Chona Hajime Shiki at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine (鶴岡八幡宮 手斧始式)

What Is the Chona Hajime Shiki at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine?

The Chona Hajime Shiki (手斧始式) is a Shinto ceremony held every January 4 at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine (鶴岡八幡宮) in Kamakura (鎌倉) to mark the start of the year’s work for the local building trades. Its name comes from the chona (手斧), a traditional Japanese adze used to shape timber. Ceremonies like this have long been held before important construction work, and one is said to have been held when the shrine was first built. The ceremony recalls how, when Minamoto no Yoritomo (源頼朝) built and later rebuilt the shrine halls, carpenters hauled timber shipped to Yuigahama Beach (由比ヶ浜) up to the shrine and shaped it there. Today it is held as the work-starting ceremony for both the shrine and all of Kamakura. The present ceremony was revived in 1949.

Date and Time

The Chona Hajime Shiki takes place every January 4, and the ceremony usually begins around 1:00 PM. It is held at a ritual site set up in front of the Maiden (舞殿), the dance hall also called the Shimo-Haiden (下拝殿, Lower Worship Hall), which stands directly in front of the Grand Stone Staircase (大石段) leading up to the Main Shrine (本宮). Before that, a procession carrying the goshinboku (御神木), the sacred timber, usually sets off around 12:30 PM from the Ni-no-Torii (二ノ鳥居), the second torii gate on Wakamiya-oji Avenue (若宮大路).

Highlights

Led by Shinto priests, the procession moves along the Dankazura (段葛), the raised path in the middle of Wakamiya-oji Avenue, and into the shrine grounds to the kiyari-uta (木遣唄), work songs sung by tobi (鳶職), traditional construction and scaffolding workers. Kamakura’s kiyari-uta are an intangible cultural property of Kamakura City, handed down by a preservation society of the Kamakura Tobishoku Kumiai (鎌倉鳶職組合), the local tobi guild.

Once the sacred timber is placed at the ritual site and the priests have performed their rites, Kamakura builders dressed in eboshi (烏帽子) hats and hitatare (直垂) robes recreate medieval timber work with old-style tools and movements. It begins with a swing of the adze. Then, one role after another, they measure with a shakujo (尺杖) measuring staff, cut with a saw, snap an inked line from a sumitsubo (墨壺) ink pot, and shape the timber with the adze and a yariganna (槍鉋), a spear-shaped plane. The ceremony ends with the participants bowing in prayer.

After the ceremony, the Kamakura Tobishoku Kumiai usually performs hashigo-nori (はしご乗り), ladder acrobatics, in front of the same Maiden. Tobi workers perform one trick after another at the top of a tall ladder.

Watching the Ceremony

Seats in front of the ritual site are reserved for participants and guests, and members of the public watch standing around the site. Many people are still visiting for Hatsumode on January 4, so the area in front of the Maiden gets crowded. If you want to watch up close, arrive early. The approach leading to the front of the Maiden may be reserved for the line of worshippers, so after watching the procession, take the path toward Shirahata Shrine (白旗神社) and turn left just before it to reach the front of the Maiden. You cannot go up to the Main Shrine from this path after the ceremony, so if you want to pray there, join the line from the front.

For the New Year visit and the shrine’s other New Year rituals, see Hatsumode at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. For the fire ritual on the morning of January 15, when New Year decorations are burned, see Sagicho Shinji at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine.

Access | Visiting During Your Stay at Toshi’s Place

Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine is about a 10-minute walk from the East Exit of JR Kamakura Station (鎌倉駅) or from Enoden (江ノ電) Kamakura Station. If you are staying at Toshi’s Place, take the Enoden from Hase Station (長谷駅) or Wadazuka Station (和田塚駅) to Kamakura Station, then walk along Wakamiya-oji Avenue. To see the procession, head from Kamakura Station to the Ni-no-Torii on Wakamiya-oji Avenue.

At Toshi’s Place, fully unstaffed smart hotels with fully equipped kitchens and room-only stays, you can head out to Kamakura’s New Year events at your own pace.

Summary

The Chona Hajime Shiki at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine is Kamakura’s work-starting ceremony, held every January 4 in front of the Maiden. Watch the procession carry the sacred timber along the Dankazura to work songs, the old-style carpentry movements, and the ladder acrobatics that follow. For the shrine’s highlights throughout the year, see Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine.

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