Bulfinch Exchange Ritual
Usokae Shinji

Ueno Tenmangu shrine, Sakura Tenjinsha shrine, Yamada Tenmangu shrine

Bulfinch which called "Uso" in Japanese is regarded as a symbol of good luck.

Carved wooden Uso/bullfinch at Ueno Tenmangu (shrine)

uso/bullfinch

photo by Ooyagi
(Field Note of Northern Japan)

"Usokae Shinji" is a festival which participants exchange their carved wooden uso (pic. above) from hand to hand
while repeating"kaemasho, kaemasho/Let's change, let's change".
According to the popular belief, this festival is for changing the bad luck of last year to "uso/not really"and also changing it to "good luck" of the new year.

Only Yamada Tenmangu has been keeing this event with local people in Nagoya.
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These three shrines enshrine Sugawara Michizane ( 845-903, a scholar, poet and politician) who is familiarly called Tenjin-sama and
is worshipped as a god of learning, lived in the Heian period 794-1192).
When he was almost bitten by a horde of wasps, a flight of uso fed them and saved him.
Aside from this story, there are many stories concerning the relations
between the shrines which enshrine Sugawara Michizane and uso.

Shrine	Date and Time	place and phone	others
Ueno Tenmangu	Two days sale of uso carving January 15th and 25th	4-89 Akasaka-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 10-min. walk to the south from unadabashi subway sta. TEL:052-711-6610	No "Usolae Shinji" ritual. Price of wooden carved uso (1,500 yen, 1,200 yen, 1,000 yen)
Sakura Tenjinsha	Usokae Shinji ritual January 25, 11:00-	2-4-6, Nishiki, Naka-ku, Nagoya Get off at Marunouchi sta. on the Sakuradori subway line. Take exit 5. Walk to East. TEL:052-231-4879	Usokae Shinji Visitors form a ring in the shrine precincts and pass around and change one's carved uso with the next one's, saying "Kaemasho/Let's change" along with a drum.
Yamada Tenmangu	Usokae Shinji ritual January 25 11:00-, 15:00-	3-25 Yamada-cho, Kita-ku, Nagoya TEL: 052-981-5695	Usokae Shinji Visitors form a ring in the shrine precincts and pass around and change one's carved uso with the next one's, saying "Kaemasho/Let's change" along with a drum.