Food and the Heart

11

A careful search of the word "chikara-gome" reveals that it still exists in many parts of Japan. For example, in San'nohe County, Aomori Prefecture, it is said that giving a pregnant woman raw rice called chikara-gome makes her strong, but in some villages, women chew 10 to 50 grains of rice immediately after childbirth, and in others, women give chikara-gome right after the onset of labor pains (Gonohe no Hogen). Moreover, rice is not a regular food in this region with few exceptions. In Okayama Prefecture, pregnant women in some mountain villages are encouraged to chew a little uncooked rice before childbirth (reported by Katsunori Sakurada), while others are made to eat ten grains of uncooked rice immediately after childbirth, which is called chikara-gome in these villages. In areas where rice is eaten regularly, the ritual is considered somewhat similar to a magical practice, or in some cases, raw rice is given from a shrine and when a woman in difficult childbirth is about to faint, she is given it to chew (Okayama Ken San'iku Shuzoku Chosa). The Kawagoe area of Saitama Prefecture is also famous for its rice, and the rice delivered by the pregnant woman's family to cook what is called “chikara-gohan” (rice with strength) to be eaten after childbirth is called chikara-mai, and it is said that this rice helps the mother regain strength after childbirth (Kawagoe Chihou Kyodo Kenkyu Vol. 1, No. 2). In villages near Muikamachi in Echigo Province, it is said that to prevent the mother from becoming exhausted during childbirth, she should put vinegar in a dish, hold it over a charcoal fire, let the mother inhale its fragrance, and swallow only three grains of raw rice, which is called chikara-mai (Minkan Densho No. 35). What everyone will associate with these examples is the strange custom called frigome, which is often the topic of conversation among urbanites. In this ritual, rice is stored in an old bamboo tube, and when a sick person becomes critically ill, people shake the tube at his or her bedside to hear the sound of the rice. If the sick person is not saved after shaking the rice, it is said that his or her life span has been predestined, and urban people often mock the mountain villages. It is hard to imagine that there used to be many areas where such rituals were performed, but in any case, the development has progressed to the mountains and areas where there are no rice paddies, only dry fields, and on the other hand, rice is considered to be a manifestation of a Bodhisattva is still preserved, so even if it does not reach the situation where villagers shake rice yet, at least in the process, various difficulties have appeared. Those who advocate the benefits of the rice-saving movement as if it were clever should at least consider this point once.

pregnant（形）妊娠した

childbirth（名）出産、分娩

labor pain......陣痛

encourage（動）働きかける、促す

exhausted（形）疲弊した

charcoal（名）炭

inhale（動）吸い込む、吸入する

urbanite（名）都市生活者

predestined（形）運命づけられた

manifestation（名）現れ、顕現

Bodhisattva（名）菩薩

advocate（動）唱道する