【能登人を訪ねて】#61 祭りを通じた神社と地域との絆　輪島市重蔵神社・能門亜由子さん (2025年7月10日)

In this installment of "Visiting the Noto People," we visited a shrine in Wajima City with over 1,300 years of history. Despite suffering great damage from the earthquake, the priest continues to provide support to the local community. This is due to his deep connection with the local residents through the "matsuri" festival. Announcer Shinichi Inagaki: "We're at Juzo Shrine in Kawai-cho, Wajima City. This large torii gate, which collapsed in the 2007 Noto Peninsula earthquake and was rebuilt in 2020, was damaged in last year's earthquake, leaving a vivid scar. Despite this, Juzo Shrine has become a support base for the community and successfully held a festival last summer. A year and a half has passed since the earthquake, and this year's festival is currently..." Ayuko Nomon: "Nice to meet you. I'm Nomon from Juzo Shrine." Juzo Shrine, located in the heart of Wajima City, has a history of over 1,300 years. Ayuko, the 21st head of the Nomon family, became a Shinto priest at age 16 and currently handles general shrine duties in place of her father, who is currently recovering from an illness. Inagaki: "It's been a year and a half since the earthquake..." Nomon: "We avoided collapse, but this worship hall has been completely destroyed (assumed) and is currently completely unusable, and there are no plans to rebuild it." The worship hall has been reinforced by specialized volunteers to prevent collapse, but anything could happen at any time if the next major earthquake occurs. Furthermore, in the temporary warehouse next to the main hall... Nomon: "This is a float made of Wajima lacquerware. The float is brought out at the Juzo Shrine Spring Festival to purify the town..." Juzo Shrine's Spring Festival is held every year in early April. Five-meter-tall floats, all Wajima lacquered and decorated with cherry blossoms, paraded through the streets of Wajima to celebrate the arrival of spring. However, the earthquake destroyed the warehouse where the floats were stored. Nomon: "They had been left outside for over six months, so the parts exposed to the sun had deteriorated, as you can see here..." Inagaki: "You mentioned earlier that there's no timetable for rebuilding the main shrine, but what about this float?" Nomon: "To repair this one, we'll need to rebuild a warehouse to house the float, and then the craftsmen will work inside... Since there are no plans to build a warehouse yet, we can't bring this float to the festival." In the midst of this, Nomon began working with local chefs immediately after the earthquake, providing meals within the shrine grounds and elsewhere. In addition, he has continued to collaborate with volunteer groups both within and outside the prefecture on various initiatives. One such organization is "KomiSapo Hiroshima." Since early January last year, they have set up a base within the grounds of Juzo Shrine, where they have been working as specialized volunteers to restore and rebuild the area, clearing roads and repairing roofs. Kodama: "I asked, 'Do you know anywhere with a large parking lot?' They said, 'You can use ours,' and I was able to use this place... They initially said they could fit about three cars, but now more than half are rented... It's become like a 'KomiSapo Village' here. It was a huge help, and I'm truly grateful that they let me use their space." "Well, here we go, 3, 2, 1..." KomiSapo Hiroshima left Wajima at the end of June, completing their one-and-a-half-year term. As support groups gradually left Noto, Nomon used the know-how he'd learned to launch a new volunteer center. Nomon: "Organizations active with disaster victims have teamed up to establish the Wajima Joint Support Center... I, too, am working to rebuild our lives and livelihoods. We're still in the recovery phase of the disaster, so I hope to be able to respond to those needs together with the Social Welfare Council... There's not much I can do, but I hope to gradually complete the recovery and move toward recovery." Even as the reconstruction of his own shrine has not progressed, he is devoting himself to the local residents. This is the thought behind it. Nomon: "Festivals are something that shrines cannot do alone... We cannot hold the festival every year without the cooperation of local residents, so I wanted to do something when local residents are in trouble..." Last year's Wajima Grand Festival. "The portable shrine has left the shrine. It will now parade through Wajima City." The Wajima Grand Festival was held last August. Normally, four shrines in Wajima City hold kiriko festivals over four days, but last year, due to the effects of the earthquake, only Shigezo Shrine held a kiriko parade, albeit on a smaller scale. But smiles were on people's faces... Festivals are essential to the people of Noto, and they are created together with the local community. Nomon, born into a family of Shinto priests, understands this better than anyone. ...