The next of the important ceremonies in the Shikinen Sengū (式年遷宮) at Isë Jingū (伊勢神宮) took place on April 21st, and was reported in the May 4th issue of Jinja Shinpō. This was the Kozukuri Hajimesai (木造始祭), or “matsuri for the beginning of making the wood”. This is one of the ceremonies for which the date and time are decided by the Tennō, meaning that it is one of the most central. (There are records from a couple of centuries ago of discussions back and forth over the best day for the Tennō to set for another of these ceremonies, including Jingū sending a message saying the dates being proposed by the Imperial court were not suitable. The court changed its proposal.)
This ceremony marks the very beginning of the process of building the new sanctuaries — the preparation of the timber. There are further ceremonies later to mark the start of actual construction. Actually, I believe that the real work will not start for a few more years. These days, and for several centuries now, the wood is given several years to age before people start working on it. However, the evidence suggests that this was not the case when the Shikinen Sengū started, in the seventh century. At that point, work started as soon as the wood was delivered, and the ceremony is still held at that point.
This ceremony involves both the priests of Jingū and the people who will actually do the work, all in traditional dress. There are also children involved — a boy and a girl (both eight) at the Inner Sanctuary, and a girl (seven) at the Outer. These children are called “mono’imi” (物忌), and as I have mentioned before such children used to be central to the rituals at Jingū, although now they are only involved in the Shikinen Sengū.
The ceremony started with the priests and craftspeople lining up facing each other outside one of the torii, bowing to each other, and then being purified. After paying their respects to both the Inner Sanctuary and the Aramatsuri-no-Miya, which enshrines the aramitama of Amaterasu Ōmikami, there was a symbolic feast to welcome the craftspeople. This is now entirely symbolic, as the craftspeople work for Jingū, and none of the food is eaten.
The participants then collected offerings, and processed to the place where the three tree trunks brought in the Okihiki Zomëshiki were set up, and a matsuri was performed in front of the trees, in which the kami Yafunë-no-Ōkami was asked to ensure that the process was safe.
After the offerings were removed, selected craftspeople acted out parts of the work of preparing the timber. This involves lining up the ends of the trunks with a saw, marking a straight line on the trunks, and using an adze to shape them. I do not think that any of these actually involve touching the timber — it is entirely symbolic.
The ceremony at the Inner Sanctuary started at 7 am, and was over around 9. The ceremony at the Outer Sanctuary started at noon, and took almost the same form, except that the saws and marking a straight line were not involved (and, as noted earlier, there was only one mono’imi).
Similar ceremonies were performed at the various Betsugū from the 22nd to the 28th, because these jinja will also be rebuilt.
It seems likely that these ceremonies were less symbolic in the distant past, when the work on the timber was done by people despatched to Jingū by the Imperial court (and who thus needed to be welcomed), and actually began at this point. Now, however, they are part of the rituals making the Shikinen Sengū sacred.