Driving Demons Out of the Rice Paddies
Well, the month of January is a bit quiet in Japan and a lot of people seem to just stay indoors sitting under their kotatsu tables and eating mandarin oranges. I have to admit that I haven't exactly done a great deal myself during the past couple of weeks and was beginning to get a little bored. But now that it is February, reputed to be the coldest month of the year in Japan (we'll see about that), and the snow from last week's dumping is steadily melting, it's festival time once again in Japan. On February 2, the whole of Japan celebrates Setsubun Matsuri. The basic idea behind this is that people try to rid their houses of oni or demons by chanting "Demons out, good luck in!" and throwing soybeans out the door. I have to admit that I didn't see anyone doing this nor did I see any oni, but I did get to do something today that I never imagined I'd ever do when I woke up this morning.
Well before the matsuri madness begun, I went to one of my elementary schools to watch a pageant put on by the students. Each class had been studying something different and then put together a presentation about it. So the idea was that it was supposed to be both educational and entertaining. The students had tackled topics ranging from river pollution, acid rain, and the handicapped to the importance of cooperation (the ideal in a collective society, isn't it?). What the kids put together was really quite amazing. They had powerpoint presentations, did their own lighting, costumes and props and had amusing skits, played music, danced and displayed banners. One class even sang a song in sign language. Pretty amazing to see Japanese socialization in action!! Most importantly though, the kids seemed to have really enjoyed themselves. It was worth having to get up early on a Sunday morning.
After a short lunch, I went to my Junior Highschool to meet up with some of my Gr.1 students who had invited me to come with them to the big local temple to take part in the matsuri. So we headed out on our bikes in the cold wind and shortly arrived at the temple where it looked like almost everyone in the town was there. There we met up with another one of my students, whose father is a priest at the temple. First, the girls decided that we should go and drink some matchaor green tea. Matcha is the particular type of powdered green tea used in tea ceremonies that is very frothy and bitter. Many people don't like it due to it's bitterness and my one student kept complaining about how much she hates it. But in true Japanese fashion, she still participated and drank her tea along with the rest of us, although not without a little bit (actually a lot!) of gagging. Then we went to join the crowd of people gathered around a small cordoned off area beside the main temple hall. It was a little difficult for us to find a spot where we could see, but we soon found a decent spot. Inside the sacred space were many priests (all men), dressed in either dark purple robes or a bright yellow outfit with white leggings and an animal skin tied around the waist. When I asked my student about the differents outfits, she told me that the men in the purple robes were regular priests, but the men in yellow were yamabushi. Yamabushi are very unique and special types of Buddhist priests who belong to the esoteric schools of Buddhism. Rather than restricting their practices to temples and monasteries, they are known for practicing in the open air of the mountains where they stand for hours under freezing cold waterfalls, meditate in caves and run marathons though the mountains. In the middle of the sacred space was a small tower of carefully stacked wood covered with ceder fronds. For a while, the priests performed symbolic rites with various objects such as bows and arrows, axes, swords and horns made from gourds. When all of this was over, the real excitement began. The priests turned the woodpile into a towering inferno, spurred on by the strong wind. Then, while we choked on the smoke, my students told me the reason for the fire; the priests were making coals for fire-walking. At first I thought that it was probably just the yamabushi who would be doing the fire-walking, but they informed that actually, for a mere 500 yen, I could walk on the coals myself. "Really?!?", I said, "Seriously?!?". Then one of my students' little brother showed up carrying a small wooden stick with bright pink paper strips on it. "Look, he's ready to play!", she said. "Play?", I thought, "What does she mean play?". Then the students kept saying "Let's play, let's play!" and the escorted me down to the booth where her brother had bought his wooden stick. Then I understood that the stick was what you had to buy if you wanted to walk on the fire and by "Let's play!", they really meant, "We want you to do this!!" So I did. I bought my little wooden stick and waited my turn, standing the cold snow in my bare feet and feeling both nervous and excited at the same time. I was amazed to see people of all ages lined up to walk across the fire. Some people were even carrying small babies with them. As I stood there holding onto the little boy's hand and grateful for the cold numbing my feet, I asked him if today was his first time to do this. He said no. He's seven years old. For most of the wait, I couldn't see just what I was in store for, but finally I stepped up and could see that the priests had torn down the logs from the bonfire and laid them out horizontally and the burning pathway stretched out for about 12 feet. When it was my turn, a priest blessed me and then I took my first step. I walked as quickly as I could, trying not to fall, and to my surprise, it wasn't that hot. Maybe it was my frozen feet or something to do with the relatively slow speed of heat transference from the coals, but it was quite tolerable. At the end, I was blessed again and sent off to receive a nice warm cup of sake to get my blood flowing again. I tell you, if there's anything that can dispel the winter blahs, this is it!! I would definitely do it again!!
The girls came and brought me my shoes, seeming quite proud that they had gotten their English teacher to do something that they themselves didn't want to do. Then we went to the temple's main hall for the final part of the festival. We crowded into the jam-packed hall and knelt on the floor and the girls made sure that everyone had a plastic bag for our mamemaki. Mamemaki is the name given to the tasty, roasted soybeans that the priests toss out to the waiting crowd. Mame means ‘bean' and maki comes from the verb ‘to sow'. I think that it has something to do with sowing good luck. Well, when the bean throwing began, everyone went crazy trying to grab as many packets of beans as possible. We were sitting at the back of the hall, so I only managed to get 3 packets, but they contained more than enough beans to ensure good luck for me. Apparently you are supposed to eat at least as many beans as your age. So, I had to eat a lot of beans!! Well, that was the conclusion of the festival and while I didn't see any oni, I think that the fire-walking really pays tribute to the power and value of dispelling one's own inner demons.
Gambatte ne!! (Do your best and hang in there!!)
Willow
Well, the month of January is a bit quiet in Japan and a lot of people seem to just stay indoors sitting under their kotatsu tables and eating mandarin oranges. I have to admit that I haven't exactly done a great deal myself during the past couple of weeks and was beginning to get a little bored. But now that it is February, reputed to be the coldest month of the year in Japan (we'll see about that), and the snow from last week's dumping is steadily melting, it's festival time once again in Japan. On February 2, the whole of Japan celebrates Setsubun Matsuri. The basic idea behind this is that people try to rid their houses of oni or demons by chanting "Demons out, good luck in!" and throwing soybeans out the door. I have to admit that I didn't see anyone doing this nor did I see any oni, but I did get to do something today that I never imagined I'd ever do when I woke up this morning.
Well before the matsuri madness begun, I went to one of my elementary schools to watch a pageant put on by the students. Each class had been studying something different and then put together a presentation about it. So the idea was that it was supposed to be both educational and entertaining. The students had tackled topics ranging from river pollution, acid rain, and the handicapped to the importance of cooperation (the ideal in a collective society, isn't it?). What the kids put together was really quite amazing. They had powerpoint presentations, did their own lighting, costumes and props and had amusing skits, played music, danced and displayed banners. One class even sang a song in sign language. Pretty amazing to see Japanese socialization in action!! Most importantly though, the kids seemed to have really enjoyed themselves. It was worth having to get up early on a Sunday morning.
After a short lunch, I went to my Junior Highschool to meet up with some of my Gr.1 students who had invited me to come with them to the big local temple to take part in the matsuri. So we headed out on our bikes in the cold wind and shortly arrived at the temple where it looked like almost everyone in the town was there. There we met up with another one of my students, whose father is a priest at the temple. First, the girls decided that we should go and drink some matchaor green tea. Matcha is the particular type of powdered green tea used in tea ceremonies that is very frothy and bitter. Many people don't like it due to it's bitterness and my one student kept complaining about how much she hates it. But in true Japanese fashion, she still participated and drank her tea along with the rest of us, although not without a little bit (actually a lot!) of gagging. Then we went to join the crowd of people gathered around a small cordoned off area beside the main temple hall. It was a little difficult for us to find a spot where we could see, but we soon found a decent spot. Inside the sacred space were many priests (all men), dressed in either dark purple robes or a bright yellow outfit with white leggings and an animal skin tied around the waist. When I asked my student about the differents outfits, she told me that the men in the purple robes were regular priests, but the men in yellow were yamabushi. Yamabushi are very unique and special types of Buddhist priests who belong to the esoteric schools of Buddhism. Rather than restricting their practices to temples and monasteries, they are known for practicing in the open air of the mountains where they stand for hours under freezing cold waterfalls, meditate in caves and run marathons though the mountains. In the middle of the sacred space was a small tower of carefully stacked wood covered with ceder fronds. For a while, the priests performed symbolic rites with various objects such as bows and arrows, axes, swords and horns made from gourds. When all of this was over, the real excitement began. The priests turned the woodpile into a towering inferno, spurred on by the strong wind. Then, while we choked on the smoke, my students told me the reason for the fire; the priests were making coals for fire-walking. At first I thought that it was probably just the yamabushi who would be doing the fire-walking, but they informed that actually, for a mere 500 yen, I could walk on the coals myself. "Really?!?", I said, "Seriously?!?". Then one of my students' little brother showed up carrying a small wooden stick with bright pink paper strips on it. "Look, he's ready to play!", she said. "Play?", I thought, "What does she mean play?". Then the students kept saying "Let's play, let's play!" and the escorted me down to the booth where her brother had bought his wooden stick. Then I understood that the stick was what you had to buy if you wanted to walk on the fire and by "Let's play!", they really meant, "We want you to do this!!" So I did. I bought my little wooden stick and waited my turn, standing the cold snow in my bare feet and feeling both nervous and excited at the same time. I was amazed to see people of all ages lined up to walk across the fire. Some people were even carrying small babies with them. As I stood there holding onto the little boy's hand and grateful for the cold numbing my feet, I asked him if today was his first time to do this. He said no. He's seven years old. For most of the wait, I couldn't see just what I was in store for, but finally I stepped up and could see that the priests had torn down the logs from the bonfire and laid them out horizontally and the burning pathway stretched out for about 12 feet. When it was my turn, a priest blessed me and then I took my first step. I walked as quickly as I could, trying not to fall, and to my surprise, it wasn't that hot. Maybe it was my frozen feet or something to do with the relatively slow speed of heat transference from the coals, but it was quite tolerable. At the end, I was blessed again and sent off to receive a nice warm cup of sake to get my blood flowing again. I tell you, if there's anything that can dispel the winter blahs, this is it!! I would definitely do it again!!
The girls came and brought me my shoes, seeming quite proud that they had gotten their English teacher to do something that they themselves didn't want to do. Then we went to the temple's main hall for the final part of the festival. We crowded into the jam-packed hall and knelt on the floor and the girls made sure that everyone had a plastic bag for our mamemaki. Mamemaki is the name given to the tasty, roasted soybeans that the priests toss out to the waiting crowd. Mame means ‘bean' and maki comes from the verb ‘to sow'. I think that it has something to do with sowing good luck. Well, when the bean throwing began, everyone went crazy trying to grab as many packets of beans as possible. We were sitting at the back of the hall, so I only managed to get 3 packets, but they contained more than enough beans to ensure good luck for me. Apparently you are supposed to eat at least as many beans as your age. So, I had to eat a lot of beans!! Well, that was the conclusion of the festival and while I didn't see any oni, I think that the fire-walking really pays tribute to the power and value of dispelling one's own inner demons.
Gambatte ne!! (Do your best and hang in there!!)
Willow
posted by Willow at
3:47 AM
