nerikuyō 練供養

Also gyōdō 行道, gōshō-e 迎接会, raigō-e 来迎会. A Buddhist ceremony brought to Japan from the Chinese continent, where people march in a procession, wearing ceremonial masks representing the disciples of Buddha, carrying a statue or Buddhist relics in a carriage or palanquin. A well-known nerikuyō is the ceremony still conducted in Nara's Taimadera 当麻寺 on the fourteenth of May. Participants form a procession dressed as *bosatsu 菩薩 (Buddhist saints) coming to welcome the spirits of believers.