Praying for health and longevity, the New Year’s first water is offered in traditional ceremony at Shuri Castle

Praying for health and longevity, the New Year’s first water is offered in traditional ceremony at Shuri Castle

A man playing the role of a Ryukyu Imperial Official (right) passes the year’s first-drawn water to an Amushirare high-priestess. December 24, Shuri Castle in Naha, Okinawa


 

December 24, 2017 Ryukyu Shimpo Digital Edition

 

The traditional Okinawan ceremony, known as the, “Nubi offering ceremony,” where the year’s first water drawn from Hedo in Kunigami is presented as an offering, was held in the afternoon of December 24 at Shuri Castle in Naha.

In the ceremony, a man playing the role of an official from the royal Okinawan government will approach a woman playing the role of a high-priestess, dubbed Amushirare, and offer the year’s first-drawn water, praying for peace in the coming year as well as health and longevity for the Okinawan people.

 

The ceremony was hosted by the Shuritonokuracho neighborhood council of Naha.

 

Yoshimitsu Momohara, vice-president of the neighborhood council, played the role of the imperial official who offered the nubi to the Amushirare high-priestess.

He commented, “I was able to perform my role with the solemn approach required.

I would like to get more young people involved so that this traditional ceremony can be passed down.”

 

(English translation by T&CT and Sam Grieb)

 

Go to Japanese


　


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