This article is reproduced from the discontinued, but much loved Mainichi Waiwai column by Ryann Connell. Read more about this at the bottom of this article.

Note: Full Japanese Translation of this article is available below.

A Fukuoka festival dating back to ancient times is growing increasingly popular with Japan’s adult movie fans because it involves smearing gooey, white liquid all over the faces of participants, according to Cyzo (January).

For better or worse, words like “geisha” and “hara-kiri” have been joined in the global lexicon by “bukkake,” which has adapted a more specific meaning overseas rather that the original Japanese meaning of “to splatter.”

And the same adult movie world that spread the word is now getting behind the Oshiroi Festival held every December at the Oyamazumi Shrine in the Fukuoka Prefecture town of Haki.

Initially, the festival is a somewhat closed affair as the shrine’s parishioners gather at the main hall to have a feast.

As time goes on, Cyzo notes, the atmosphere becomes considerably lighter and soon men come along bearing containers.

Inside the containers is rice flour mixed with water to form a sticky, glutinous substance called oshiroi, which is where the festival gets its name.

Starting with the shrine’s chief priest, the men draw out handfuls of the gooey mess from the containers they’re carrying and smear it all over the face of all those taking part in the banquet, whether they like it or not, with results closely resembling what the adult video world refers to as a gansha, or facial shot.

Oshiroi is said to have a therapeutic effect on the skin, which has attracted a growing number of young women to the festival in recent years, Cyzo says, adding that it’s custom for both men and women to have their mugs daubed.

Since ancient times in Japan, there has long been a traditional to link farming and sex. In Nara Prefecture’s Onda Festival, a god-like creature with a long nose called a Tengu simulates making love to a traditional Japanese peasant woman called Otafuku, which means “lots of fortune.” During the ritual, the Tengu pours sake into a bamboo flute, which it waves around and splatters its contents over onlookers in an act that clearly mimics ejaculation.

In the Fukuoka festival, oshiroi’s rice base, Cyzo says, is said to serve the same purpose.

Japanese Translation: 「古来の米祭りはセラピー効果の洗顔クリームとして評判となっている」
「サイゾー」(1月号)によると、古代から連綿と続く福岡のお祭りが日本のアダルトビデオのファンたちの間で人気を得つつある。というのも祭りの参加者の顔中にベタベタする白い液体を塗りたくるからだ。

良くも悪くも、「ゲイシャ」や「ハラキリ」のような言葉は、世界的辞典のなかで「ブッカケ」という言葉に結び付けられてしまった。この言葉は日本語の元の意味である「勢いよくかける」よりももっと特別な意味で浸透してしまった。

そしてこの言葉を広めたAV業界は、福岡県朝倉市杷木大山の大山祇(おおやまずみ)神社で毎年12月に行われるおしろい祭りの後援を行っているのである。

はじめは、このお祭りは祭りを執り行う広場に集まった神社の氏子を対象とする内輪むけのものだった。

サイゾーが言うには、時が経つにつれて祭りの雰囲気は軽いものとなり、やがてすぐに男性たちが容器を持ってやってくるようになったとのこと。

容器の中には水と米粉を混ぜてねばねばになったものが入っている。これは祭りの中でおしろいと呼ばれるものだ。

神社の宮司が祭りを始めると、男性達はこのぐにゃぐにゃしたものを手持ちの容器から一掴み取り出して、おかまいなしに宴の参加者の顔中に塗りたくるのである。この光景はAV業界が顔射と呼ぶものと非常に似ている。

おしろいは肌にいいとされ、近年はそれに惹かれた若い女性達がこぞって参加しているとサイゾーは記す。男女ともに口元をべたべたにするのが慣わしだとも付け加えた。

日本では古来から、農業とセックスを結びつける伝統がある。奈良県のおんだ祭では、天狗という長鼻の人にあらざるものが日本の伝統的な農村の女性であるおたふくとセックスするさまが演じられる。おたふくとは幸多い、という意味である。儀式の中で天狗は竹筒へと酒を注ぎ、あたりをウロウロしながらそれを見物人にブッカケて行くのである。明らかに射精を模した行為である。

「サイゾー」の話では、福岡のお祭りにおける米の白濁液も同じ目的で用意されている。

〜★〜★〜★〜★〜★〜★〜★〜★〜

(The Mainichi Waiwai column ran online from April 19, 2001 – June 21, 2008. It was a much loved form of entertainment amongst foreigner in and outside of Japan. To any reader it was obviously not serious news, but it was a set of articles that portrayed quite well how the Japanese tabloids actually write about their own country. In 2008, a small number of Japanese people bought it to the attention of rival news groups that Mainichi was running an anti-Japan column on its website. With the bad publicity, Mainichi was forced to shut the page down, and take punitive measures against the journalists that were working on it, claiming that it was receiving opinions that were critical of the column, such as “its contents are too vulgar” and “the stories could cause Japanese people to be misunderstood abroad”. A perfect example of how Japanese consider what they write in their own script to be an acceptable secret code, that the rest of the world cant understand. When that same tabloid rubbish gets inconveniently translated to English to make light of some aspects of the Japanese people, it gets canned. Stippy.com finds this unacceptable, and will reproduce as much of the Waiwai content as possible in order to bring it once again to our computer screens for a good laugh. Of course we claim no credit for this content, and attribute it to it’s writers who were former Mainichi employees. Waiwai in its true and glorious form has been discontinued, but it’s legacy will live on at stippy.com for all to enjoy.)