【バイオ環境学部ニュース】新緑の中、出雲大神宮御田祭で本学バイオ環境学部の女子学生らが田植えを奉納

2021年5月16日（日）、亀岡市千歳町にある丹波国一之宮として知られている出雲大神宮で、新型コロナ対策を十分に講じたうえで御田祭（おんださい）が執り行われました。

このお祭りは、出雲大神宮の周辺は古来より稲作が盛んで、御田祭は五穀豊穣、豊作祈願の祭として行われてきました。昭和の初め以来途絶えていましたが、2014年に84年ぶりに復活しましたもので例年、バイオ環境学部の女子学生が早乙女として参加しています。

今年は、バイオサイエンス学科の5名が早乙女として参加し、神社で身を浄めた後、宮内の神饌田に向かい、一連の儀式の後、神饌田で田植えを奉納しました。神饌田で育った稲は、9月の抜穂祭（ぬいぼさい）で刈り取られ、11月の新嘗祭（にいなめさい）で使われます。

田植えは初めての経験でしたが、早乙女の衣装、宮司様はじめ関係者の見守る中、緊張しながらも無事大役を果たすことができました。

（バイオ環境学部教授　藤田　裕之）

[Faculty of Bioenvironmental Sciences News] Female students from the KUAS Faculty of Bioenvironmental Sciences dedicate themselves to planting rice at Izumo Daijingu Shrine’s Onda Festival amidst lush greenery

On Sunday, May 16, 2021, the Onda Festival took place at Izumo Daijingu Shrine, which is known as Tambakuni-Ichinomiya (the highest-ranking shrine in the Tamba province), in Chitose-Cho, Kameoka City, after taking appropriate measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Since ancient times, rice cultivation has flourished in the area around Izumo Daijingu Shrine, and the Onda Festival has been held as a festival to pray for a bountiful harvest. The festival had not been held since the beginning of the Showa era, but it was revived in 2014 for the first time in 84 years, with female students from the Faculty of Bioenvironmental Sciences participating as Saotome (rice planting maidens) every year.

This year, five students from the Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology participated as Saotome. After a purification ritual at the shrine, they went to the shrine’s sacred rice field and dedicated themselves to planting rice after a series of ceremonies. Rice grown in the shrine’s sacred rice field is harvested at the Nuibosai (rice harvesting ceremony) in September and used in the Niinamesai (festival expressing gratitude for a bountiful harvest) in November.

Although it was the students’ first time to plant rice, and while they were nervous wearing the traditional Saotome dress and being supervised by the chief priest and other observers, they were able to successfully fulfill their important role.

(Professor Hiroyuki Fujita, Faculty of Bioenvironmental Sciences)