Hi everyone, this is Tomo in Tokyo!
Here’s some cultural stuff!
Last weekend, the Shinto shrine in my neighborhood had a summer festival or Omatsuri.
I woke up to the sound of Ohayashi (Omatsuri music with little drums, flutes, and some bells) on Friday and I could hear the Ohayashi all through the weekend.
This festival marks the end of summer, and people give thanks to the gods for safety over the summer and pray for a rich harvest in the fall to come, or they used to. Now people don’t even think about harvest, maybe just a few hardcore people.
Every Shinto shrine has its own tradition of this end-of-summer festival and some get pretty spectacular. Like Gion-matsuri in Kyoto or Nebuta-matsuri in Aomori. You could check them out if you’re interested.
The shrine in my town throws just an ordinary Omatsuri,
with carrying around of Omikoshi (shrine replica) (below),
(These men are not wearing short skirts, just in case you were wondering. These are jackets. Technically they’re wearing a jacket and an underwear called fundoshi, and no pants. Fundoshi is similar to what Sumo wrestlers wear, with their butts showing and all. These guys are totally allowed to walk around with their butts exposed in public during the festival. It’s ok, it’s cultural.)
and many vendors that sell food and toys and stuff.
My Christian parents used to not let me go to these festivals when I was a child and I remember really wanting to go. So now that I’m allowed to, I love going to these festivals. It’s like trying to catch up on all the fun I missed out on.
My parents had good reasons to do that though. It’s not only a Shinto event, but it’s also an important source of income for the yakuza‘s, the Japanese mafia or gangs. So whatever you buy at the festival, it basically helps the shrine and the mafia.
I guess it’s one of the examples of Japanese Christians’ cultural dilemma.
That’s all for now.
Jaane 🙂