の日曜日に白山麓キャンパス付近にある瀬戸神社で神輿を担がせてもらいました。神輿を担ぐのは人生で初めてで、前日からワクワクでいっぱいでした。はっぴを着て、神社まで10分ぐらい歩いたら、地元の大人や子供たちがもうすでにたくさん集まっていました。神社には立派な神輿が2つあり、大きい方が大人神輿、小さいほうが子供神輿と呼ばれていました。瀬戸神社が出発点となり、白嶺小中学校までの住宅街を神輿を担いで点々と周っていくルートでした。

　最初は瀬戸神社付近の家を周りました。国際高専生は子ども神輿を担がせてもらうことになりました。しかし、どの大人よりも大きい僕が、小学生と一緒に中腰になりながら神輿を担いでいるのをみて、大人たちは僕を大人神輿に入れてくれました。正直、最初は担ぎ方が分からず、とても疲れました。当日は日差しが強かったので喉がカラカラになりました。その上、身長が高い分、肩への負荷が大きくかかりしんどかったです。しかし、地域の人たちはとても優しくしてくれて、国際高専についてたくさん質問してくれました。小学生たちも愉快に話しかけてくれて、元気が出ました。あの日しゃべった小学生の子は忘れません。確実に自分より考えが大人でした。それに、神社にお金を寄付してくれた地域の方々やその土地の神社に感謝の言葉を言う伝統がありました。僕は漢字が苦手なため、感謝の言葉が書かれた台紙を読むのが大変でしたが、周りの人たちがサポートしてくれて嬉しかったです。

　その後、神輿を担いだまま白山麓キャンパスの敷地に正面から入っていき、比咩の湯温泉側から出ました。学校でバスケをしていた学生や見に来た先生もいたので、みんなを巻き込み神輿を担ぎました。そのまま、道の駅瀬女まで行き、トラックで大人神輿を坂の下のガソリンスタンド前の交差点まで運びました。あの重い神輿をトラックから下ろすのも一苦労でした。そこから白嶺小中学校まで神輿を担ぎました。小学校の駐車場でおにぎりやパンなどの食糧が支給され、小学生といろんなお話をしながら食べました。

　瀬戸神社まで帰る道のりが一番大変でした。もう日は暮れ、段々涼しくなってきました。恐らく大人たちはお酒の飲みすぎで、真っすぐ歩けなくなってきている感じでした。路上で神輿を担ぎながら蛇行したり回転したりと、周りに合わせるのが大変でした。アルコールが回るのは良いけど神輿を回すのは勘弁ですね。
　ようやく神社の前についたら、毎度恒例の神輿を揺らしながら周る儀式をしました。肩に乗せていたはずの神輿を手で思いっきり空に掲げて万歳してクルクルと走りながら回転しました。とてもハードでしたが、ご年配の方によると昔に比べれば全然緩くなっているとのことでした。想像を絶します。

　国際高専2年目でこれまで様々な課外活動に参加してきましたが、これほど色んな地域の方々と交流する機会は初めてでした。普段は自然豊かで穏やかなあの白山麓がここまで活発になるのにも驚きました。それに地域の方たちも国際高専に興味津々で、これを機に国際高専に対する思いもよりポジティブになったら嬉しいです。今回、自分はたくさんの人に出会い、色んな事を体験させてもらいました。この秋祭りに参加してとても良かったと思います。

出口 天仁

神輿を揺らしながら周る儀式

 

 Hello, this is Tenzing Deguchi a 2nd year student. On Sunday, September 17th, 2023, I carried a mikoshi at Seto Shrine near our campus. It was the first time in my life to carry a mikoshi, and I was full of excitement. I put on my Happi and walked about 10 minutes to the shrine, where many local adults and children had already gathered. There were two magnificent mikoshis, the larger one was for adults and the smaller one was for children. The starting point was the Seto Shrine, and the mikoshis were carried around several residential areas up to Hakurei Elementary and Junior High Schools.

 At first, we went around the houses near Seto Shrine. ICT students were told to carry the children's mikoshi. However, when the adults saw me, who was bigger than any of the adults, carrying the mikoshi with the elementary school students, they let me join the adult mikoshi. To be honest, I was very tired at first because I was not sure how to carry the mikoshi, and I was also squatting the entire time to adjust my height. On the day of the event, Hakusan was blazing hot, I was desperate for a drink. In addition, the load on my shoulders was hard because of my height. However, the local people were very kind to me and asked me many questions about ICT. The elementary school students were also very friendly and cheerful. I will never forget the kids I talked to that day. They were definitely more mature in their thinking than I was. It was their tradition to call out the names of people who donated money to the shrine and to express gratitude to the gods. It was challenging to shout out the script written in kanji, but I was able to earn support from the locals.

 After that, I carried the mikoshi into the grounds of ICT from the front and exited from the “Hime no Yu” hot spring side. There were students who were playing basketball at school and teachers who came to watch, so everyone got involved and carried the mikoshi. We went to the Sena Roadside Station and carried the adult mikoshi by truck to the intersection in front of the gas station at the bottom of the hill. It was a tough job to get that heavy mikoshi down from the truck. From there, we carried the mikoshi to Hakurei Elementary and Junior High School. Food such as rice balls and bread were provided in the parking lot of the elementary school, and we ate them while talking with the kids.

 The road back to the Seto shrine was the hardest part of the trip. The sun was setting and it was getting cooler. The adults were probably too drunk to walk straight. It was hard to keep up with the adults as they meandered and spun while carrying the mikoshis on the street.

 When we finally arrived at the front of the shrine, we performed the customary ritual of shaking and spinning the mikoshi. The mikoshi was supposed to be on our shoulders, but we raised it to the sky with our hands as hard as we could and spun it around while running in a circle. It was very hard, but according to an elderly person, it is not as tough as it used to be. Living in his generation is unimaginable.

 I have participated in various extracurricular activities in 2 year of ICT, but this was the first time for me to have such an opportunity to interact with people from Hakusan. It was a surprise to see such an active atmosphere in HAKUSANROKU (Foothills of Mt. Hakusan), which are usually rich in nature and tranquil. The residents were also very interested in ICT, and I hope that this experience gave them a more positive impression of ICT. Above all, I really appreciate the privilege of meeting so many people and doing so many different things, and I am very glad that I participated in this fall festival.

Tenzing Deguchi