Mezuna (Female Rope)

A rope across the river

At the entrance to the hamlet of Kayanomori, a rope of rice straw is strung across the Asuka River. The object hanging from its middle represents a woman. It forms a pair with Ozuna (Male Rope) in Inabuchi.

The rope is replaced every year. After a year of wind and rain it fades, and then a new one is hung in its place.

The rope-hanging ritual

This ritual has been handed down in the two neighbouring communities of Inabuchi and Kayanomori. It is said to be a prayer for many descendants and a rich harvest, and also a way to stop evil diseases from entering the village along this road and this river.

In Kayanomori the ritual is Buddhist. An altar is set up on a stone called Fukuishi (Fortune Stone), and the rope is hung after a monk chants sutras. It is the same ritual as Ozuna in Inabuchi, where a Shinto priest is invited, but the form is different.

In the same valley, the downstream rite is Shinto and the upstream one Buddhist. Neither has been made to conform to the other; each continues in its own community's way.

A rope as a boundary

The rope is not a decoration but a boundary to stop things coming in from outside. By hanging it over the road and the river that lead into the village, the people mark the point beyond which nothing may pass.

Kayanomori is the hamlet at the head of the Asuka River; upstream from here the road crosses Imo-tōge Pass to Yoshino. This is the rope that hangs at the very back of the village.

Its partner, Ozuna

Downstream in Inabuchi hangs Ozuna (Male Rope). It too spans the Asuka River, near Kanjō-bashi Bridge. That ritual is Shinto, with a priest from Asuka-niimasu Shrine invited to perform the prayers.

Visiting

Follow Prefectural Road 15 further upstream from Inabuchi. Just before you enter Kayanomori, you will see the rope overhead. You can look up at it from the road.

It is a few minutes by car from Ozuna, or about 30 minutes on foot. Seeing both shows how the same ritual survives in a different form in each community.

If you come on the day the rope is replaced, you can watch it being made from the start.