At the beginning of October 1792 he had just finished a three-year stay in Ezo, turned back and landed at the harbor of Okotsube in Soto-nambu. For the next two and a half years, he lived in the small world in the Shimokita Peninsula. The article about the New Year in this region is fortunately written in 1794 in "the Backstage Appearance" as if he had prepared it to tell us about it, and the pictures and text are almost complete. When you get to the end of Oshu, you will finally discover that the two events, Bon and New Year's, were originally the same ritual, repeated every six months. The same thing was done on New Year's Eve as burning birch bark, called Saitori-kaba, as a gate light in the evening of the Bon festival in other mountainous countries. On the New Year's shelf, they cooked something called Mitama's Rice and dedicated it to the spirits of their ancestors. Masumi also wrote that he did so by imitating the local customs with his own hands. They scattered a mixture of pine needles and chopped kelp at the Setsubun bean throwing. Pines were also put up in front of the gate, apparently, but first one of them was tied to a large pillar in the house and set up, and then rice cakes and salmon were offered to it. There was Watakushidai in Nambu, so the event was held one day later than usual, and Nanakusa was held on the 8th. It is written that the salted bamboo shoots and leaves of the Japanese parsley were added [to the porridge]. On the 11th, also the first day of work, there was a celebration of the spirit of the ship（funadama*） at the port of Ohhata, and the first market was held there, selling salt, candy and needles. On the 13th, a village lion dance called Mena went from house to house. It was a pure prayer ceremony performed by the Yamabushi with the Kumano Shrine's cards and gohei sticks inside. It is written that the lion's head held a gourd in its mouth and chanted loudly in this way, imitating sprinkling water from it and biting on pillars and shoji screens.

If you pray to the clear mirrors on all sides of this house,

the god is happy to stay there.

birch......（名）カバノキ

bark......（名）樹皮

dedicate......（動）捧げる

scatter......（動）撒く

chop......（動）刻む

kelp......（名）昆布

put up......立てる、飾る

Japanese parsley......セリ

sprinkle......（動）撒く

In the evening of the 14th, Kasegidori very similar to those around Isawa arrive here. A boy who made a doll of a man plowing the rice fields in the spring and put it on a tray and held it in his hand comes inside saying "Kasegidori visited in early spring." He asked the question, "Which direction , aki-no-kata（direction of dawn）?" and then left after receiving a rice cake. In regions west of Kanto, holly branches with sardine heads are used in Setsubun night events, but here, on the 14th of the year, the fins and skin of the fish were charred and skewered with rice cakes, and inserted into all the entrances and windows, which were called Yarakusa. That means to drive the demons away with something stinky. What is called Enburi in Hachinohe is called Taue（rice-planting） in this area, as in Sendai. They toured in several groups on the 15th and 16th. The man who performed Enburi was named Tohkuro and they sang a song about planting rice.

I think I'll celebrate New Year's Day

with a handful of pine needles.

Who threw this one out there?

It was Emoto Saemo who threw it away.

If you plant one of those, that's a thousand plants.

Would it be the seeds of early rice in the land? Hoi, hoi.

plow......（動）耕す

holly......（名）ヒイラギ

fin......（名）ヒレ

char......（動）焦がす

skewer......（動）串に刺す

drive away......退散させる

stinky......（形）臭い

They performed Enburi with this chant. What was called Goihai-boh in Matsumae was probably the same rice planting dance that was propagated there. It was a custom for girls to worship Hina Dolls on the 15th. It also notes that this is similar to Matsumae's.

It is a remarkable old custom.

propagate......（動）伝播する

*funadama: A guardian deity of ships. Human hair and dolls were placed on the pillars of ships to protect them.