A few weeks ago I posted on a small altar to Omoto in a neighbouring village and asked if anyone would be interested in seeing the shamanic kagura that is associated with Omoto. On person said yes, so this is for them. I apologize for the quality of the photos and videos. They are from twenty years ago.
Omoto is carried to the village shrine, a Hachimangu at the far end of the village. Omoto Kagura was introduced in to the area by yamabushi and they took the same form of shamanic rituals all across the country. I have found remnants of yamabushi kagura throughout western Japan and Kyushu, and am reliably informed it was also widespread in the north of Japan. When the yamabushi and their shamanism was outlawed in the late Meiji period it disappeared everywhere, except in this remote part of Shimane.
Omto is then placed on an altar in the shrine. The shelves with white cloth are for the offerings that will later be ceremonially offered to Omoto by the villagers and priests. I have seen the offering for normal annual matsuris, and for the Omoto rituals there are 3 to 4 times as many offerings.
Many shrines in the area do not have a full-time shinto priest, but for Omoto all the priests of the county take part. Omoto Kagura takes place either every 4, 5, 6, or sometimes 7 years, depending on the village tradition. A similar shamanic kagura takes place in Hiba, high in the mountains of Hiroshima near the Shimane border, but only every 33 years.
An altar is set up in the corner of the ceremonial space, under the tengai, the canopy over the dance area. I believe this altar is in the NW corner but I could be mistaken.
Masked, theatrical kagura is performed as an interlude while the priests retire and rest. This was the origin of the theatrical kagura now commonly performed. It was in between the shamanic dances performed by priests, ne shugenja.
More rituals, many involving a very large Onusa, a kind of purification wand, and then Omoto is taken dowm from tha altar and the priests perform Tsunanuki wherein Omoto is taken on a figure 8 route around the sacred area.
The video below is from a different performance at a nearby shrine on another occasion.
More theatrical dances and then my favorite, the Tengai dance.
The tengai is the canopy above the dance area and the streamers are what the kami descend through to animate the dancers in nornal kagura. For Omoto there are a series of boxes with scrolls attached within the tengai and the priests operate ropes that allow the boxes to descend and ascend.
As the dance progresses the boxes begin to swing more violently and by the end of the dnce ripped pieces of the tengai litter the floor. This is by far my favorite of the various Omoto dances and I am not aware of anything even remotely similar anywhere else in Japan.
Not all the kagura dances by the villagers are masked and theatrical. Some dances, called shinji, are ritualistic in origin and include several purification dances etc. Another is the sword dance pictured below.
As the night progresses there are several more masked dances and several more ritual Omoto dances like Yudate and the Mat Dance, my second favorite dance.
The final dance, just before dawn, is the Jyoju, and this is when possession is most likely to occur. Some villages have the tradition a villager is chosen, always a male, sometime before the festival and will undergo numerous purifications and preparation. many villages however just leave it up to the kami to choose who to possess.
Omoto is once again taken down from the altar and then suspended diagonally across the area from the Omoto altar to the opposite corner. The priests then start to swing the rope back and forth picking up speed and then slowing down. As with the tengai it gets quite violent and pieces from the tengai fall around. On one occasion I saw the tengai itself semi-collapse.
The next day Omoto, as represented by the new rope snake, will be taken to the altar behind the community centre and wrapped around the base of the tree. All across Izumo and the Oki Islands you will also find such rope serpents wrapped around trees.
This is just a very brief introduction. I have witnessed Omoto kagura numerous times and have an extensive collection of much better photos that I will get round to posting eventually....
Rendaiji, the 6th temple on the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage, is a large complex located high on Mount Yuga in the Kojima area south of Kurashiki and Okayama.
It was a syncretic site known as Yuga Daigongen until modern times but has now split into Rendaiji Temple nd Yuga Shrine, though they both occupy the same site.
In the Heian Period it was one of three sites that were called New Kumano, this site being the equivalent of Nachi Taisha.
Long a site of pilgrimage, the approach to the shrine-temple complex has a temple town with long street lined with souvenir shops.
I arrived by following the old pilgrimage trail from the north and the first things I saw were the statues of the Seven Lucky Gods. The tradition here is that you write your prayer or wish on a white stone and leave on the statue.
Also in this area was a newish Fudo statue, but much more of Fudo is to come......
In one hall is this striking statue of Dakiniten, a Buddhist goddess with Hindi roots that has become synonomous with Inari in Japan. Two great Dakiniten temples are commonly known as Inari, Toyokawa Inari in Aichi, and Saijo Inari near here in Okayama.
Dakiniten is often associated with foxes and sometimes depicted riding a white fox. The association with foxes seems to be behind much of the association of Dakiniten with Inari.
In this part of the temple is also this magnificent statue of Fudo Myoo, the biggest wooden Fudo in all of Japan, and possibly the world.
Rendaiji was siad to have been founded by the famed monk Gyoki in 733. He enshrined a Kannon and Yuga Daigongen.
In the late Heian Period the complex was destroyed by fire.
It was rebuilt in the Muromachi Period, but really grew in stature during the Edo Period when it became a major pilgrimage destination.
Yoga Daigongen was a deity that offered protection against misfortune, and it became paired with the Konpira Daigongen across on Shikoku. A pilgrimage to both sites became very popular.
The Guest Hall, or, Reception Hall dates back to the very end of the 18th century.
It boasts an impressive collection of painted screens by some well known artists and also offers views of the garden
It is free to enter and I am disappointed I did not.
In many placdes where a temple and shrine were seperated, they now sit adjacent to each other, but here thye shrine part is in the middle of the Buddhist part. After passing through the shrine you come to the second area of the temple and here is the Kannon Hall, pictured in photo 1 above, and also the Daishi Hall below. I will cover the shrine, with its unusual ceramic torii, in the next post in the series.
Also on this side of the complex is an area devoted to Mizuko Jizo.
Also in this part of the complex is the pagoda. In Tahoto style associated with Shingon.
The original pagoda collapsed during a storm in 1670, and was rebuilt during the 1830's and 40's. It is said to be the biggest pagoda in Okayama.
Officially seperated in 1868, the shrine and temple began again to operate as one entity after 1945, however in the lat 1990's a duispute arose between the shrine and temple that continues to this day.
The head priest of the temple and the head priest of the shrine are brothers, which may explain the dispute somewhat.
The most commonly taken route is to backtrack a little and go back over the bridge across the narrow entrance to Uranouchi Bay and then head west along the north coast of the bay.
Another route is to head along the southern coast of the Yokonami Peninsula, which is said to have spectacular views but is lacking in facilities.
A third option is the one I chose, to take a little ferry that connects Umetate near the bridge with Yokonami at the far end of the inlet.
The ferry is small and only takes passengers, though I believe it may be possible to take a bicycle onboard.
The ferry only runs a few times a day, and zig-zags up the narrow inlet connecting settlements on either side.
I was the only passenger, and it didn't actually stop anywhere. It approached each little harbour, but on seeing no-one waiting just turned around and carried on.
I would imagine that on wet, cloudy, or windy days the journey is not so much fun...
But on a calm day the journey was pleasant and views quite magnificent.
The previous post in this series on the space between temples along the Shikoku Ohenro was on the walk from Kiyotakiji to Shoryuji.
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