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| Kushimoto Fire Festival |
I am continually fascinated by Japan’s fascination with
fire. I knew that the Japanese liked
heat in a big way when I first arrived here in August. I went to several hanabi matsuris (fireworks festivals) within my first few weeks in
the Deep South, and was kind of confused.
It’s a billion degrees outside with 100 percent humidity, why are we
fanning the flames, so to speak? No one
could really explain it to me – as I’ve found over the past six months that
rarely can things be easily and rationally explained here, it’s all just
tradition – but I went along with it.
Now that the temperatures have dropped and we’ve even seen a little bit
of snow (okay, snow flurries, but it still has the word “snow” in it), it makes
a lot more sense to have fire festivals during a season in which I can see my
own breath in my apartment.
Cue Kushimoto and Shingu.
At the end of January or early February, Kushimoto-chō
holds a fire festival every year at Cape Shiono Misaki, the southernmost point
of the island of Honshū, Japan’s main island.
During this festival, people come together to watch traditional Japanese
and Turkish dance, stand in the world’s longest line for free miso soup, go
crazy trying to catch mochi and then
watch the field they’ve been standing on burn.
Yep, they set the entire field on fire, and spectators are welcomed to
walk among the flames. Oh, and how do
they set the field on fire? The local
high school archery club (which was comprised mostly of girls – Girl Power!
^_^V ) shoot off flaming arrows into the field.
It was certainly something I’d never seen before, and kind of went
against everything I’ve ever been taught (“Only you can prevent forest
fires!”), but I have to admit it was a rather surreal experience. Once the field caught flame and the fire
fighters gave us the a-okay to walk around, festival organizers started playing
epic scores from different soundtracks, so it was almost like being a part of a
movie. Speaking of movies, I made a short video about the Kushimoto Fire Festival, but for some reason Blogger isn't letting me upload it here, so if you're interested in watching it you can access it here.
There were maybe about 20 JETs from Wakayama and Mie
Prefectures represented at the Kushimoto Fire Festival, and I have to admit we
probably sent fear into the hearts of the employees at the Chinese-Taiwanese
fusion restaurant we went to afterwards.
The place was pretty small, and we all had to sit at separate tables to accommodate
all of us, but this place’s jian dui
(sesame balls), which they called goma
dango, were bomb. All in all, I am definitely
looking forward to next year’s festival.
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| Even someone as coordinately challenged as me caught caught some mochi! With one hand even! |
Every February 6th, Shingu-shi holds its Otou
Matsuri, so I had the opportunity to see it for myself this past Monday. Even though I missed the Super Bowl, 1 there
was plenty
of testosterone to go around. Every
year, men of all ages participate in the Otou Matsuri; they pay their respects
at various temples and shrines around town and spend the day purifying
themselves by abstaining from female contact and consuming only white foods
like tofu, white pickles, rice and amazake
(sweet white sake). You can tell who’s
participating in the festival from their clothes: they wear shiroshozoku, a
traditional white uniform which is worn with a thick straw rope wrapped around their waists
and a white head covering to protect them from the embers from their torches.
A group of men about to make their ascent to Mt. Gongen.
Once it gets dark, and they are plenty drunk from the sake,
men trek to the top of Mt. Gongen to Kamikura Shrine, the original site of the
Kumano Hayatama Grand Shrine. The men
are corralled at the top of the shrine and, once everyone has assembled and lit
their torches, they open the gates and the men run down all 538 steps to the base
of the mountain. With torches. And quite a few of them are intoxicated. And this year, it was pouring rain. Sounds like a pretty dangerous feat, but one
that is attempted every year. Essentially,
participants purify themselves to prepare for their passage: once the
festival begins, they leave the konoyo
(“this world”) for the anoyo (“the
other world”) at the top of Mt. Gongen, and then their journey back from the
summit represents yomigaeri
(“resurrection”). By symbolically rising
from the ashes, participants hope to obtain peace, good health for the
families, and strong fertility. I think the
best way to explain and understand the spiritual nature of the festival is
through a Buddhist quote: “Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men
cannot live without a spiritual life.”
It’s times like these
that I feel faintly sorry that I’m a girl in Japan, because so many of these cultural
events are exclusively for men.
Why? Because it’s tradition. The Otou Matsuri is a 1,400 year old festival
and has always been for men, and always will be. Sure, there are great things for girls to do,
but a lot of the really “fun-looking” stuff is reserved only for men. Grr sexism and tradition…
As this was my first Otou Matsuri, I wasn’t really sure what
to expect. I ended up going with the
other ALT in my town to spend the hours before the festival started at another
teacher’s house. Their home was
absolutely gorgeous, a fusion of a Westernized and traditional Japanese style
house. Turns out it is very traditional
to have a giant feast on the day of the Otou Matsuri as like a second supper to
welcome the New Year. We had nabemono (a hot pot which cooks and
steams various vegetables and meats in a broth at the table), sukiyaki (another type of nabemono, but this particular one
features thinly sliced grilled beef which is dipped in a raw beaten egg before
eaten) and cheese fondue (only in Japan,
right?). Most of the people attending
the little dinner party were educators, even a few from Nachikatsuura. I got compliments on my kawaii voice and praised for "being so young and moving to Japan," which was not something I'd encountered from native Japanese since I got here. They asked me if I was homesick and, if I ever needed anything, to please let them know. It was amazing how open they were, especially as we had just met, but eventually their openness quickly turned into blatant curiosity:
"So, you're 23 and don't have a boyfriendo? Okay, okay, you still have time, na? There are many nice men here. There's an art teacher in Nachi who is 25; he's nice."
I’m glad to see the people in my community are looking out
for me. :P We spent a couple of hours cooking, eating,
drinking and generally being merry before eight o’clock when the gates are
opened and the men race down the mountain.
However, just before eight rolled around, we started hearing
fraternity-like chanting and raced each other to grab our shoes and umbrellas
to go outside.
I’d been hearing about this festival since August, but
wasn’t nearly prepared for what I saw.
The cries of “Washoi! Washoi!”
was overwhelming, and the rain kept pelting our faces, but looking up to the
mountain top and through the breaks in the trees, we could see hundreds of men
moving like a steady red ribbon against the dark of the night. The whole scene was actually quite impressive,
and I tried to take photos and video of everything, but the rain was too heavy
to catch anything definite – I’m hoping for much clearer weather next year so
Cammie can capture everything. ;) I don’t think that the winner of the foot
race actually wins anything other than bragging rights and the best luck for
the New Year, but everyone puts their best effort into it.
Even though I couldn't capture a video of the men coming down the mountain, I still wanted to show it. This is a clip from last year's festival uploaded by kongjing2008, although it shows a lot more than I would have been able to record since I can't go.
Once we’d seen most of the participants return from the
mountain, we went back to our hosts’ lovely home and were treated to dessert: chocolate
pudding, strawberries, and something called “ribbon cake,” which reminded me of
Angel’s Food cake. We then spent another
hour watching YouTube videos of other fire festivals and a particular festival
in Osaka which takes place in the Spring.
Participants essentially race by pulling carts laden with a band and
cheerleaders on top through the streets, hoping to be the fastest, while
avoiding broad siding the crowd or buildings, bucking off their cheerleaders,
or flat-out rolling over. I was
horrified – my hosts couldn’t stop laughing.
I shouldn’t be surprised considering this is the country Takeshi's Castle was born (MXC on SpikeTV for Americans).
By the night’s end I was cold, wet and tired, but an amazing
experience nonetheless. I already can’t
wait to see who’s going to win next year.
1Go Eli! ;)
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