えんぶり烏帽子（えんぶりえぼし）　”Enburi” Festival Hats

春を呼ぶ祭り「えんぶり」は、明治時代以降に八戸地方で民俗芸能として定着した豊年満作を祈る「田遊び」と呼ばれる神への祈願行事である。
太夫と呼ばれる舞い手が、えぶりという農具を手に、田の土をかきならす所作をする。その太夫がかぶる鶴、亀、松、竹、梅、えびす、大黒などのおめでたい図柄で飾られた烏帽子が、えんぶり烏帽子である。
古来より太夫が一心不乱に舞い続けるとき、その烏帽子には神が宿り太夫はまさに神の化身になるとされている。よってえんぶり烏帽子はいわば農神の象徴として、太夫によって丁重に扱われている。

The “Enburi” Festival, which began after the Meiji period (1867-1911), heralds in the spring and symbolizes a celebration to the gods for a bountiful harvest. This event is now firmly established as a kind of traditional folk entertainment in the Hachinohe area.
Dancers, called ‘tayu,’ grasp an ‘eburi’ (a farming tool used to level the earth for planting) in their hands, and act like they are working the fields. Cranes, turtles, pine trees, bamboo trees, plum trees, Ebisu and Daikoku (the gods of wealth), and other auspicious paintings are portrayed on the body of the Enburi hat worn by tayu dancers.
It has been said from olden times that when tayu dancers become absorbed in their performance, the gods would be harbored in the Enburi hats making the dancers transform into the gods themselves. Thus, the tayu dancers treat the Enburi hats with care and deference as symbols of the gods of farming.

文章・画像提供元：青森県庁HP　青森県伝統工芸品