For the Japanese, Mt Tsukuba has also been a sacred mountain since time immemorial. Its peaks are where the ancestral Gods of Japan, Izanagi and Izanami, are enshrined. The mountain has attracted many holy men over the years and during the Edo Period (1600-1867) a temple was built half-way up its southern slope to protect Edo castle from the unlucky North-Eastern quadrant, and this temple, then Chuzen-Ji, was generously endowed and supported by Japan’s long-ruling clan, the Tokugawa.

In 1868 Japan underwent revolutionary reforms and the Emperor was restored (again?) to supreme power (in name only, most say). The Meiji government also carried out a probably ill-advised policy (though not as ill-advised as some other policies set in those days!) of separating Buddhism (a foreign import) from the pure, native belief which came to be called Shinto. Thus Chuzen-Ji is now Mt Tsukuba Shrine, popular as a place to pray for marital happiness.

The priests of this shrine, together with the assistance of local residents, continue to perform the most important of the mountain’s ancient rituals: Onzagawari (御座替り） which can also be pronounced Ozagawari. This ceremony takes place twice a year, on April and November 1.

The ceremony at first appears to be a typical Japanese Mountain God festival in which the deities are brought down to the fields in spring to bring abundant harvests, and are then escorted back up to their mountain abodes for the winter.

Mt Tsukuba’s spring and autumn rituals seem at first glance to be of this pattern, but there is a twist. Since the ancestral couple are enshrined on its peaks and the shrine half-way up the mountain is dedicated to family harmony, instead of focusing on agriculture the Onzagawari emphasizes love and protection of children.

Lat April 1st, despite vicious winds, a small omikoshi (portable shrine) carried the child god up the mountain, where it is cool and high above the sweltering lowlands and the parent gods were carried down to the center of the mountain. The positions of the parents and child will switch back again in autumn (this coming Sunday Nov. 1st).

The ceremony began early in the morning and continued till late afternoon as carriers bore the omikoshis up and down the mountain (they used the cable car for some of the way!), battling the ferocious and unrelenting gusts.

Maybe the most special thing that a visitor can do on these ceremony days is to cross the sacred bridge (a red, wooden, covered bridge of rare design) which is only open on the first day of April and November.

Hope to see you there on Sunday.