"Oh My, That's an Awfully Large Mikoshi You've Got There!"- Spring in Japan Part Deux

The weekend following our experience with the feminine side of fertility in Japan, it was time to experience things from a male perspective. Now the men's festival is well-known all over Japan and even around the world and attracts a lot of foreigners. You will soon understand why. And we too found ourselves in a larger group seeking out the secrets of the Shinto gods. This festival takes place in at Tagata shrine in Komaki city, just a little ways south of Inuyama. Now despite this being a men's fertilty festival, the shrine is actually dedicated to the spirit of a human woman who supposedly lived there over 1500 years ago. The idea behind the festival is that she is to be reunited with her husband who will be brought from another shrine in a procession. When we arrived at the shrine, we were blown away by the number of people there including the large amount of foreigners there. Living in the countryside, we are just not used to seeing very many foreigners, so it's always a shock to see so many of them in one place. Usually when I go to a store or somewhere around my town, there's a pretty good chance that I'm the only foreigner there. But I think that every JETfrom the surrounding area was there along with busloads of American service people. It's funny, I actually had an American woman who saw me from behind think that I was Japanese, and everytime I bumped into someone, I was apologizing in Japanese, whether or not the other person was Japanese or not. Anyways, we were pushing our way through the crowds, stuffing ourselves with all sorts of Japanese culinary delights, when we came across a crowd of people hovering over a small booth. We went in for a closer look and we saw a man using very unusual brushes to paint bright, colourful paintings at breakneck speed. One of my Japanese friends recognized what he was doing and said that it was a Chinese art involving painting Chinese characters (kanji) as vivid pictures using natural forms, like birds and trees. The more we watched the more intrigued we became so we each decided to buy one. There was a sheet where you could write the kanji that you wanted to have painted and within a few minutes he could paint it for you. I decided to get the kanji for yanagi which means ‘willow tree' in Japanese. In the end I ended up with a beautiful painting with bamboo, a peacock, a waterfall and a dragon with the rising sun in the background. It only cost me about $12.

Then we hit the gift shop that was packed full of people buying anatomically correct candy, but lacked some of the more interesting fare of the gift shop at the women's shrine. From there we decided to go to the actual shrine itself while we waited for the procession to begin. Along the stone paved path up to the shrine were some very interesting natural sculptures, much like the ones we saw at the women's shrine, only these ones were phalli. According to what we had previously read about the festival, touching the tips of the phalli is supposed to bring good luck to worshippers, so we went up and touched them and took a few pictures. There was a big crowd in front of the shrine, but we eventually pushed our way to the front. Enshrined there was a large phallus, surrounded by many smaller phalli. There was also one that looked a little worse for wear, that stood protruding from it's spot beside the collection box. So worshippers could put money in the collection box, make a prayer and rub the phallus for good luck. The smaller phalli in the shrine are apparently lent out to people who are looking to increase their health, have children, or increase the fertility of their fields. Once they feel that their wish has been fulfilled, the phallus is returned to the shrine along with a new one donated as a token of gratitude. After some more wandering around, we decided that it would be a good idea for us to find a good spot along the procession route, so that we'd be able to have a good view. Little did we know how fortunate the spot that we chose was.

The weather was not as good as the previous weekend as it was trying it's best to rain on us, but fortunately it didn't, but it was still rather cloudy. As we stood there in anticipation of the main event, we saw the banner that heralded the beginning of the procession. The banner was simply a painting of the image at the centre of the festival: the phallus. What was kind of shocking about it was that while the women's festival had been largely abstract and stylized, this was very graphic and life-like. There was no mistaking it. The actual procession was led by a priest throwing salt which the Japanese believe to have purifying effects. It's the same reason why sumo wrestlers toss it into the ring before a bout. Following him were many men dressed in suits and ceremonial sashes who were in turn followed by the miko or shrine maidens wearing their characteristic red hakama and carrying phalli that were around 2 feet long. Then there was a table with a large bamboo cask sunk into it that contained copious amounts of sake or rice wine, which is considered a sacred substance in Shinto. It was parked right in front of us and women dressed in happi or Japanese short coats preceded to hand out papers cups filled with sake. After everyone was suitably refreshed, the procession continued and the next thing to come along was a palanquin carried by older men (they looked like they were at least in their sixties) carrying huge rice cakes. They were followed by another palanquin that contained a dummy that represented the husband of the goddess of the shrine. Then it was time for the part of the procession that everyone was waiting for: the mikoshi. The mikoshi is a portable shrine that in this festival houses a new phallus that will replace the old one in the shrine. Now at one time, apparently the entire phallus was hidden by the mikoshi, but I guess people didn't like this very much, so the size of the phallus has increased to it's present size of 2.5 metres. It's made from a single piece of cypress wood and has a diameter of about 30 cm and weighs about 800 pounds. It takes about 60 men working in shifts to carry it and they are all 42 years old. This is considered a dangerous and inauspicious age for men, so carrying the mikoshi is said to bring them good luck. So with a phallus of this size, it protudes quite visibly from both ends of the mikoshi and the wood has been carved and polished to look very life-like. Like with the mikoshi at the previous festival, the men like to have some fun with it and I can't tell you just how funny it looks to see a large phallus being paraded around back and forth and almost crashing into people. It's almost something you'd expect to see in a Dr. Suess book if he had ever written any books specifically for adults. (Hither and thither it came and it went, it wasn't long before this schlong was half gone and half spent...) So we watched it come down the street towards us and the next thing we knew they had parked it right in front of us!! And then we were invited to come and have a picture taken with it!! So that was certainly something to remember. Then as the procession got a little closer to the shrine it slowed down considerably and the next thing we knew, Hoff and I ran into a Japanese man that we had met at the previous festival, who insisted that we follow him into the procession. He sought out one of the members of the procession who was carrying a large phallus and asked him if it would be alright for us to have our pictures taken holding it. Our other friends decided that they wanted to have their pictures taken with it too, so we tried to get the man's attention again as he walked through the crowds of people jokingly poking at people with the phallus. Now what is interesting about all of this is that the Japanese are so matter of fact about it and have a good sense of humour about these things. If a festival like this was held in North America, I'm sure that people would protest that it was evil and degenerate, etc., but for the Japanese it's about celebrating something that is purely natural and necessary for life. There is an innocence about it that I found quite evident in the number of families that were at the festival together and how girls as young as 5 were having their pictures taken with the phalli.

So a good time was certainly had by all, but I was a little disppointed when I considered that most of the foreigners there probably didn't even consider going to the women's festival and many of them seemed to only be there to see the large phalli being paraded around. It makes me wonder about a few things: Why is our culture so overly concerned with male fertility and performance to the point where the feminine is almost completely ignored and under-valued? And why doesn't our culture really celebrate important aspects of life, like fertility, anymore? Has our culture become so superficial and surface-oriented that we can no longer divine the hidden significance and value of things? I don't know the answers to these questions, but I can certainly tell you that going to these fertility festivals does inject some vitality into one's life.

Now another thing that can give one a sense of renewal is a visit from old friends from home. One of my friends that I graduated from the U of C with and her boyfriend are teaching English in Korea and they came and visited me last weekend. It was great to talk with some old friends about our experiences in Asia and to compare their experiences in Korea with mine in Japan. I took them into the mountains to a couple of temples in Tanigumi. They were amazed at how quiet and peaceful it was compared to the crowds they always encounter in Korea. While we were wandering through the shops in Tanigumi, we met a woman who spoke terrific English and who told us that she had worked in a gallery in New York for 9 years. It was amazing to meet someone like this in some small little mountain village in the middle of Japan. While my friends marvelled at the cleanliness of Japanese roads (ironically many Japanese think they're quite dirty), we talked about some the differences that we've noticed between Westerners and Asians. North American culture has a great deal of violence in it and Westerners tend to be a lot more aggressive and angry than many Asians. While I've been in Japan, I haven't felt any fear for my safety nor have encountered any hostility that I think is unfortunately too commonplace in North America. Maybe this has something to do with their cultural socialization, but even when they're drunk, I find that Japanese people are relatively inoffensive and less likely to get pushy and hostile with people. It's refreshing to be around people like this.

Anyhow, the next day we made a day trip to Kyoto to visit the famous temple of Ginkakuji and walk the Tetsugaku no michi or Walk of Philosophy. The walkway follows a canal on the eastern side of the city and is so named because of a well-known Japanese philosopher from the 1960's who used to walk along there often absorbed in thought. The tree-lined canal made for a pleasant walk, although there were quite a lot of other people on the path as well. We all experienced some gaijin shock as we encountered many other foreigners along the path. Like me, my friends are not used to seeing so many foreigners about. My friends, however, noticed something that I hadn't really acknowledged before. Usually when you're in a big city in Japan, if you see another foreigner on the street, they will usually ignore you. I have to admit that I have a tendency to do the same. My friends thought that maybe part of it is a pride thing; the pride in being in a foreign country and not wanting other foreigners to take away from that feeling. I think that there may be some truth to that. But I think that for a lot of people, myself included, they are not really interested in meeting other foreigners as they are in meeting Japanese. There is a tendency among some foreigners to kind of clump together and form a sort of "gaijin ghetto" that prevents them from truly experiencing Japanese culture and inhibits them from having meaningful interactions with Japanese people. So I think that foreigners who want to avoid this tendency, therefore tend to ignore other foreigners.

At Ginkakuji, there was quite a crowd of people but we really enjoyed it, especially the garden. Every temple that I have visited has something truly special about whether it be a statue or a building or a garden. Ginkakuji is quite special in that it has a wonderful pavilion set in a beautiful garden. The garden features a Zen garden of raked sand in a stunning design and small rock pools with carp and a stairway that climbs halfway up the hillside that is covered with over 12 different kinds of moss. I'm always amazed by the artistry that goes into Japanese gardens. In many ways the gardens are so artificial and contrived, with every shrub and tree carefully shaped and every stone placed just so, and yet the overall effect that is created is supremely natural and wild.

We stopped for lunch on the way back at a restaurant that serves a popular Japanese food called Okinomiyaki which literally means ‘anything you like fried'. What it is is basically a pancake filled with cabbage, meat, tempura batter, and an egg, but you can pretty much put anything into it. At this particular place, we sat at a table with a built in surface for frying and the waitress brought us the raw ingredients for us to mix and cook ourselves. Now one thing that frustrates me sometimes is that when I feel that I have a chance to practice my Japanese, sometimes I'm foiled in my attempts. When I tried to ask the waitress in Japanese about the cooking times for our pancakes, she didn't say anything, but just handed me a card with cooking instructions written in English. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to practice in my hometown. There are no English menus there!! It's funny, being with my Canadian friends has made me realize how much language I've absorbed since I arrived here. A fair amount of my English has been replaced by Japanese vocabulary and I kept having to check myself, as I kept using Japanese in my conversations with my friends. They were kind of experiencing the same problem, as they kept trying to speak to the Japanese shopkeepers in Korean. My friend, Jane, even said that when she got off the plane in Japan, she bowed and spoke in Korean to the Japanese customs officer!

Then we visited another couple of adjoining temples at the other end of the Walk of Philosophy, that were much quieter and more relaxing than Ginkakuji. So we wandered around freely about the grounds, looking at the statues and I was astounded by the size of the main hall of the temple. It was one of the largest I have ever seen. But I think that one of my favourite parts was when we found the small waterfall and a couple of very animated and talkative ducks splashing about in the pool at the foot of the falls. From there we headed further south to the streets surrounding Kiyomizudera temple. This area is famous for pottery and is a wonderful area for shopping and just soaking up the atmosphere of old-fashioned Kyoto streets. The streets are very narrow and stone-paved and lined with traditional Japanese style buildings and houses. And when night falls, they are gently light up with soft lanterns and old fashioned street lamps. None of the blazing neon of Tokyo here. My friends and I agreed that this part of Kyoto has a very romantic atmosphere indeed.

Well tomorrow I'm off to Tokyo to visit Takako, my old roomate from Calgary and I may be able to finally see some cherry blossoms, so I'll probably be writing to you again soon!!!

Dusting Off the Gods of Fertility and the Welcoming of Spring - Part 1

Well Spring has nearly arrived here in Japan and everyone seems to have woken up from their winter hibernation to revel in the new growth and numerous changes that this highly revered season brings. There's still a chill in the air and the school is as cold as ever, but the sun is shining almost everyday and the rice fields are turning green in anticipation of the new growing season. It's not yet time for cherry blossom viewing (a favourite Japanese pastime), but everyday on the news, the weather forecasters are excitedly predicting when they will start blooming in each region of Japan. They should start blooming in my area during the first week of April. But alas Japan does not have to wait that long to enjoy spring colours; the plum trees have blossomed already in various shades of pinks and whites and perfume the air with their subtle sweet scent. By June they should be ready to bear fruit.

March has already been a busy month, full of interesting surprises and new experiences. Hoff and I welcomed the new spring season by attending a couple of very interesting festivals that are very primitive in their origins but continue to stimulate the imagination as well as other things. These festivals reflect an earthly connection that is often ignored and not really celebrated anymore in our high-tech computerized consumer culture. So we found it very invigorating and inspiring to take part in them and we had a hell of a good time as well. I'm talking of course about fertility festivals. These festivals took place at Shinto shrines and celebrate the progenitive power of the gods and goddesses that reside there. Shinto is the native religion of Japan and is probably as old as the Japanese people themselves. It's primarily an animistic religion where natural phenomena and features such as rocks and trees are believed to the be the homes of the gods. The first festival that we went to was in a beautiful town called Inuyama in Aichi prefecture. Ohgata Shrine is a large women's shrine dedicated to a goddess who can bless women with good health and children. Therefore, this festival was dedicated primarily the feminine aspect of fertility. When we arrived, the sun was shining brightly, but there was a bit of a cool wind so it was a bit chilly, but nevertheless a gorgeous day. We walked up the road approaching the shrine gate (torii in Japanese). The road was lined with flags depicting a strange caricature; the head of a woman with a pinched smile and very fat, chubby cheeks. We were a bit confused by this, but later we discovered what the smile was all about. Also lining the roadway were all of the usual food stalls that one sees at festivals, selling all sorts of yummy foods, most of them served on a stick. This is one of our favourites parts of any festival and we always make sure that we keep our bellies empty before we go. After having our fill, we entered the shrine grounds to have a look around. I was surprised to see how large the complex was; shrines often only consist of one small building or even just the shrine itself. We walked around a bit and then noticed that the complex was nestled in against a very steep hill that had been planted with plum trees that were in full bloom. So we made our way up the hill, enjoying the colours and sweet scents of the plum blossoms. The trees were all rather small, none over 6 feet tall, but this meant that we could easily bury our faces in the blossoms and enjoy their sweet scent (like plum wine!) and delight in the unsual shapes of the branches as they spiralled out from the trunk of the tree. Of course they had been pruned to grow that way. It seems to me that the Japanese have a obsessive fascination with bonsai and they bonsai everything!! Before I came here I mistakenly thought that bonsai was a particular type of tree, but here I've learned that it is really just a process of controlling the growth of any type of tree or bush by various methods to produce a certain shape. The Japanese are truly experts at this.

We were surprised to find that we were virtually the only foreigners there; we only saw about 3 or 4 others lingering about. This gave us a chance to meet and talk with some Japanese who decided to come and chat with us. We find that when we are in a large group of foreigners, Japanese people are often too shy to approach us, but when it's just one or two of us, they are much more willing just to come up and say hello. Eventhough we are outsiders at any festival that we attend, the people have always made us feel welcome and we've never felt as if our presence was resented by anyone. Soon the procession was about to start, so we tried to find a good spot along the roadside. It wasn't a huge festival, but it was still quite crowded and it was hard to get a good spot. The procession was all vehicles, except for the Shinto priests who were riding horses in their full preistly garb. They looked like they were really enjoying themselves. On the backs of trucks they had various colourful, almost tacky floats with cheezy paper mache visages. This was contrasted by the lovely women in beautiful kimono that they had riding on the back the trucks. As we watched the procession go by, we began to wonder, where were, well, um, the woman's parts? I mean this was supposed to be a fertility festival, wasn't it? Then we finally figured it out. After the procession, we were able to go to the parking lot where the floats were parked to have a closer look and take some pictures. One of the floats had a huge face, just the same as the one we had seen on the flags. In front of the mouth there was a small torii and in front of the torii sat a young kimono-clad woman. Looking straight on it was impossible to see, but if one looked at the float from the side it became clear. The strange smile of the fat woman was in fact in the shape of a vulva. Now that we were satisfied that we were in fact attending a fertility festival, we made our way to the gift shops to see what kind of presents we could bring back for our friends. And as if the mouth of the fat woman wasn't graphic enough, we were amazed by what we found in the gift shops. Candies, keychains and even pottery in the shape of both male and female organs. And not only that, the shops offered a variety of sex toys and other amusing paraphernalia. After we made our purchases (I just stuck to buying the candies), we went back to the shrine, feeling like we had still missed something. We ran into an older Japanese man who we had met earlier, and he insisted that there was something at the back of the shrine that we must see. Hidden behind a large building at the back of the complex was what was probably ironically the most important installation at the shrine. Housed under a small roof was a big rock, about 3 feet tall, in the shape of a giant vulva. It was surrounded by other small rocks and pieces of wood in the same shape. They looked as if they were found objects and I'm pretty sure that they were not carved or shaped by any human hands. It was pretty amazing and there was a line up of women waiting to make an offering and a prayer for fertility and health. Our impromtu tour guide had quite a sense of humour and told us that we would each have a child if we prayed there and then he teased a middle-aged woman there about being too old to pray there. So just when we thought that this was the end of the festival, there was a taiko drum performance that was just spectacular, both men and women dancing and drumming while being accompanied by a Japanese flutist. It has inspired us to try to join a taiko drum troupe in our town next month. So we'll see how that goes. So after the performance we headed down the road to go back to the car, but the festival still wasn't over. There was another procession with young men drinking sake and carrying a portable shrine. Now in Japan, festivals are taking seriously, but they do know how to have a good time with them. Now these men were not just walking quietly and solemnly up the road with the shrine. They were jumping and shouting, hoisting the shrine up and down and vigorously running back and forth with it, threatening to crash into the spectators. A couple of them flashed us the peace sign when they came our way. So that was our experience with the woman's fertility festival. We felt exhilarated and enervated, renewed with life.

But that was not the end of our wonderful spring day. It was only around 3 in the afternoon and Inuyama has a famous castle that we wanted to check out. The castle is set on topof a small hill next to the Kiso river. The rivers in Japan seem to be smaller and carry less water than rivers in Canada and their banks are often paved with concrete, but this particular river is big and wide with green banks. Really beautiful!! Inuyama's castle is small compared to other castles (only 4 stories), but it has two significant claims to fame. It is believed to have been built in the early to mid 1500's which would make it perhaps the oldest existing castle in Japan. However, this hasn't been definitely proven yet. But perhaps what is most distinctive about this castle is the fact the it is the only privately owned castle in Japan. But the owner kindly opens the castle to visitors, so we were able to go inside the small but attractive castle. Once inside the castle, we attracted the attention of an 8 year old boy who got our attention by offering us a small Japanese sweet that he had in his pocket. Then he followed us around the whole castle, occasionally talking to us in Japanese. At the top floor of the castle you can go out onto a balcony that encircles the whole top floor. From the balcony we could get a terrific view of the surrounding area, but it was a little scary. The railing must have been built when people were a lot smaller because the top of it didn't even reach my waist and with the strong wind, we felt like we could easily just take a header right off the top of the castle. It was here that we said goodbye to our little friend and he headed back down with his mother while we remained on the balcony. However, when he reached the grounds just outside the castle, he looked up at us and yelled out his name for us in Japanese. Very cute!!! The sun was getting ready to set, so we felt that this would be the end of our magical day. On our way back to the car, however, we decided to take a short detour and walk through a shrine complex that was just beyond the castle walls. As we made our way through the main torii, we found that the shrine had another interesting visitor. There was a chicken just hanging out under the torii. (Funny thing is, the Japanese word for bird is tori and torii, Shinto gates, are supposedly fashioned after perches that were used for chickens). We kind of wandered over to where the chicken stood, only to find that there were even more chickens just hanging out there!! Was it just a coincidence? And the other strange thing was that the first chicken that we saw was the only hen in the bunch. The rest were all roosters!! Hoff used to raise chickens when she was younger and she pointed out to me that while most of the roosters appeared to be of the same, unusually colourful breed, two of them were entirely different breeds altogether. One particularly stout bird was a white Leghorn and the other who was obviously the alpha of the bunch, was a beautiful Black Silky. The name just says it all. We have no idea how they got there or what they were doing just hanging out at a shrine, but they were obviously very well-fed and very tame. They walked right up to us and then a father with his kids came over and kindly offered to take a picture of us with the chickens. (Japanese people often offer to take a picture for us, without us even having to ask! And it's not even because they want to steal your camera!) So that was the topper for our first magical experience of spring in Japan.

Spring also signals the end of the school year. School technically ends at the end of March, but the Gr.3's at my Juniour Highschool had their graduation ceremony on March 10th. I wasn't sure what to expect during the ceremony, but my teachers just told me to dress formally. So I dusted off the black suit jacket that I brought with me just for these ocassions and just wore some dress slacks and one of my teacher shirts. This is also what I normally wear for the opening and closing ceremonies, but for the graduation ceremony, I actually felt somewhat underdressed. The female teachers were all wearing black dresses except for two of the Gr. 3 homeroom teachers who were wearing traditional kimono with hakama, a Japanese style split skirt, like some martial arts practitioners wear. Apparently this is the traditional outfit worn by women when they graduate from college or university, so it's deemed fitting for this ceremony as well. The men were all wearing black suits with white ties and double-breasted suit jackets. The principal was actually wearing tails. I almost wanted to ask him where his top hat and cane were, but I don't know if he would've found that very funny. All of the Gr. 3 homeroom teachers also wore corsages with bright red flowers on their lapels. The graduating students however, still had to wear their goofy uniforms, but dressed up a little with corsages, the same as their homeroom teachers. They sat in chairs facing the stage, with the other grades sitting directly behind them. Alongside the students on one side were all of the teachers, including myself, and on the other side were important members of the community, including the mayor and representatives from the board of education, the PTA and even the principal from one of my elementary schools. The parents, mostly mothers as it was a working day, had to sit way at the back. The gym was cold, so I was glad that I had dressed in layers that day and I settled back into my chair, hoping that I wouldn't fall asleep. Because there are so many students, they aren't called individually to receive their diploma from the principal. Rather, the name of the each student is read out and the student merely has to respond with a "HAI!" and stand up. Then the class leader from each class (there are six classes in each grade) approaches the principal to receive the diplomas for their entire class. So this part didn't really take too long, but as in any graduation ceremony one can expect speeches. Now one thing I appreciate about Japanese speechmaking is that they are kept rather short and to the point. They don't blather on like Westerners tend to, but they do tend to have a very formal and serious tone. So I thought that the speech-making would be a fairly quick and painless affair, which is fortunate as I have a tendency to fall asleep when I listen to something that I can't understand. However, I was wrong. After speeches by the principal, vice- principal and even one of the students, the microphone was passed around to each of the community members so that they could each say something on behalf of the students. There were at least 30 of them. Yaaaaaawwwwwwwwnnn!! But then the worst was over. Now it was time for the students to sing. The Gr. 3's sang a couple of solemn songs at first and then the other grades sang a goodbye song to their peers. The climax however, was when the Gr. 3's had to face everyone and sing one last goodbye song. A few of the kids were crying during the song, including a couple of boys. By the way, there was no clapping after the songs. So that was pretty much the end of the ceremony which I found to be overall a very solemn and quiet affair. I've never seen so much bowing in my entire life. But it's not that there weren't strong feelings expressed during the ceremony, but it did make me wonder about spontaneity in Japanese culture. The students had been practicing their songs and marching in and out of the gym for months beforehand and I was left wondering if all that practice could've inhibited or even dampened any potential spontaneity during the event and even crushed some of the feeling out of it as well. I think that to a certain extent the Japanese seem to have a tendency to over prepare for events like this one. However, there was another brief, but more enjoyable ceremony that day that occurred when the Gr. 3 students left the school grounds. The teachers all lined up by the students' entrance and clapped as the students walked out of the building. Then everyone hung out for a bit chatting a taking pictures which gave me a chance to do some last schmoozing with the students and congratulate them with a Western style handshake. Oh and of course I got to be in lots of pictures with the students as well. So this was the most enjoyable part of the day for me.