Honensai is a festival to thank the gods for the past year’s harvest and pray for abundant crops in the next. Among the many Honensai festivals held all over Japan, the “Four-village Puri” in Okinawa’s Ishigaki Island is not only an important spiritual event, but also one where a wide variety of unique performances are offered. Puri has come down through the ages from the time of the Ryukyu Kingdom (1429 – 1879) , and even today its scale remains undeniably exceptional.

In the local dialect, “Puri” signifies “gratitude for the harvest.” One of the important symbols at its heart is a large rope used in a series of rituals, starting with Ahyazuna, in which women pray for the prosperity of the community’s descendants . Later on, two warriors purify the rope in the ritual combat of Tsunanumin. And of course, the climax of the festival is Ozunahiki, the grand tug-of-war. Get a close look at the rituals and see how each one of them is imbued with the villagers’ prayers for the rope’s power to “draw in” a bountiful harvest.

Presented by: The Japan Foundation (JF) (https://www.jpf.go.jp/e/)

＜Program Credits＞
Performers: Arakawa aza-kai, Ishigaki aza-kai, Okawa aza-kai, Tonoshiro aza-kai (In alphabetical order)
Additional Materials: Gijisi Juldarigi Museum, Ishigaki City Yaeyama Museum, NHK
Supervision: MOGI Hitoshi
Video Image Production: NHK ENTERPRISES, INC.
Video Image Producer: HAMANO Takahiro, KAWAI Akiko
Video Image Director: TAKAKI Eiji
Video Edit: MUTAGUCHI Keigo

＜Subtitling Credits＞
English Translation: Martin CHOUINARD
French Translation: Simul International, Inc.
Indonesian Translation: Simul International, Inc.
Thai Translation: Simul International, Inc.

© The Japan Foundation (JF) All Rights Reserved

End date of distribution: 9/1/2035