〈石鎚神社本社〉愛媛県西条市西田
The Main Shrine of Ishizuchi Shrine (Nishida, Saijo-City, Ehime)
[English below]
知らなくても別段困りませんが、皆さんは神職の衣装についてご存知ですか？エ？興味無い？(^^;)まあ、知る必要性もないけど、白衣、袴を着けているのが神職、袈裟を纏っているのが僧侶…以上！どうよ！？・・・ハ、ハイ、確かにそうですが、本業神職の立場として今回は折角ですから～衣装、装束（しょうぞく）のお話を少しm(_ _)m
↓Picture 1 White Kimono with Hakama
普段は、画像の様な白衣袴（夏・冬用有り）姿で、時として羽織を羽織ることもあります。実は神職の身分（級位）や祭典の内容により、それぞれに先ず袴の色が異なり、着装する装束も変わり、更には烏帽子や冠を被り、厳密には雪駄のみならず履き物も変わります。年中同じ様な格好をしているように思われがちですが（笑）、よーく観ると春夏秋冬、それぞれの祭典でもお色直しをしているのです。もっとも装束もそれなりの価格になるのでお宮の体力にもよりますが、古式に則り全てを完璧に…とまでには中々行きません(^^;)
ちなみに、次の画像は通常の祭典に着用する常装（じょうそう）と呼ばれる狩衣（かりぎぬ）姿です。手に持っているのは笏（しゃく）。
↓Picture 2 "Joso"
あっそうそう、袴の色ですが、神社本庁から定められた身分により、下位から白、浅葱（あさぎ、薄い青緑色）、紫、紫地に薄い八藤（やつふじ）の紋入り、紫地に白い八藤の紋入り、最上位は白地に白い八藤の大紋入り（履く神職は、全国で百人に満たない）…とまあ6種類に分かれ、基本的にはその級位に即した袴で奉務します。また、祭典時以外は全神職が級位に関係無く無紋の白袴を着用しているお宮もあります。
次の画像は正服と呼ばれる装束で正装になります。やはり級位により色が異なり石鎚神社では春、秋の御大祭等に着用されます。また見た感じ、この正服を上下無紋白色にした様な斎服（さいふく）があり、級位に関係無く神職全員上下白の装束で奉仕する祭典も有り、当社では節分祭等に斎服を着用しています。
↓Picture 3 "Seifuku"
その装束をより美しく、威儀を整え、着装する技術を「衣紋・えもん」と呼び、集大成たる衣紋道の流派には高倉、山科（やましな）の二派があり、着装のルールなども若干異なります。ちなみに、装束に右、左の別があるものは常時は右から進め、凶時は左から進めます。なので、些細なことですが、私も普段は白衣も右袖から手腕を通し足袋も右足から履いています。
〈石鎚神社本社本参道〉
Main "Sando" Approach to the Main Shrine of Ishizuchi Shrine
〈石鎚神社本社本殿〉
The Main Hall "Honden" of the Main Shrine of Ishizuchi Shrine
※リレーエッセイ次週は、プロバレエダンサーの久寿奏恵さん（２巡目）です。
久寿奏恵さんの投稿日は5月17 日の予定です。どうぞ皆様お楽しみに！
（令和3年5月10日投稿：石鎚神社 祢宜 曽我部英司）
The Message of the Week
Hi! Here comes my second turn! As a Shinto priest, let me talk about our "costumes". Of course, you don't have to know details about our attire, but trivias of Shinto may make your life a bit happier! Here we go!
Picture 1
As you see in picture 1, we usually wear white attire with "Hakama", sometimes with "Haori" coat on (we have costumes for summer and winter respectively). Actually we wear different colors of Hakama in accordance with ranks. Also depending upon the purposes of rituals, we must choose the colors of Hakama along with the suitable attires, sometimes wear "Eboshi" caps or "Kammuri" hats, and different types of footwear.
Picture 2
What I am wearing in picture 2 is called "Joso", which is the costume worn at regular rituals. This is called "Kariginu" (literally means hunting clothes) and what I am holding in my hand is called "Shaku" (Shinto ritual baton or scepter). We wear the fixed colors of "Hakama" according to our ranks qualified by the Association of Shinto Shrines: those of the lowest rank start from white, "Asagi" pale blue-green, purple, purple with pale "Yatsu-fuji Mon" crest (i.e. with the crest of "eight wisteria blossoms") , purple with white "Yatsu-fuji Mon" crest and those of the highest rank (only less than 100 priests are qualified with this highest rank all around Japan) wear white Hakama with large white "Yatsu-fuji Mon" crest. Basically we serve with Hakama of our ranks on, but there are some shrines where all the priests wear in white regardless of ranks (even though they must wear Hakama of their ranks at rituals).
Picture 3
Please have a look at the Picture 3: this is the attire called "Seifuku", the formal costume. In the same way as Hakama, we wear different colors of Seifuku according to our ranks. At Ishizuchi Shrine, we wear this formal attire at Spring and Fall Grand Festivals called "Taisai". Sometimes, you may find priests wearing this sort of formal attire all in white, which is called "Saifuku". At some festivals, we all wear in white regardless of our ranks. For instance, we all wear white "Saifuku" at Setsubun festival (Setsubun literally means "seasonal division"; it refers to the day before the first day of spring "Risshun").
The art of wearing our costumes with dignify and respect, and of course, more beautifully is called "Emon-do". There are two schools called Takakura-ryu and Yamashina-ryu. Last but not least, we usually start wearing our costumes from our right-hand side and we only start from our left-hand side on the unhappy occasions like funerals. You might find this rather trivial a matter, but I make it a rule to put on Kimono from my right shoulder and right arm and put on Tabi socks from my right foot. It's the "trivial" things that count, you know.
---Hideshi Sogabe (10, May 2021)