Editing Japanese festivals (section)

== Festivals (''matsuri'') related to agriculture ==
There are many Japanese festivals in which the ''kami'' are prayed to for a good harvest of rice and other crops. These festivals are divided into various types according to their significance and ritual practices, the most representative of which are as follows. Typical spring festival practices are {{nihongo3||水口祭|minakuchi-sai}} and {{nihongo3||[[:ja:御田植祭|御田植祭]]|otaue-matsuri}}. In ''minakuchi-sai'', on the day of planting, soil is piled at the water intake of the rice field , seasonal flowers and twigs are placed, and [[sake]] and baked rice are offered to the mountain ''kami''. During ''otaue-matsuri'', young women called [[Wiktionary:早乙女|{{Transliteration|ja|saotome}}]] ({{lang|ja|早乙女}}) enter the rice field to plant rice seedlings and pray for a good harvest. Typical summer festival practices are {{nihongo3||[[:ja:虫送り|虫送り]]|mushi okuri}} and {{nihongo3||雨乞い|amagoi}}. In ''mushi okuri'', torches are lit at night and straw dolls with pests tied to them are floated or thrown into the river to pray for the repulsion of pests, while in ''amagoi'', dances are dedicated to ''kami'' and fires are lit to pray for rain. The typical fall festival practices are {{nihongo3||新嘗祭|[[Niiname-no-Matsuri|niiname-sai]]}} and {{nihongo3||[[:ja:秋祭り|秋祭り]]|aki-matsuri}}. In ''niiname-sai'', new grains are offered to the ''kami'' at the imperial court and at [[Shinto shrine]]s throughout Japan to thank them for the harvest, and in ''aki-matsuri'', farmers in rural villages thank the ''kami'' of the rice fields and send the ''kami'' back to the mountains. The typical winter festival practices are {{nihongo3||左義長 or どんど焼き|[[Sagichō Fire Festival|sagichō or dondoyaki]]}} and {{nihongo3||[[:ja:田遊び|田遊び]]|taasobi}}. In ''sagicho'' or ''dondoyaki'', {{nihongo3||門松|[[kadomatsu]]}} and other New Year's decorations are burned and ''[[mochi]]'' are roasted and eaten over the flames, and in ''tasaburi'', farm work is simulated in the Shinto shrine {{nihongo|hall|拝殿|[[Haiden (Shinto)|haiden]]}} to pray for the next year's ''kami'' harvest.<ref name="moaff">{{cite web|url=https://www.maff.go.jp/j/nousin/noukan/nougyo_kinou/attach/pdf/index-91.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240516042609/https://www.maff.go.jp/j/nousin/noukan/nougyo_kinou/attach/pdf/index-91.pdf|script-title=ja:農村の伝統祭事|pages=1, 2, 15, 28, 41|language=ja|publisher=[[Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Japan)]]|date=11 June 2023|archive-date=16 May 2024|access-date=16 May 2024}}</ref>