Rinnoji Temple’s Gohan-shiki (rice-forcing) Festival

A Dramatic Ceremony Draws Laughter and Gasps

The Gohan-shiki is a unique ceremony that has been handed down only in Nikko area. Nikko was opened as a sacred mountain for the syncretization of Shintoism and Buddhism, and mountain asceticism by mountain ascetics flourished, with the ascetics bringing back offerings made to the main deity in the mountain and sharing them with people in the village.

The entire ceremony consists of approximately three parts: the “Santen Gogyo Ku” and “Saito Daima Gomaku,” the “Gohan Gonyo Ceremony,” and the “Garamaki”.

After the “Santen Gogyo Ku” and “Saito Daima Gomaku,”the hall becomes bright, the recipients line up on the platform, and the “ceremony of receiving rice with strength” begins. The ceremony proceeds in the following order: “Gojinshu (sacred wine),” “Prayer,” “Gohan (rice),” “Naseen (rice dishes),” “Kinko (food),” and “Koyo (offering). One of the most spectacular parts of the ceremony is when a monk dressed in a mountain priest costume presents three heaping piles of rice to a kamishimo-dressed recipient, who is told to “eat 75 bowls of rice without leaving any leftovers”. The comical sight of the recipient being forced to eat the rice and having it placed on his head is sure to draw laughter from the audience.

After successfully completing this ceremony, the recipients will conclude the ceremony by sowing the blessings they have received in the ceremony to the general public, in accordance with the Buddhist teaching of “not keeping the blessings for oneself but sharing them with others.

In the Edo period, only feudal lords of 100,000 koku or more could serve as a recipient, and the Tokugawa shoguns and other famous feudal lords from all over the country were named as recipient as an “honor for my clan”.