Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine for the first time in three years "hand ax starting ceremony" Builders pray for safety Kanagawa

At Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine in Kamakura City, Kanagawa Prefecture, the Chona Hajime Shiki ceremony was held for the first time in three years.

It is said that the "Hatchet Beginning Ceremony" began when Minamoto no Yoritomo, the founder of the Kamakura Shogunate, performed a Shinto ritual when he built Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, and is held every year on January 4th by local architects.

This year's event will be held for the first time in three years due to the influence of the new coronavirus. We recreated the traditional construction work by pulling and stretching threads to draw ink lines.

Then, they hit the ax called "handaxe" on the sacred tree and prayed for the safety of the construction for the past year.

A man in his 80s who visited from Yokohama said, "It was a very sacred ceremony, and I understood well that Tsurugaoka Hachimangu has valued craftsmen since ancient times."

Koji Yamanoue of the Kamakura Architectural Association said, "I was able to perform a Shinto ritual for the first time in three years. I hope that everything will turn in a good direction, including the new corona, and I will be able to spend a year. I was talking.