Kawado Suijin Matsuri. part 2

The procession reaches the riverbank where two boats are waiting to ferry the mikoshi upstream.

One boat carries the young men with the bamboo and banners to replace last years. The giant Onusa is taken by road. By now the young men are inebriated. Drunkeness and matsuri go together and always have. The earliest records of japan from China in the 3rd century make mention of the Japanese love of alcohol.

The second boat carries the mikoshi, priests, musicians, kasaboko, and a couple of other village representatives.

Both boats head upstream a few hundred meters to the spot where suijin is venerated

A rocky outcropping at the base of a cliff. On the cliff above the Onusa is replaced. This one extends horizontally out from the cliff top so the Onusa is above the water below. You can just make it out in the top right of the photo. Here is also where the string of koinoburi are strung across the river in honor of Boys Day.

The young men pass up the bamboo and banners to the group above. Last years bamboo and banners are lowered down and disposed of in the river.

The priests read norito and make further offerings to Suijin.

The boats then return to the riverbank and the procession proceeds to a second spot on the Yato River. It used to go by boat,, but since the damming of the river it is too shallow and no longer navigable, so it goes by truck.

It seems to be a tradition that some of the young men end up in the river.

Kawado Suijin Matsuri. part 1

Most years on May 5th we cross over the river to the Suijin Matsuri in Kawado. This year we went instead to our local Suijin Matsuri in Tanijyugo.

Like all matsuri, the kawado Suijin Matsuri begins with ceremonies in the local shrine.

Earlier in the morning the kids had their own Enko Matsuri.

The priest told me that this is the most important ceremony of the year. Kawado is built in the fork of 2 rivers, the Yato and the Go, and has suffered from devastating floods, most recently 50 years ago, so pacifying the god of the river is important. 2 other priests from villages upriver also take part.

The procession with the mikoshi descends the steps from the shrine on its short journey to the riverbank.

Kawado is not much bigger than Tanijyugo, yet the matsuri here is still well supported by the people of the village, though I hear complaints that every year there are fewer and fewer people.

To the accompaniment of flute and drum the parade heads for the riverbank where the boats wait for the next stage.

In the procession there are a couple of Hanakasboko, a parasol-like object with colorful attachments. I have been unable to find out anything about them, though later this week I'm going to a matsuri that has especially large ones, so maybe I can discover their origin and purpose.

The last 100 meters along the rocky riverbank the mikoshi is put on a trailer and pulled.

Tanijyugo Suijin Matsuri

On Wednesday (May 5th) it was Childrens Day, but in my area it was also time for the annual Suijin Matsuri. Usually we go over the river to the matsuri in Kawado, a rather grand affair with processions and boats etc. Previous posts can be found here.

This year I decided to visit our local matsuri, far more low-key, and becoming more low-key year by year.

The shrine is dominated by 2 huge pieces of giant bamboo, at leat 12 meters long, to which are attached Onusa, a type of purification wand. These will be taken down to 2 spots on the river and replace last years.

The Onusa are laid in front of the offering table in front of the Suijin Mikoshi. In former times the mikoshi would then be carried down to the 2 spots by the villagers. More recently it was carried by a pick-up truck. This year, for the first time, it will stay in the shrine as there are simply too few villagers taking part. Other than the priest and the 2 musicians and 5 village elders, I was the only person there.

Most villages no longer have a priest, but ours lives right next to the shrine, and I noticed what a great garden he has.

After the ceremonies that consisted mostly of purifiication rituals and the reading of norito ( commonly called shinto prayers, but more akin to "reports" to the kami) the 6 of us manhandled the huge Onusa down the shrine steps to the river.

One was tied to a little truck to be carried downriver a few hundred meters to the second Suijin spot.

The diverse Komainu of Suwa

Komainu, the pairs of guardian "lion/dogs" that guard the entrance to shrines, come in a variety of styles and forms. All the ones depicted here are found inside the grounds of Suwa Shrine in Nagasaki.

This was the first time I have ever seen one standing on its hind legs...

Though its partner I have seen before on a temple roof.

One of the pair always has its mouth open, the other its mouth closed.

Suwa is an interesting shrine . It was established in the seventeenth Century expressly to combat the influence of Christianity.

The pairs are seen as male/female, and the open and closed mouth represent the "a" and "un" sounds (equivalent to Alpha and Omega).

The most famous pair at Suwa is probably the ones known as "Stop Lions". One wraps a string or thin strip of paper around their legs when praying to stop something, like smoking.

As the komainu age they become weathered, moss covered, and sometimes damaged, all of which contributes to their strange appearance sometimes.

The money washing komainu is another that I had never seen before. Apparently washing your money here will cause it to double.

The Turntable Komainu is one a circular stone base that you spin around as you make your request. It was used by local prostitutes to pray for bad weather that would keep the sailors, their customers, in port longer.

Shimenawa Diversity

Shimenawa, the sacred ropes most commonly found at Shinto shrines, come in a wide variety of styles, shapes, and sizes.

The simplest would simply be a length of string with shiden hanging from it such as would be used to line the roads leading to a shrine during matsuri, or to enclose a temporary sacred space.

Thicker rope is commonly used, usually made of rice straw, but increasingly make of plastic. The long shimenawa used to connect sacred rocks would be of this type.

When it comes to size and sculptural form, the shimenawa of Izumo rank high, including the largest shimenawa in the world.



Recently in the Bitchu area (now part of Okayama Prefecture) I found this unusual design at several shrines.

Shimenawas with fringes I've seen at several places. This one is at one of the shrines on Yoshidayama in Kyoto City.

There are severak styles that involve the thicker ropes being tightly wrapped to make them smoother. This one is at one of the Munakata Shrines in northern Kyushu.

There are several styles of shimenawa that are braided. I believe one of these styles is known as Kasuga style. The one above was a common design around the base of Mount Daisen in Tottori.

Very short shimenawa can often be found on Hokora (wayside shrines) or Kamidana (household altars. This one is up in Higashi Izumo

Part of my continued fascination with visiting new shrines is to discover new variations on such things as the shimenawa, statues and carvings etc.

Adakaya Kojins

The main kami in my area is known as Omoto, and is represented by a straw serpent. Up in Izumo a similar kami goes by the name of Kojin, and it is also represented by a serpent made of rice-straw. In the Higashi izumo area these straw serpents have developed into large sculptural forms. The 2 pictured here are from Adakaya Shrine.

You won't find Kojin in the ancient chronicles as it has nothing to do with the ruling classes or the political Shinto of the shrines. It is a "folk" kami, which simply means it was/is actually worshipped by people. It is a kami that combines elements of ancestor and nature worship.

Though now in the grounds of Adakaya Shrine, these 2 altars would have been moved here during the late Meiji Period when the government closed down half the folk shrines in the country and moved them to state shrines.

The number of gohei in front of the altars, as well as the care and attention that goes into creating these straw serpents attests to the continued importance of Kojin to the local people. The only other place I have seen such large Kojin was on the eastern side of Dogo, the largest of the Oki Islands.

Shimenawa & Rock

Rock and stone plays a major part in ancient Japanese mythology, so it's not surprising to find them marked as sacred with a shimenawa.

Iwakura, "stone seat" are rock outcroppings found often on mountaintops and are places where the kami descend to earth. They will often be fenced off behind shimenawa rather than having the shimenawa on them.

As with most other places in the world, rocks with unusual shapes and such will often have stories and legends associated with them. The one above is at a female fertility shrine on Mount Daisen, and its easy to see what it reopresents.

This rock has Sainokami carved in it. sainokami are male/female kami found in pairs at village boundaries, crossroads, etc. originally represented by a male and female rock, later they began to be carved as figures.

And, of course, there are lots of memorial stones that will have shimenawa on them.

I'm looking forward to reading a book I just got on the new discipline of Geomythology, the study of the geological foundation to human myths.

Sai Shrine

The full name of Sai shrine is Sainiimasuomiwaaramitama Shrine. It enshrines Omiwa Aramitama, the spirit of the sacred mountain Mount Miwa. It is an affiliate shrine of the great Omiwa Shrine, and is located right next door, close to the southern end of the Yamanobenomichi in Nara Prefecture.

Mount Miwa has been sacred since ancient times, and is an example of a "kannabi", a mountain where the kami resides IN the mountain, rather than descending onto the mountain. After ceding "Japan" to the Yamato, Okuninushi settled in Mount Miwa, and 5 of his relatives from Izumo inhabited other mountains surrounding the Yamato Basin, and it seems most likely that the concept of kannabi is from Izumo

It is possible to go up on the mountain, though there are many restrictions. There are about 6 periods during the year when it is forbidden, but the rest of the time you pay a fee of 300 yen, put on a white sash and begin the climb here. No photography or eating is allowed, and you can only spend 3 hours.

The spring at the shrine is renowned for its healing qualities.

Kotoshironushi, Okuninushi's son, is also enshrined here.