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September to November
The Autumn Festival, Akimatsuri, takes place during the months of September to November. At Tsubaki Grand Shrine, we celebrate the Rei-Tao-sai from October 11 to 13. This festival is also associated with Sarutuhiko Okami. The community gathers to offer thanksgiving for the incoming harvest. The Autumn Festival is the sequel to the Spring Festival. October is known in Japanese as Kan -Na-zuki, the month when the Jami are absent. September was in the past a month of strict taboos in various ways. Consequently, for many shrines, the Autumn Festival can be the main festival.
In the neighboring Ise Jingu where Amaterasu Omikami is enshrined, there is the festival called Kannamae-sai in mid-October when the first fruits of the grain harvest are offered to the Deity of the Sun. Closely related to this, and held at Tsubaki Grand Shrine on November 23, is the festival known as Niiname-sai, a very old and important festival held once a year which, like the Kannamae-sai, has to do with the agricultural cycle. At the Ise celebration, the Emperor offers the first cuttings of harvest just as a local village headman would do at a village shrine. November 15th
Shichi-go-san , the festival for three, five and seven year-olds, is held nationwide around this time. Children in classical dress are taken to shrines to seek the protection of the kami in this delicate stage of their lives.
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