昨日は心配されたお天気も雨にならず庭は新緑の中に赤いツツジが咲き始め清々しい中、多賀大社春の古例大祭が古式ゆかしく執り行われました。
指揮太鼓の音が遠くに聞こえてくると「おわたり」の始まりです。装束をつけた関係者の方々が騎馬あるいは徒歩で絵馬通りを過ぎて行きます。パカパカと馬の蹄の音が何とも心地良く多賀まつりならではの引き締まった、しかし華やかな行列です。
４０頭近い馬がこの日のために集められると聞いていたので、目の前で行列が少し止まった時に馬引きの方に「この馬はどこから来たのですか」と聞くと何と「栃木から」との返事。馬によっては京都の太秦からも来ているとのこと。お馬さんも長旅ご苦労なことです。
お祭りとは知らずに旅行で多賀に来てカフェに来店の北海道の７０代のご夫婦。歴史ある多賀大社のお祭りを見ていただけたことは多賀に暮らす者として嬉しく思いました。
We worried about the bad weather at the Taga Taisha Spring Festival, but the weather wasn't bad and it was held beautifully.
When we heard the drum, it meant the procession was approaching. Members of the procession wearing traditional costumes were passing by riding a horse or walking. The sound of horse hooves was nice to hear and the procession was solemn but gorgeous.
Since I heard that about 40 horses were gathered for this festival, I asked the person who was pulling the horse where the horses came from when they stopped in front of me. He said they came from Tochigi which is about 370miles away from Shiga. I thought that they must be tired from this long trip.
I had a couple in my cafe who were in their 70s from Hokkaido without knowing it was the festival day. I was glad to have them to show our historical Taga shrine festival.
