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Published: October 16th 2010
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Scenery
The spectacular sight of 2 of the dashi floats crossing the bridge to get to the shrine. The white building behind on the right was the ryokan we stayed in Last weekend I can absolutely say I think was one of the most exciting weekends of my life. And for that reason I think it deserves a blog entry to itself 😊
One of my chosen modules is called ‘Fieldwork Research Methods of Japan’ however we affectionately call it our ‘festival class’ since it is essentially festivals that we are researching so whenever there is one happening in the area, we will go as a class each with our various research questions in mind and attempt to find out as much as we can from participants and spectators of the festival whilst also having a really good time. Educational and fun, bingo.
Last weekend was Asuke Festival. Asuke is a small town about 40 minutes drive (our Australian teacher took us all in the car) from Nagoya situated up in the mountainside. It is fairly rural and the town itself is split into 4 sub-towns-west town, new town, book town, and field town (in vague translations i think!).So bearing in mind the festivities start by around 8am on the Sunday, we drove up Saturday lunch time and stayed the night in a ryokan (traditional Japanese style inn) right on
Sake barrell
I was privileged to be offered to drink from the barrel of sake that the teppou (gunfire) men share the river side, it was a beaut.
On the way there we stopped at a shrine (of which ive already forgotten the name) and our teacher expertly explained to us each aspect of it so from now on whenever I visit a shrine I can spot things 😊 Whilst we were there numerous families rocked up with their children dressed up in formal kimonos. In Japan ages 3 and 7 are very important for girls whilst 5 is important for boys. So around the time of these birthdays, the children will be taken to their local shrine with just their immediate family for a short ceremony to show appreciation of their good health and to pray for the good health to be continued (basically). So I managed a few cheeky snaps of these massively cute children.
Anyway it was raining when we arrived at Asuke which was a massive bummer but we caught a glimpse of the practice parade (the festival float was wearing a raincoat-jokes!) so we tagged along and walked behind so we could make ourselves known there and start some conversations. A few hours later feeling cold and wet we were happy to find our
Torii
An old torii gate i stumbled accross in the woods.. marks the edge of a disused path leading to the shrine grounds cute ryokan on the river and the lovely owner lady who showed us our rooms. I was sharing with the other English girl, Katie and Bethany, an American. Very traditional rooms, tatami mats on the floor (basically fine straw) and extroadinarily thin paperish walls. Also one washroom for all women in the inn with an o-furo (traditional bath always kept steaming hot for up to 4 or 5 people at a time). The bath looked directly out onto the river and mountain opposite which was lovely and proved a very rapid bonding experience for the 3 of us after dinner!
We were woken up at 7 in the morning by gunfire directly outside our rooms. The opening of the festival is by several men with very heavy, powerful guns lined up alongside the river who fire for about 30 minutes. Luckily we had been warned about this the previous evening so had pillows ready to cover our ears. We assembled for our generous breakfast prepared by the little old inn lady and set out by about 8:30 to catch the parade of the dashi (large wooden festival floats) down through the town. There were 4, one for each of
Dancers
There are 3 dancers on the front of each dashi, each with the same outfits and routine the sub-towns I mentioned and they were each built around 200 years ago when this festival began. For the remainder of the year they are un-assembled and stored carefully so even the residents of Asuke only get to see them for 2 days per year-excitement for everyone!
People were very happy to talk to us and answer all the questions we had, possibly since we were pretty much the only foreigners there and also since everyone had started drinking from around 8am which automatically invites social interaction. My chosen topic was movement, so I was wandering around by myself asking about the dance that was performed and also the movement of the dashi. The dashi ended their parade being taken into the shrine grounds where they were parked for the remainder of the day to be admired whilst everyone gorged on the regional specialities available at the food stands and of course beer and o-sake (very strong wine made from rice, approx 30% alc!). Also in the afternoon was a performance of teppou that lasted for absolutely hours (more guns, but literally the loudest ones I’ve ever heard in my life). We once again bumped into some locals we
Where it all goes on
2 of the dashi inside the shrine grounds had met the previous evening in the ramen restaurant who had made many inappropriate comments to us females, however still being similarly intoxicated the following day the conversation was pretty mush equally amusing! Not only were my bum and boobs groped, I also got ‘I rove you’ and ‘you are my girlfriend’ from various people aged 16-74 so it was generally an eventful day.
To calm down in the afternoon and take a short break from the crazy festival atmosphere, the teacher treated us to a nearby onsesn, and actual hot-spring bath which we had to share with poor Japanese women who were trying to relax. However since it was our first visit to a public onsen I feel we were possibly slightly too jovial and excitable which could explain why they all left fairly rapidly after we arrived. Anyway since it wasn’t so big, having it to ourselves was a bonus. There was a small inside section and then a sliding door to an outdoor tub, with a small fountain pouring into it, and looking out onto the mountainside opposite. Very lovely! 😊
We were back at the festival for 6:20 pm which was when the dashi
Parade of the Mikoshi
So a kami (female god) is placed in this mikoshi and paraded through the town once per year to meet the male kami. Notice the front carrier's cheeky peace sign! were set to be taken round in a circle and pull up one by one in front of the shrine, at which point the bonden (horns made out of paper tassles previously attached to the front of the dashi) were thrown into the crowd. Whoever catches the bonden is said to have good luck and health for the coming year and you cannot imagine the mayhem this entailed! There was so much pushing and shoving, masses of people would dive to the ground to struggle over it, it almost resorted to violence, but thankfully the day was saved by a simple game of jan-ken-pun between the two who persevered the most.
For this last part of the festival it was dark and the dashi were decorated with hundreds of small lanterns each with a candle inside, it was so pretty!
Anyway ive described as much as I think I can-a combination of the masses of friendly, outgoing people, the beautiful scenery and the intense festival atmosphere made it a really fun weekend. And of course the new ryokan/onsen experiences!
On a more general note, everything is still going wonderfully. Despite me saying last time that it has
Bonden
Bethany and I were lucky enough to grab some stray tassles from the bonden bundle- a good souvenir! turned cooler for Autumn, we still have plenty of days that hit 30degrees, but at least now it’s a pleasant heat, with breeze and everything. 😊
This week I had mid-term tests (crazy that we’re half way til Christmas holidays!) and last night we went to the nearby Koushoji Temple where there was a firelit performance of Noh Theatre (they wear masks) which was fun. We then once again had dinner in an izakaya (Japanese drinking/food bar) which is always a laugh and I met some wonderful new Japanese friends. Tomorrow I look forward to Nagoya Festival celebrations, part of which loads of the main attractions in the city are free, so im planning to check out the zoo 😊 Im still unnecessarily tired all the time even though I make an effort to go to bed by 11:30 every day-I blame all the excitement and also the long commute to school every day which ive still not quite got used to. Now im looking forward to dinner with my host family for the first time in a few days, ive just heard the baby’s arrival downstairs and for some reason everyone’s clapping at it and talking in ear-piercingly
Noh theatre
The firelight performance of Noh theatre at Koushoji Temple - the big (woman?!) on stage with a mask seems to be the main bit high voices so perhaps it’s done something world changing again...
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