to honor the gods and to celebrate with the dead : August 25 2024

some time last week, i had found a new walking spot which happened to be one rich in culture and history. this was the higurashi no sato, and i had a great tour of the city outskirts. you can read that from below.

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pathway to history and culture - higurashinosato : August 15 2024

and in this blog entry, i found out that the suwa shrine will be having a matsuri, a japanese festival, in the coming week. that week has arrived, and i revisited the area. the once so ghostly street is now breaming with life.

suwa shrine grounds

i have already been in a japanese matsuri so i know what to expect. there will be lots of people and lots of food. and all of that is concentrated on the shrine grounds. with that in mind, i went to the shrine, the street was closed off from vehicles. that was a sign, there will be lots of people tonight.

this once empty shrine main hall now has a long queue of people praying to the gods.

this mikoshi is well lighted and opened for public viewing even at night: i have always wondered what this closed building was for.

and the once empty and silent grounds are well lit and full of yatai, small stalls. there were food stalls everywhere, and when there are food there were also queues of hungry people. i wished i brought more coins and smaller bills, i would have bought food in a jiffy. it was a festival after all and festivals need to have food. there were booze too, it was too crowded to take a decent picture.

there were also games! shooting games with food and anime goods as prizes, fish scooping games where you can choose to bring home your caught fish. it is a festival for both young and old. i caught glimpse of lots of non-japanese in the crowd as well. i spent most of my time just circling this area and looking at the smiles and laughter around.

i finally got out of the shrine grounds and to my surprise, the food stalls were also on the streets. there were also so many people on the streets. i continued walking while wondering where these stalls would end. i did not expect the whole stretch of around 400 meter long road to be this full of stalls and of people. it was so so so different from how this road usually is.

the parade

i reached the intersection to a major road, and the parade mikoshi was over there. these are believed to be where the gods of the shrines reside. looking at the figure closely, you would see that it is shaped like a shrine complete with the torii gates. and although it looks decent sized, this palanquin is heavy.

i reached the area while shrine people were still resting. it was a social activity as well, shrine people were busy chatting as if catching up to each and every ones lives. they were drinking beer and having snacks, and these food and drinks were probably donated by the people in the vicinity. it was a social and religious activity.

i waited for a bit until they started gathering again. someone climbed on the wood pedestal for everyone to see and clapped wood bricks hinting the start of the lifting. the people then started lifting this heavy thing up and started bouncing up and down while chanting. and although few, women also joined in on the lifting, religion is not limited to males after all. and i also saw 1 or 2 non-japanese in the lifters as well. it is a social activity. this parade started at this end of the road and will traverse the tiny road from where i came from. they will have to carry this heavy load for around 400 meters more. but all seemed very willing, it was an honor to lift the gods up on your shoulders.

and the celebration continues

i continued on with my nightwalker duties for the day. i was quite far away when i heard the familiar chanting once again. i hurriedly walked towards the sound and met another mikoshi. this part of the town was also having a festival, although quite small and more personal.

and the festival continues

a few more kilometers into my walk, i again heard a familiar drum beat. it was another festival but of the buddhist type. yes, bon odori in this side of town.

i have talked about this dance for the dead ancestors in a recent post so might as well just refer you to that post.

and the summer dance goes on : August 23 2024

this bon odori in this neighborhood had a different flair to it, the incorporated more modern sounds in some of their routines, a bit pop even.

what a night it was. this nightwalker was very satisfied and happy with the findings he made. august was a festival month indeed. i witnessed one for the gods, and another one for the dead all in one day. it was such a spiritual travel filled with more smiles than i ever imagined.

here is a video recap to see things in motion.