Lake Yogo has the oldest Robe of Feathers Legend (羽衣伝説), and the site where the Shinto Ritual is annually held in early Apr. is closely related to the sad story. The ritual has mainly 2 purposes; One is, of course, to soothe the sad Goddess’s soul and to pray for huge harvests in the district, and another one, which seems to be added quite recently, is to pray for bountiful fishing of lake smelts in winter season. (This is why it is sponsored by the fishermen’s association.)
As I’m assigned as an “Errand Boy” of the association, I attended at the Shinto event today, and had a good opportunity to be able to go around the lake by a boat with priests, who prayed for the God & Goddess at around the center of the lake. It was the perfect good weather, today, though cherry flowers were 30% bloom.
