Sacred rope “Shimenawa” for zelkova tree living over a thousand years (made in Idegawa, Odate city)
The zelkova tree “Idegawa-no-Keyaki” stands at Idegawa area in Odate.
The tree has been living over millennium.
It has 5 trunks from one root, and its perimeter of the stump is about 28 meter.
People here cherish it, think the god is in, make a Shinto festoon "Shimenawa" and dedicate it to the tree every year.
I visited to the village and looked at how to make Shimenawa on March 5th.
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Making 3 bundles of sedge that grew on this area, twisting them together, tending it to 6 meter adding sedge, and making 2 sets of rope.
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Twisting rice straw, putting the paper “Shide” which is used in Shinto on it.
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Cutting straggling sedge to make it neat.
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Tying 2 ropes, and then with the rice straw rope it will be put around Idegawa-no-Keyaki when the festival of Wakaki-shrine on April 8th.
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Idegawa-no-Keyaki is free for visiting, you can enter the big hole of its stump.
【Address of Idegawa-no-Keyaki】 Idegawa-Kamisawatai, Odate-shi, Akita-ken, Japan
The information is as of March 5th 2017.
