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Aoi purification (Shimogamo)

May 4, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

The oldest of Kyoto’s Big Three Festivals is the Aoi Matsuri on May 15 (the others are the Gion Matsuri and the Jidai Matsuri). Aoi means hollyhock, once thought to have protective power, and the festival originated in the sixth century as a means to appease angry deities at a time of bad weather, bad harvests and pestilence.

The festival is a joint event of the two Kamo shrines, Kamigamo and Shimogamo, which predate the establishment of Kyoto in 794. So ancient and so important was the festival that in the past when mention was made of ‘matsuri’, it was presumed that the reference was to Aoi. It’s mentioned too in a famous incident involving Lady Rokujo in The Tale of Genji (c.1004).

There are several colourful pre-events in the days leading up to the big parade on May 15, one of which was the famous Yabusame (horse archery) which took place yesterday at Shimogamo. Today was misogi shinji, the purification rite of the Saiodai (an unmarried woman representing the medieval Sai-in, an emperor’s daughter appointed virginal head of the shrine). Together with 40 attendants all dressed in Heian-era costume, she offered a hitogata to the purifying Mitarashi waters – and what follows is a photographic account.

(The Saio-dai, incidentally, is chosen from Kyoto’s leading tea schools and is aged around twenty. She wears the twelve-layered kimono (junito hitoe) of Heian nobility. Her headpiece is said by John Nelson in Enduring Identities to resemble the crowns of early shamanic rulers, made of branches with plum blossom and held in place by half-discs representing sun and moon. The tree branches may reflect himorogi shamanism, while the sun and moon symbols speak of Taoism and yin-yang.)

Waiting expectantly – and checking by Heian-era mobile if everything is okay

Gagaku musicians at the front of the procession to set the tone and smoothe the way

complete with drum....

...... and gong

Children attendants of the Saio-dai, a picture of cuteness in their Heian-era costumes

The centre of attention, the Saio-dai (played this year by Nagase Maiko from Sakyo-ku in Kyoto)

Some of the 40 attendants of the Saio-dai, reenacting ancient practice in Heian times

Long trains are picturesque but not always practical (one got caught in the wood of the bridge)

After the ritual ablutions the ritual release into the purifying waters of broken pieces of the arrow with which she had previously purified herself

Children too perform the symbolic purification

The procession returns from the Mitarashi pond to the main compound

... and big smiles all round at a successful event

Boy’s Day (May 5)

May 4, 2013 / John D. / 2 Comments

Carp flags flying in the wind, imitating fish swimming upstream to be a dragon

May 5 is Tango no Sekku (Children’s Day), though traditionally it is a Boy’s Festival. Sekku means a seasonal festival (there are five ‘sekku’ in the year), and Tango no Sekku was originally imported from China to drive away evil spirits on the 5th day of the 5th moon of the year.

In former times it involved hanging iris and/or mugwort under the eaves, and eating rice cake in oak leaves or chimaki (rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo leaf). Iris is shobu in Japanese, which sounds like competition (sho) and martial spirit (bu). It led to the day becoming associated with boys, and a doll adorned with armour and helmet was displayed in the house to wish for a strong and healthy future.

In Edo times the occasion became a celebration for the shogun having a son. Then in 1948 Tango no Sekku was established as a national holiday called Children’s Day, for the happiness and good fortune of all children.

The tradition is to fly koinobori (carp-shaped flags) for houses which have boys. (Girls Day is on March 3 – the odd numbers for the dates of celebrations deriving from Taoism.)

According to a Chinese legend, a carp that swims upstream becomes a dragon, and it is thought that the way the koinobori flags blow in the wind looks as if they are swimming, thereby promising good fortune for the young child. Family koinobori are colour-coded, with black at the top representing the father, red for the mother, and the rest for the children (one carp flag is added for each boy (or child) in the family).

Boy's festival display, with sword, armour, arrows, rice cakes, iris, rice cakes in oak leaves, chimaki rice dumplings, etc.

Historic foreigner priest (Wiltschko)

May 3, 2013 / John D. / 4 Comments

Konno Shrine, the oldest wooden building in Shibuya (photo by hector BC)

There was a feature on the television two days ago about foreigners who are more Japanese than the Japanese, and one of the items focussed on a non-Japanese priest appointed by Jinja Honcho (Association of Shinto Shrines).

This ground-breaking development concerns Florian Wiltschko, about whom Green Shinto has written before. It seems the young Austrian has been appointed to a post at the Konno Shrine in Shibuya, central Tokyo. It’s not a shrine with which Green Shinto is familiar so we look forward to reports about it and about how the new priest fares there. (Florian himself apparently wishes to keep a low profile.)

There have been non-Japanese priests before (both in terms of having non-Japanese blood and having non-Japanese nationality). However, this is the first time for Jinja Honcho to make an official appointment in this way. As such it’s a major breakthrough in terms of ‘internationalising’ Shinto. It’s a remarkable achievement by the young Austrian, who has had to sit through all the exams required of Japanese in the licensing process.

Green Shinto welcomes and celebrates the development.

Florian Wiltschko at Ueno Tenmangu Shrine in Nagoya, before his appointment to Konno Shrine in Shibuya (courtesy newsweek.japan)

Fuji. spirituality and heritage

May 2, 2013 / John D. / 1 Comment

Sea and sacred mountain - spirituality of an island culture (pic Cultural Affairs Agency/Kyodo)

Heritage status will mean big changes
BY ERIC JOHNSTON MAY 2, 2013 Japan Tiimes

OSAKA – Local and prefectural governments and businesses surrounding Mount Fuji welcomed the news that the World Heritage Committee is expected to designate Japan’s most famous and popular mountain as a World Heritage site, despite concerns about what it will mean to the local environment and questions about how its preservation will be funded.

Long the most recognizable symbol of Japan, Fuji has been revered as a sacred mountain since ancient times. In the early Heian Period (794-1185), a Sengen Shinto shrine that enshrines Konohana-sakuya-hime, the goddess associated with volcanoes, was built at the base of the mountain’s north side.

In spiritual terms, Fuji is divided into three zones. The bottom, or Kusa-yama, is said to represent the everyday world. The forest line, or Ki-yama, represents the transient area between the world of humans and the world of gods, and the “burned” area, or Yake-yama, at the top is said to represent the realm of the gods, Buddha and death.

Thus, to climb Mount Fuji is to descend from the living world to the realm of the dead and then back, by which pilgrims can wash away their sins.

Efforts to get Mount Fuji, which drew more than 318,000 hikers last summer, listed with the World Heritage Committee date back to the mid-1990s, first as a U.N. Natural Heritage site.

However, when representatives from UNESCO visited Fuji in 1995, they were greeted with a sea of garbage and the smell of human excrement due to the lack of public facilities, and told Japan not to apply until the mountain was cleaned up.

After years of effort, there were toilets for about 15,000 climbers a day as of 2012. In the end, however, the government decided to try to get the mountain listed as a cultural, rather than natural, heritage site.

“The garbage problem was the reason why we applied for registration as a cultural site, and I have to say, it’s a great relief that we’ve been accepted,” said Shoichi Osano, a senior member of Fujiyama Gogo-me Kanko Kyokai (Mount Fuji Fifth Station Tourism Association).

For his part, Toshiyuki Kashiwagi, head of the industry and tourism department in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi Prefecture, gave credit to the younger generation for pushing to clean up the mountain and get UNESCO’s approval.

“People in their 20s worked especially hard, showing just how conscious they are of its natural beauty and cultural importance,” he said.

The two tough questions Mount Fuji area residents and the central government now must answer are how to protect the mountain once it officially becomes a World Heritage Site and who to bill for those measures.

Discussions are under way in Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures on such issues as entrance fees for climbers. Although no rates have been set, the fee system could begin on a trial basis as early as this summer’s climbing season, which begins July 1.

“It’s likely we’ll ask that mountain climbers to help financially with keeping the mountain clean,” Yamanashi Gov. Shomei Yokouchi said in February.

In addition, in an issue sure to divide environmentalists and local businesses heavily dependent on the tourist trade, there is the question of what kinds of limits, perhaps legal in nature, to place on the number of climbers per day.

“Placing limits or restrictions on the number of entrants is something that still has to be discussed,” said Tetsuya Ikegaya, of Shizuoka Prefecture’s World Heritage office.

Fuji to be World Heritage

May 1, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

Japan's tallest mountain and an active volcano (courtesy Kyodo)

The announcement came today that Mt Fuji, Japan’s iconic mountain, has passed an important committee stage in the ratification process to be a World Heritage site (unlike the historic remains of Kamakura, which were turned down).

An essential part of the nomination was not so much the physical entity, but the Fuji-ko sect which reveres the mountain as divine. In other words, it is a cultural landscape which combines spiritual tradition with natural features. Green Shinto was fortunate to carry recently an article by Shinto priestess, Pat Ormsby on the Seven Pilgrimage Paths to Fuji. They are sure to be seeing a lot more visitors as a result of today’s decision.

Here is a report that appeared in the Japan Times today….

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Mount Fuji on verge of World Heritage listing
KYODO MAY 1, 2013

An important UNESCO panel has recommended that World Heritage status be granted to Mount Fuji, putting the iconic peak on a direct path to registration.

Japan’s tallest mountain is expected to be formally listed in June when the World Heritage Committee meets in Cambodia.

However, the advisory panel, known as the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), also said in the late Tuesday announcement that it rejected a Japanese request to add a group of cultural assets in the ancient city of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, to the World Heritage list, citing scarce assets directly linked to the medieval shogunate’s rule.

In its request for registration, the Cultural Affairs Agency said Mount Fuji covers roughly 70,000 hectares in Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures, including five major lakes and the Shiraito Falls.

IMOCOS noted that the mountain is a national symbol of Japan and blends religious and artistic traditions, government officials said.

Mt Fuji in its winter garb

“We are delighted to hear the news. Once Mount Fuji is registered as a World Heritage site, we hope it will be known to more people,” said an official of Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture, at the foot of the mountain.

Yamanashi Gov. Shomei Yokouchi also welcomed the recommendation for registration.

“We would like to cooperate with the central government and Shizuoka Prefecture to make utmost efforts to enable Mount Fuji to be registered as a World Heritage site,” Yokouchi said.

The volcano is seen as a symbol of nature worship in the country and has been depicted in ukiyo-e woodblock prints, the agency said in its filing with UNESCO.

For the 3,776-meter peak to be listed, however, ICOMOS said the Miho-no-Matsubara pine grove, which Japan sought to include as part of the asset, must be excluded, because it is 45 km from Mount Fuji and can’t be considered a part of it, the Japanese officials said.

If formally approved, Fuji will be Japan’s first registered World Heritage site since the historic Hiraizumi area in Iwate Prefecture was listed in 2011, and bring Japan’s total listings to 13.

The government officially asked UNESCO in January 2012 to register the two sites in 2013. In December, ICOMOS requested additional information.

The request for Kamakura covered a roughly 2,000-hectare area, including Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, Enkaku Temple and the Great Buddha.

Kamakura was the seat of a samurai government from the late 12th to 14th centuries that nurtured cultural practices including the tea ceremony and Zen rituals.

Registration on the World Heritage list is aimed at preserving precious cultural assets and natural treasures for future generations, but is also significant in boosting tourism.

Ebisu

May 1, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

Daikoku and Ebisu are often shown as a pair (some believe they are father and son). Daikoku holds a mallet, Ebisu has a fish.

Ebisu (aka Kotoshiro-nushi-no-kami) is one of Shinto’s most intriguing characters. One of the Seven Lucky Gods, he carries a sea bream and is the patron deity of fishermen.

In medieval times, Ebisu was identified with Hiruko – the leech child of Izanagi and Izanami in the Kojiki (712) who is born without bones (in some accounts without arms and legs). It was the result of his mother’s transgression during the marriage ritual (she went first round the pillar, whereas the lead should be taken by the man).

Hiruko struggled to survive but because he was handicapped he was put out to sea before his third birthday. He was washed ashore—possibly in Hokkaidō—and was cared for by the Ainu. He overcame many hardships and grew legs to become the god Ebisu.

Because of his birth, Ebisu retains some handicaps such as being deaf. It explains why when all the other kami of Japan visit Izumo during kamiarizuki (the month of kami), Ebisu doesn’t hear the summons of Okuninushi. As a result he remains available for those in need in the rest of Japan. Despite his problems, Ebisu is a happy joyful fellow (he’s known as the Laughing God).

Because of his past as the leech child floating on the sea, things like jellyfish are associated with Ebisu. Fugu restaurants too incorporate the deity in their motif. There are even traditions in which whales are seen as Ebisu.

“Depicted as a fisher-man with a red tai (a kind of perch or sea-bream) under his arm and holding a fishing rod he is well known in his capacity as one of the Seven Deities of Good Fortune. But besides this Ebisu of a rather late tradition we find that Ebisu sometimes takes the shape of a human corpse floating on the surface of the sea, sometimes of a shark or a whale, sometimes even of a float-the Ebisu-aba or Ebisu-float-and sometimes Ebisu is just an ordinary stone drifted or brought ashore.” – Nelly Naumann in ‘Whale and Fish Cult in Japan’

There is also Ebisu as a “visiting deity”. Many legends connected with shrines tell of sacred sea-creatures such as a seven-tailed shark or a whale visiting the village on festival day. Sometimes they are regarded as offerings to the deity, but sometimes as a personification of the deity. In this way Ebisu became more than just the fisherman, but the spirit of the creature he killed.

An ema of Daikoku and Ebisu, who is clutching a sea bream and fishing rod

A protective Ebisu on the roof of a fsherman in Shimane prefecture

Horse archery

April 30, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

Medieval horsemen parading at Kyoto's Kamigamo Jinja (autumn event). Tomorrow, May 1, there will be a ritual purification for a horse-racing event on May 5th.

The time for horse-riding events is coming up in Kyoto, with festivals at Shimogamo Shrine on May 3 and Kamigamo on May 5. The famed Yabusame horse archery (May 3) is just one of several horse-related events that take place in the city during the year. What’s the fascination?

The history group I belong to recently read an illuminating piece on medieval fighting, which illustrated just how important those horse skills once were. Most people might assume that swords played a dominant part in Japanese battles of the past, but this was not the case at all. Rather it was bows and pikes. Here are a couple of key passages from the book –

Thomas Conlan ‘Medieval Warfare’ in Japan Emerging, p. 245.

From the eleventh trough the mid-fifteenth century, Japanese wars were waged primarily by small units of skilled horse riders who relied on the prowess in archery to defeat their opponents. Japanese longbows were powerful, capable of piercing armory at close range.

Most archers rode their slow and small, but rugged mounts to within tens of yards of their opponents, whereupon they unleashed arrows. The face proved particularly vulnerable in pre-fourteenth century armor, and was thus a primary target. Swords were rarely used in battle, because hand-to-hand combat proved so rare.

Japanese horses were small and, by today’s standards, would be classified as ponies. They were not particularly fast, but they could easily scramble across rough terrain. And even on small ponies, a mounted squad armed with bows could mow down any opposition on foot by relying on its superior mobility to wheel around and pepper its enemies with arrows. These mounted archers sometimes chased down rivals, but this too required great skill.

One of the many interesting facts to emerge from the article is that medieval armies could be measured in a matter of hundreds, rather than thousands. Kamakura-era records (1185-1333) show that up to three-quarters of all wounds were from arrows, with the rest from pikes, rocks or swords. In 1600 at the battle of Sekigahara, pikes were the dominant weapon causing seventy-five of seventy-six documented wounds (swords only accounted for one). By this time though guns had become the dominant projectile weapon, inflicting 80% of documented wounds compared with 20% for arrows.

It is evident then that in the demonstrations of horse skills held at shrines, the Japanese are honouring an important part of their ancestors’ past – a demonstration of true horse power, you might say.

Ritual purification before the archery event