Etchū Rice Paddy Deity Observance

Festival highlights

The highlight is the warm hospitality offered inside the home, as though the rice paddy deity had actually been welcomed in.

Details and procedures vary between places where the observance is passed down, but the common pattern is to welcome the deity in autumn, see it through the winter, and send it back the following spring.

The observance offers a glimpse of how local people, having finished their agricultural work, have connected daily life with faith.

An Etchū custom of welcoming and sending off the rice paddy deity in gratitude for the harvest

What to expect

The observance begins after the harvest, on November 20, when the rice paddy deity is welcomed into the home.

The deity is treated with great care, and the following year, on January 20, it is treated in the same way before being sent from the home back to the fields.

In the example from the Shimodate district of Unazuki Town, Kurobe City, Ebisu is welcomed, invited to warm himself by the fire, and treated to a bath and a prepared meal.

Source: 越中の田の神行事 | 文化遺産検索 | とやまの文化遺産 / 国の記録作成等の措置を講ずべき無形の民俗文化財｜黒部市

Location and access

Host prefecture Toyama Prefecture

This map shows the surrounding area, not the exact venue location.

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Dates and season

The usual timing is to welcome the rice-field deity each year on November 20 and send it off the following year on January 20.

However, details of the event vary by place where the tradition is observed.

Origins and History of Etchū Rice Paddy Deity Observance

The Etchū Rice Paddy Deity Observance is one of the customs found widely from Hokuriku to San’in in which the rice paddy deity is welcomed into the home after the harvest and returned to the fields the following spring.

Although a number of local traditions have disappeared in recent years, in Etchū the observance has been passed down under names such as the Rice Paddy Deity Observance, the Ebisu Observance, and the God of Livelihood Observance.

On December 16, 1983, it was selected as an intangible folk cultural property for which the national government should take measures such as creating a record.

Official information

The Agency for Cultural Affairs’ “Database of Nationally Designated Cultural Properties” provides the name, cultural property classification, and details of the Etchū Rice Paddy Deity Observance.

Toyama Prefecture’s official website also introduces it as one of the prefecture’s intangible folk cultural properties selected by the national government.

Kurobe City’s website features a specific example passed down in the Shimodate district of Unazuki Town.

Source: 富山県／記録作成等の措置を講ずべき無形の民俗文化財

Etchū Rice Paddy Deity Observance at a Glance

The Etchū Rice Paddy Deity Observance is an annual event in Toyama Prefecture in which the rice paddy deity is welcomed into the home and treated after the harvest, then sent back to the fields the following spring.

It has been passed down mainly in the Kurobe River basin as a custom of welcoming the rice paddy deity, Ebisu, or the God of Livelihood.

It has been selected as an intangible folk cultural property for which the national government should take measures such as creating a record, as a cultural tradition that expresses gratitude and wishes for the success of farming through hospitality in the home.