Ceremony honoring tutelary deity of Besshi mountains in Ehime Prefecture

On May 9, 2024, a Ceremony was held honoring the tutelary deity of the Besshi mountains that figure so prominently in Sumitomo Group’s development. The Sumitomo EXPO2025 Promotion Committee filmed the event.

With just a year to go until Expo 2025, Osaka, Kansai, Japan, at this year’s ceremony honoring the tutelary deity, as well as praying for safety in the workplace as is the custom, we voiced our aspirations for the Sumitomo Pavilion where the lifeforce inherent in every tree will be celebrated in the “plant-a-tree experience.” Inspired by the concept of “Sumitomo Pavilion Beyond Time and Around Again,” we pledged to achieve a life-affirming arboreal cycle encompassing felling, processing, using, and planting & nurturing.

Cedar and cypress logged in the Sumitomo Forest are a source of building materials for the Sumitomo Pavilion and also for commemorative goods, merchandise, benches, and so on. Fittingly, with the cooperation of Sumitomo Forestry, the secretariat of the Sumitomo EXPO2025 Promotion Committee filmed this year’s ceremony. The video will be posted on the Sumitomo Pavilion’s official website and social media.

On May 9 each year, a Shinto ritual is also held at Oyamazumi Shrine in Niihama City.
On May 9, 1691, the Edo Shogunate granted authorization for the operation of the Besshi Copper Mines. Although the Besshi Copper Mines closed in 1973, representatives of Sumitomo Group companies continue to visit Oyamazumi Shrine in Niihama City on that date every year to express their gratitude and pray for safety. The annual Shinto ritual attended by representatives of 11 Sumitomo Group companies that have factories and offices in Niihama City, Ehime Prefecture, which is home to the Besshi mountains, will be covered in a future article.