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Published: November 12th 2006
Aki Masturi Garb
This was taken by Ethan at lunch who was guarding the dojo.Right,
So my plan was to back date everything and start the story from the beginning of arriving and make my way smoothly to the present, but this is proving to be far to complicated and I simply am starting to forget what happened.
Plus, the greatest weekend so far took place a few weeks ago and I have been putting off writing about it so that I could catch up with myself, but quite frankly that is'nt that fun. So I will divulge the story of my Aki Matsuri (Autumn festival). No doubt a few of you may have had time to check out Ethan and Jennie's similar experiences but if you haven't then here goes.
This is the big one, as far as the festivals go in everyway and is celebrated using a number of crude, dangerous and overall very uniquliy Japanese things. Alcohol, dressing up, shouting words with no meaning, eating mountains of quality food, pushing yourself to breaking point, breaking and then drinking more. Oh and most importantly carrying an incredibly heavy variety of shrines on your shoulders.
Having seen pictures and videos of Ethans matsuri the week before, and noting that it
The Beast
This the Mikoshi that I got pretty intimate with that day. Its hard, heavy and has lots of very usuful sharp pointy bits. seemed pretty intense I found myself feeling slightly nervous and to be honest reluctant when I roused at 5.30 on the Sunday. The Aki Matsuri is a Shinto festival (and therefore a strictly Japanese affair-as if you couldn't tell) and as the Ikina shrine is right behind my house Ethan, Jennie and I had been treated to a Taiko frenzy for many hours the previous but had not ventured up as I felt I needed my strength for the day ahead (first good move of the festival). This had, however, made me realise that this was going to be something I wouldn't forget and the taiko drums seemed to have been like the longest build up to a song that was about kick in.
The sun was still barely up when I bumped into my 2 teahcer compadres who were the other Ikina matsuri virgins. My Kyouto (VP) sensei and Ochi sensei, both of whom had already grown to be 2 of my favourite people on the island, had the same look on my face of of excited reluctance but - obviously being Japanese and having experienced this kind of shindig before - they seemed to have a more
Preparing for the storm
Actually the storm was already in full swing but I thought this illustrated the numbers well. worldly acceptance of what was coming up but at the same time looked even more dissmayed than I.
The previous week I had been given my matsuri garb and told to wear all white and the whte headband that I was given. I had chanced that they might be able to lend me some white trousers (as my white slack collection had been running a little low at the time) and was therefore wearing my navy (PA) trackyboks.
We got to the shrine and the first thing that I noticed was that every other person had not made this assumption so I was of course the only person not in all white out of about 25 25yr+ men. However, my early morning clothing paranoia was suddenly quashed when I remebered I was also the only gaijin in town. Most of them were actualy people I recognised and I would know much better by the end. The was the man from the old peoples home, and the manger of the tiny supermarket on my island along with various members of the yakuba (town hall) which comprises the majority of jobs and services on my island. These guys were the veterens
Our entorage
These are some of the kid from my Primary school who were with us all the way. I'm not quite sure what they do for most of it but they kind of have to be there. Its pretty cool having them there anyway. and I found out had been choosing to lift this thing every year. Some for the past 25 years.
Aside from the dashing white slacks, I suddenly noiced all the vets were sporting rather stylish pillows on string tied around their backs. "Nick san, itai yo" said Mogi san the headman and, also it seemed, the cox, as it were, of our convoy. This basically means it's going to bloody hurt (pardon my french), but he slapped me on the back - the first and least painful act of the day - and went on.
Breakfast 6.00am. 2 rice balls miso soup three bags of nuts and two rather large cups of sake - danger.
We walked into the shrine where everyone was seated in silence looking tired but perhaps a little more at ease after the sake. Next was a rather bizarre but interesting ceremony involing trapping a ghost inside a hankerchief and putting into the mikoshi (portable shrine) that we were about to carry - all of which is done with a lot of humming and shinto mantra style singing. I think that this ceremony is different from shrine to shrine so I can't
The Danjiri
One of 2 which are on wheels for most of the day but which are in the shrine a the end. verify what was quite going on, but I felt pretty privelged as this is a tiny little shrine and we were the only people aloud in it for all this.
Just as the humming and sake were slowly making me drift back to sleep (as church has often done) everybody lept up and before I could even ask how to lift the shrine, where was best to hold it, where we were going or in fact what the hell it is anyway, we had launched it straight onto our shoulder and were running, yes running, full speed out of the shrine.
This is the moment I paniced slightly. During the week buildup many people had added to the sympatheic comments that, "English teachers find lifting much harder as they are a little taller" , in my case a few inches. Itai. The mickoshi which can only be carried by men, weighs in the region of 100kg which although may not seem too heavy spread between, say 12 men, bloody well is. And I realised this almost instantly, add the fact that I was basically taking a corner of this thing, and that we were running at full speed
Kondou (Kyouto) Sensei
He is a dude, and a gentleman basically. up a very steep hill, and that was 6 in the morning and I had been told I must carry it unitll around 10 the next evening - I was slightly worried.
As with everthing in Japan so far - and which has been my saving grace many times - I had no time worry as we were reaching the top of the crest of a hill, which althouh was right behind my house I had never been to before. It was beautiful.
The sun was rising from behind Yuge Island across the inland sea as we placed (or basically dropped) the mikoshi onto the tiny hill in amongst a group of cherry trees; a spot which had probably been used for hundreds of year by these islanders to perform this opening ceremony. Here, were the Three Shinto priests, the leader of whom is a woman who i am now friends with, and who was dressed in a pretty amazing yellow gown, and 2 guys dressed in white gowns. 5 girls from my Shogakko (primary school) were also there dressed in full kimono Japanese super crisp style and who added to the overall stunning scene unfolding. Oh, and
Half time show
After lunch we met with everyone else and there is a long ceremony - and a traditional dance performed and again lots of beers are served.
These are more of my Shogakko kids. there was also a guy dressed as the devil or something who looked like he had been the reserve pulled in a the lastminute, unshaven and already quite drunk. (Oh and plus the mayor, school principals, police etc).
This was the convoy and over the next 16 hours we would basically cover the entire island and bless over 150 houses and business to have and prosperous and safe year.
There was a short ceremony which we, the carriers, hung back from, and which we used as a last moment to get ready in, and then we were called back to the beast.
With the effects of the sake beginning to wear off, we hauled the mikoshi back onto our shoulder and set off. The morning was a bit of a blur to say the least, but it involved carrying the mikoshi to as many houses and businesses as possible in a half an houras we could. We marched along at a now slow pace whilst the headman screamed (literrally near the end) "Chousajaaa!" which you scream back and which apparently has no meaning, but I would class with "heave". Either that or "ahhhhhh!!". Every so often someone would
Ikina 80000 Jinja Lifters
The Shrine by the way is called the hachiman jinja - again no meaning - or so I'm told. This was one of the breaks in one of the guys houses and his wife had prepared a pretty epic feast of octopus, yakitori and beer. This is everyone I think. shout Shashiega!! which would be the cue to lift this thing into the air and wave it around in a sort of dance whilst others held there breath around you. After half an hour, and due to the massive amount of prepartion that goes into everything here, you would arrive at a persons house who would have laid out a spread of crates of beer and squid etc. You rest, neck a beer and then up it goes again. This may sound repetative but it seemes to have been planned so well that you are always just about to split your shoulder when you see the beer stop. I'm not sure if you get drunk but it takes the pain away.
I cannot describe to you how dangerous all of this is and how dodgy it is when every so often you must put this thing onto the back of a truck and have 25 drunk blokes with nothing to hold onto going up 45degree hills to get it to an old ladies house and down her garden path which is too narrow and you have on foot in the gutter, a mouth full of thorns your bleeding knucklesscraping
The Happi
Close up of the outfit we wear - quality name, no? against the side - charging along knowing that you cannot stop or let go whatever you do - don't let go!
It is also hard to explain how amazing it is. This was the best day I have had here so far without a doubt, and I find it hard to think of a day that come close to this in my life - and the best was still to come.
Last year in Masuyama city a man was crushed carrying the 300 man danjiri at the Aki Matsuri, the year before 2 people died, I am not sure how. There are a large number of things that you could not do in Enlgand that you can do here, it would just not be legal. This is from the shoulder wrestling in the school sports day to the carrying of such danjiris at festivals. There is a real sink or swim mentality here, "gambatte" or "fight" means so much here and I really learned that this day. There is also the strong group mentality in Japan which was incredibly present on that day also. You simply have to take the pain and go on because if you don't
The danger
This thing was soooo dodgy. We had to cram all those people onto the back of it and go up massive slopes (the inside of Ikina is basically a small mountain). The innevitable happened and at one point the whole thing lurched back off its supports and landed on my foot, and I probably screamed a little louder than was neccessary. someone else gets hurt and visa versa. I think so far this has been the thing I have liked most about Japan, there general caring nature and polite friendly logic, mixed with a incredibly reckless dangerous side that just wouldn't be allowed in England. I think the hestiria of the west over helath and safetly folks in England would have to go back to the drawing board if they came over and saw this fully functioning society.
However, danger not being my middle name, I was happy when we rested.
Dinner: Bento, soup, shiashimi, sushi, lots more beer and sake.
People were literally beginning to drop like flies and began curling in little balls in the corner of the community center which is the only place big enough to house over 30 people. However, I looked around and thought happily to myself "I had done it" and more importantly I hadn't dropped the thing although had had it dropped on my foot once and caught it full speed in the chin twice. I sat with kondou and ochi sensei and looked at them with this proud smile and asked "what now?". "Now is the main part of
Back into the thick of it....
Off to bless my neighbours house after lunch - in total we carried it to over 150 houses. the festival!"
Well what did I expect, this was Japan I hadn't broken yet, lets see if I would break now.
The finale is much harder to describe. I had forgotton that on the Friday night whilst I was up at shrine with Ethan and Jennie there had been 2 Danjiris which are about 2-3 time the size of our mikoshi (although they have around 40 to 50 people carrying them and only for a few hours end the end). Add the fact that I had lost count of the amount of alchohol that had been drunk just after lunch, and that your body is creating a rediculous amount of adrenalin to keep you going - and as you charge back up the hill to where it all began 10 or so hours before, you get a blur of hundreds of constumed painted, taiko playing, danjiri carrying alchohol fuled Japanese crashing around in the main forecourt of the Shrine.
"Now we have Mickoshi battle Niku san". Well of course we do! As we are the blokes and we are carrying the bigboy we have have to suddenly double our efforts and run this thing around in cirlces
Lunch break
Ochi Sensei and I forget the other guys name, but he was also a dude and Ochi sensei is one of my favourite people on Ikina. He is the Japanese teahcer at my school. shuting out heads of doing Shashiegas every 2mins and generally trying to look as if we could carry on for days. It was now about 9pm and a number of our team went missing hours ago and the load was much heavier, but the adrenalin is keeping you going. I catch glimpses of kids from my school, people from my eikaiwa, the mayor, the policeman, and then they are gone.
The aim of the game is now to charge full speed into the shrine in between the 2 danjiris. These danjiris house 5 kids playing taiko drums to which everyone is chanting along to for hours, they are not quite as heavy because of how many people carry them but they are much harder to control. In fact about every 5minutes they come crashing down to the ground! It sounds like a tree beeing felled and in fact as they are made basically from 5 trees held togther by rope, its like a forest being feld. The first time this happened my heart stopped and I thought that the 5 kids in the top were basically goners - but in typical Japanese fashion no-one batted an eyelid and the
danjiri pivoted on its side, and was hoisted back up.
The reversing and charging went on for about 5 minutes as you would get a metre away and the two forests would come crashing togther in a vice. I came an inch away from catching this in the face a number of times and to stop it from happening you basically kind of have to grab the person holding the danjiri in front of you and push them away from you. One of the yakuba worker wasn't so lucky and caught this right in the cheek bone which opened up his cheek and I'm suprised did'nt leave him concussed.
After we realised we weren't ging to get the mikoshi back in yet the mass decieded it was the time to do a double lift as i call it, whereby the mikoshi is slidden sideways onto the danjiri and both are lifted together.
As we went under to lift both there was the first group slack I had felt and all of a sudden it felt like I was taking a a corner again. Both Mikoshi and Danjiri came crashing down towards me, all however many tons of wood and metal
Mikoshi peacock
Almost had my eye out a million times. they were. I think if the booze had not made me forget it all, my whole life would have flashed before my eyes - so I just seemed to curl up into a little ball..........when I opened my eyes I realised that the danjiris pivot action had extended my life by few years, so I got back up and we charged on.
This was the only annoying part of the day as pretty much everyone turned to me and in friendly voice said "Niku san you must lift, ok?".
"What the hell do you think I have been doing all day! How could it, in anyway, out of 40 people, possibly be my fault?'' Is what I wanted to say; but these are the little things that you kind have to accept when you are the only foreignor on the island, so I laughed and gave a face like "Oh, right, lift! I see, thanks".
The priests were seeing that the battle could go on for a while so they signalled us forward and with a final last bursts of energy we began charging, and about twenty people began herding the 2 danjiris away from the entrance. Like
ships on a sea of people they slowly floated out of the way and we charged up the stair - but what was this? The game now was for random people to try push you back down the stairs. In fact it only took about one person to stop us, as our muscles had by this time been reduced to cheesestrings.
One final push. We circled back round the bobbing ships, now cheering us on, and charged - almost collapsing up the stairs back to where we had started at the beginning of the day. Just time for one more shashiega above our heads and then it came almost crashing to the ground.
What the hell just happened?
Before I new it everyone I had been carrying the Mikoshi with all day, the people I had shouted, drank, spilled blood sweat and tears with all day were gone!
Hadn't we been on a ship together, there was a battle and a truck and a devil.
In the blink of an eye the danjiris had been reduced back into trees, rope and and cloth.
The mikoshi was back in its home and the ghost was
The convoy
This is from on top of the danger truck returning to the Shrine.
All that was left was the sound of the creeking bamboo flags....
Sleep.
The next day I felt starched and my shoulder bore a nice purple glow. I wore it with pride and if I ever get the chance to get one again I would do it in a heartbeat.
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hannah
non-member comment
what a guy
well you made it through the darkness and kept the ghosts at bay - you are my hero......Reckon you should add a blog about your kendo classes to build on the super hero image.....xx