/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>22168141
Held irregularly at any night of October 12th (formerly September 12th), at Koryu-ji, a festival called the Ushi-matsuri (Ox Festival) is performed in which a priest roleplaying as Matarajin reads a nonsensical saimon that supposedly wards against disasters while riding an ox. He's flanked by four oni pretending to be the Buddhist deities collectively reffered to as the Shitennou (Four Devarajas; Bishamonten, Zouchouten, Jikokuten and Koumokuten). The crowd berates the god and shouts at him as he reads the saimon. Once the sutra is complete, the entire parade rushes out of sight and back into the temple hall. This festival is notable for being one of the "big three strange festivals" of Kyoto. And is also notable for being a tradition in which no one knows what the hell it means, not even the priests or monks of the temple. It's assumed that the festival is performed in reverance or remembrance of Matarajin, the guardian deity of Amida Buddha who was worshipped while the hall of the temple was being built. Tradition states that the priest Jikaku Diashi brought this festival over from China, but that story is likely legend and nothing more. The leading theory is that the festival represents Matarajin as a being of hindrance himself, flanked by other demons of hindrance. It is his presence that qualms of the demons. In some paintings of the festival he appears with a tengu-like mask. Tengu are considered beings of hindrance themselves. Matarajin is prayed to in order to remove obstacles and remove hindrance. It is similar to the Tengu-Odoshi ritual in which Matarajin and his douji perform a wild dance that's supposed to scare tengu away. In both contexts, it appears that Matarajin is presented as a demon king or demon god who frightens the lesser demons away.

100th post for the strongest sage! Bless ZUN and praise Matarajin!