The ritual of rainmaking is one of half a dozen Japanese folk practices and festivals described in this book. The story of rainmaking ceremonies begins with personal experience and then draws on the work of Japanese folklorists to record significant local variations and to construct a general account of the history and purpose of the ceremony.
Field research was conducted during study visits to Kyoto, to Tenri in Nara Prefecture and to Shiga Prefecture.
The chapter order follows the year cycle, from New Year via early summer purificatory festivals and rainmaking ceremonial to the feast of Bon, which with New Year ceremonies divides the year. Alongside these community or public rites are described private or family rituals concerned with birth, marriage and death.
The introductory chapter relates aspects of Japanese culture, myth and language to the constant features of folk practice recorded or extant in 1950s Japan.
Originally published in 1963.
- ISBN10 1299996973
- ISBN13 9781299996977
- Publish Date 1 January 2013 (first published 26 February 2004)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 11 March 2015
- Publish Country US
- Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Imprint Routledge
- Edition Revised ed.
- Format eBook
- Pages 179
- Language English