Taiko drums and Tea

Not too much going on yesterday. I went down at two to help my host mom with the tea ceremony stuff, but I’m ashamed to report that my pitiful, nerve-damaged feet couldn’t do it this time, and I had to stand up, which prompted them to bring me a folding chair, with unintentionally made me feel like a douche. After going through Harumi’s ceremony, my host mom went into the main tea room to assist someone else, leaving me, Harumi and this other, beautiful older lady to help teach me a few of the basics. I won’t write everything down here because it would be both confusing, and very long and boring. Basically, I learned how to bring in and unload the tea set (what order, how many inches from what to what, etc.), as well at what to say, and the very intricate and impossibly complicated method for folding and unfolding the cleaning rag. You never thought it could be so hard. When I got back to my room I had to write it all down so I’d remember (four pages). After my lesson, they gave me some treats and sent me merrily on my way.

I didn’t realize it, but today is Shibuya’s main festival day, so when I went, all but one of the main roads were closed to traffic (how they managed that, I’ll never know), and I got to see them carrying their big shrines through, though instead of just having the one big Omikoshi like we did, they had about five or six big ones, and each one was carried by a specific team of people, rather than a mish-mash of teams. The place was flooded with people, and festival volunteers were everywhere, lining the streets, young and old. I count myself especially lucky, because as I was walking down the street, I happened upon the place where they were doing a Taiko drum performance. I took some pictures and some video, though neither do it justice. The big drums were so loud that you could hear the metal gates of the building shaking with every beat, and see the windows shaking. I must have stayed there at least an hour, just watching them. They did all sorts of different performances: some mostly with clackers, some with small drums, some with large drums, some with the huge drums, some with a flutist. Only when they took a break did I finally disperse back into the crowd, and on my way back, I was tempted to have a seat and wait to see if they’d do some more, since they were still milling around, but I was afraid my body wouldn’t walk me all the way back if I waited.

Matsuri Day 2!

Hey there everyone. So, yesterday was the second day of the festival here at our shrine, and it's the day when the BIG portable shrine comes out. Around ten, they had a ceremony in the main shrine, where a bunch of what seemed to be big wigs in suits, attended and took offerings from the assembled priests (about 8 of them), and placed the things on the altar, then everyone filed out and went inside for lunch, which I helped serve. Afterwards, everyone from the neighborhood came into the courtyard and assembled around the portable shrine, which had been brough out and placed on A frames in the very middle of the courtyard, and then the high priest, my host dad, and some other priests said prayers, put a wooden altar thing with a branch on it on the float, and then they put a wooden box inside the portable shrine. Just a few quick facts: turns out that they only bring out the big shrine once every two years, so I was lucky that I got here when I did. Also, as it was explained to me, the shrine acts as like, God's car (I think he was in the box), and so he gets in and goes for a ride around the neighborhood so the people who don't get to see the inside of the main shrine, can see him sorta, and pay tribute. There are a string of these Shinto festivals that pass in a line from one part of the city to the next, so next weekend, they'll be doing it again somewhere else in a different shrine one county over. Our particular shrine cost either 10 million dollars, or 10 million yen (I'm betting Yen, so $100,000), and is quite heavy, being made almost entirely out of gold, with a golden phoenix perched on top. Also, to be a lower level priest, you have to go through four years of learning (I know this because my older brother is a lower level priest here, and participated in the ceremonies). Also, your rank is indicated by the clothes that you wear for the ceremonies.

Anyway, after the prayers and what not, teams of people all dressed in their particular uniforms (always shorts and a jacket, with a symbol on the back), got together and with great chants and stirring yells of encouragement, they heaved it aloft, and watching the signals by their leaders (indicated by the waving of fans), and certain whistle combos, the bore it out of the shrine courtyard and onto the streets, parading it around the neighborhood, with the help of the cops, for four whole hours, never stopping. There were food stalls still, and I learned that what I had once assumed were prayers pegged up on that wall thing, are actually the names of people who have donated money. There were drummers and musicians until around 5, when they came parading back, excitement on their faces as they knew they were close to getting to put it down. A man with a mic said a few words, the carriers held it up as high as they could, and then after about fifteen minutes of maneuvering to get it just right, they finally got to put it down. I can't even describe what an experience this weekend has been, but watching them lift the shrine aloft left me with a feeling similar to that of national pride that you sometimes feel in America. It was beautiful and amazing, and here's a video so you can see part of what I saw:

Shibuya and the Matsuri

Word of the day: matsuri (mah-tsu-ri)n. it means festival.

So, I went to Shibuya yesterday, but I won't spend much time talking about that, because all I did was get overwhelmed, pop in a department store (walls were closing in on me) called Don Kihote for some towels and wash clothes (a single washcloth cost $3), and then I went to the Tokyu department store at the Shibuya Station (the great white building sitting on top of some of the train lines), and to it's basement to look at all the lovely foods there (Jiffy peanut butter, marshmallows, and tons upon tons of artistic, designer looking cakes and whatnot).

Rather, I'm going to talk about the Matsuri we held at our shrine today. Evidentally, the god that supposedly resides in this particular shrine in Ikejiri, is who you pray to for good harvest and stuff, thus the timing of this festival. At the beginning of the festival, they bring out all the omikoshi (portable shrines), which this shrine here has four, and then the priests call out what I'm assuming are blessings on them, while the head priest, my host father, goes and says the same stuff over the big omikoshi that they didn't take out today, but which comes out tomorrow. Ours has a phoenix on it and has something to do with some lady (lady goddess?), and in front of this one are offerings of vegetables. After the priests are done, the workers present heave the portable shrines off to trucks and stick them in the back, taking them and dropping them at different edges of town. Slowly, with the help of police for traffic, and taiko drummers and chanters, people carrying the omikoshi go around the town all day, showing it off. In the main courtyard, food stalls and a toy stall for children is set up, and prayers or blessings (don't know which) start to get hammered onto this huge wooden billboard looking thing. The main shrine is open, but only certain people can go within, and they sit and drink and do calligraphy, while others come up the stairs to offer prayers. (They shake these colored fabric strips with bells inside, clap their hands twice and pray. On other stand, tea ceremony and flutists are on display.

About halfway through the day, my host mother took me and a friend upstairs and dressed me up in a Yukata (a simpler version of a kimono). It seems she has had special classes to teach her how to dress a kimono. She was so good at it, and she even gave me a butterfly bow tied in gauzy fabric for my back. After that, everyone we met on the street was very friendly and complimented us on our yukatas, saying that they were very pretty, and suited us. At the end of the day, I got to sit up in one of the buildings on a platform and participate in tea ceremony, which was, as always, awesome. It was the cool green tea, so we got chairs, thankfully. And now, I'm totally bushed. It's pouring buckets outside, and it's dark now, but there are still people down in the courtyard, listening to some live singer they have, and if I wasn't so tired, I'd go join them, but for now, I think I'll call it tonight. The big Omikoshi comes out tomorrow, and I think I'm helping with that, so later! (I added more pics to the 'First Few Days' file, as well as making a new file for the Matsuri).