onbashira
御柱 (おんばしら)
Yasaka Kanako's logs. The Onbashira are sacred logs that are used, after being cut using special ceremonial tools, in renewal of the Suwa Grand Shrine that occurs every six years, the ceremony which has gone uninterrupted for 1200 years. There are used in two festivals, Yamadashi and Satobiki. Yamadashi uses large trees that are covered in red and white regalia and covered in ropes. Part of this includes the ceremony on "Ki-Otoshi" which involves young men riding onbashira down steep slopes to prove their manhood.
Satobiki involves the ceremonial placement of onbashira in the foundations of the Suwa Grand Shrine, with a ceremonial group of log bearers that ride the log as its being raised and sing from the top of the log to signify that it has been raised.
