The New Year`s Decorations Go Up In Smoke at DONDO-YAKI (どんど焼き) Bonfires This Saturday January 14th (at the ruins of Oda Castle, in Tsukuba, and by the Sakura River in Tsuchiura)
Some drumming before the Dondo-Yaki fire got going- at the ruins of the Oda Castle, Oda Tsukuba ( January 14th, 2012)
By Avi Landau
In Tsukuba, when we want to get rid of any unneeded or unwanted stuff taking up space in our homes, it’s always necessary to consult the City`s GARBAGE SEPARATION MANUAL, which after much bewildered scrutinization might finally reveal when and where certain materials can be disposed of.
However, there are some items for which even that labyrinthine text gives no clue as to how to deal with. For example, the festive decorations and other sacred objects that Japanese people, as a matter of pure common sense, would never simply throw into the garbage.
What is to be done with last year’s Daruma doll and the New Year’s shimenawa (sacred rope), kado-matsu ( a sort of Japanese Christmas tree in pairs) and other decorations? The Japanese do not need to have this information printed in the Trash Disposal Manual. It is natural for them to take such items to a shrine to be disposed of respectfully, or bring them to a ritual burning ceremony usually called DONDOYAKI ( どんど焼き）in this area (though it is variously called called sagicho- 左儀長, dosojin-yaki, sankuroyaki, onpe, etc. in other parts of Japan).
Traditionally, New Years Decorations and other sacred items have been burned at shrines ( or other set locations) throughout Japan on January 14th or 15th. It has been ( and still is) considered VERY lucky and healthy to eat mochi rice cakes which have been roasted in these fires.
Since it was believed that at New Years the gods would descend, attracted to these sacred ropes, bamboos and paper etc., it was at the dondoyaki ceremonies these these spirits were thought to return, along with the smoke, to the heavens.
It is when watching the decorations go up in smoke, warmed by the large bon-fire on what is certainly a very cold January day that the Japanese have the sense that the O-Shogatsu ( New Year`s) period is over.
I have also heard that practicioners of Japanese calligraphy ( shodo), take their first works of the year ( kakizome), and put them into the pyres. If these works ascend high into the sky with the smoke,it is a sign that their skill will RISE this year.
If you have any items (straw, wood or paper) that you would like to dispose of with respect, there will be a big dondoyaki bash held on the Tsukuba-Tsuchiura border, by the Gakuen O-hashi Bridge, on The Tsuchiura Gakuen Road (the same place from which the fireworks are launched at the Hanabi Festival). The event will be held on Saturday the 14th, and will begin at 11am. Mochi will be served to the first 200 people who sign up, and registration begins at 9am ( so get there early!).
A similar event will be held at the site of the ruins of Oda Castle in Oda, Tsukuba- from 10 am to 6pm according to the published announcement!
Don’t put any plastic, ceramic or metal objects in the fire.
See you there! Its quite a spectacle with the huge bonfire and 2oo people roasting rice cake stuck onto the tips of long, bending bamboo poles!
Mochi stuck onto the tips of bamboo poles ( and wrapped in aluminum foil) at the Oda Castle Dondo Yaki ( Jan. 14th, 2012)
If you would like to read more about DARUMA DOLLS read my article:
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