A Deeper Look at O-Sechi (お節)- Japan`s Special New Year`s Dishes (which are served cold)
In a recent TsukuBlog article about O-Shogatsu ( お正月) the Japanese New Year Festival, I mentioned that I would like to write more about Osechi (御節), the variety of special, slow to spoil and symbolically significant dishes, packed into a box or set of stacked boxes, which are eaten over the 3-day New Year`s holiday period. I instead added a link to a site online ( wikipedia) which I said would provide adequate information in English. Later , I re-read the article that I had recommended and found it unsatisfying in terms of what I would have wanted to communicate about this most important ( along with O-Mochi- pounded rice cakes) of all Japanese festive foods . So now, after my own Osechi boxes have already been picked clean, I will try to give a fuller picture of this important custom which is so revealing in terms of traditional Japanese culture in general.
First let`s look at the origin of the term Osechi ( 御節), which an abbreviation of Osechiku (御節供), literally meaning Offerings for Days of Seasonal Change. Traditionally, besides New Year`s, five special seasonal change days (originally brought over from China) were celebrated in Japan. These are all linked to the fact that according to Chinese thought, ODD NUMBERS are auspicious. Thus we have:
O-shogatsu ( the New Year) on the first day of the first month ( 1/1)
Jinjitsu no Sekku ( 人日の節句) on the seventh day of the first month (1/7)
Joshi no Sekku ( 上巳の節句 ) on the third day of the third month ( 3/3)
Tango no Sekku ( 端午の節句) on the fifth day of the fifth month (5/5)
Shichiseki (七夕) on the seventh day of the seventh month (7/7)
and Choyo no Sekku (重陽の節句) on the 9th day of the ninth month
on which special foods were given as offerings to the gods. These Sechiku (offerings) were later eaten by the family or group that presented them.
Since the first day of the first month was, and still is, the most important of these seasonal change days, the term Osechi is now used ONLY to refer to the special dishes of New Year`s.
(the other seasonal change days ( sekku) are still recognized in Japan to varying degrees and have their OWN special dishes which have evolved over the generations. The fifth day of the fifth month is even a national holiday ( Childrens Day), while 3/3 is the popular Doll Festival ( Hina Matsuri) and 7/7 , the Tanabata star Festival. Interestingly, 9/9, the most important of the sekku for the ancient Chinese, besides New Years Day ( because nine is the largest ODD number), did not become truly popular in Japan because in the Japanese language the pronounciation of the number nine -KU-can also mean to suffer.)
Each of the separate dishes which make up what is now called Osechi ( and there can be dozens) are meant to symbolically represent ( through similarities of sound or shape etc) a good harvest, long healthy life, the success of ones descendants and conjure up other positive, auspicious images for the future.
Osechi dishes also usually include representative foods from the mountain and foods from the sea, as well as foods which are cooked in various styles( grilling,boiling, etc.), and different tastes ( sweet, sour, salty).
As with Japanese cooking in general, they also show deep consideration for healthfulness with a good balance of vegetables and protein.
The other characteristic of Osechi dishes, is that they must keep for at least three days and can be eaten as they are, that is, without heating up- because over the New Year`s holiday there was NO cooking, traditionally.
Of course, there are variations in, how many, and what dishes comprise the Osechi from family to family , so it goes without saying that their can be great regional variation.
GOMAME In the Kanto Area ( around Tokyo), there are 3 dishes which are considered essential ( iwai sakana sanshu- 祝い肴三種), which are- GOMAME ( boiled and dried sardines, also called TAZUKURI), KUROMAME (黒豆)- boiled black beans, and KAZU NO KO ( 数の子)- herring eggs.
Kazu no ko ( herring roe) In Kansai ( around Kyoto and Osaka), the GOMAME, while probably included somewhere in the Osechi, in not considered to be one of the essential three. Instead there is TATAKI GOBO (burdock root boiled in Soy sauce) which is considered a MUST ( the other two are the same).
Traditionally these dishes are packed into a set of stacked laquered boxes, four tiers high ( though now 2 or three tiers is the norm and these are often of cheaper material). This makes for convenient serving.
Besides this utilitarian aspect, all the dishes, with their celebratory colors, packed into these small boxes makes a feast for the eyes ( some would say that it is more beautiful than delicious!) and is also symbolic of how the millions of residents of this mountainous island nation have lived cramped together, yet in harmony.
kuromame As I mentioned before there is no ONE set way of packing or stacking these boxes but here is a typical way:
The first tier ( ICHI NO JU 一の重) would have the essentials- the KUROMAME ( representing HARD WORK, DILIGENCE and health- because MAME means beans, diligence , energy and health. Their black color bearing the power to drive away bad energies), the Kazu no ko ( herring roe) which represents many descendants ( there are made up of countless eggs) and health of parents ( NISHIN, herring, is a homophone for NISHIN 二親- two parents), and the GOMAME fish, which represent a good harvest ( sardines would traditionally be used to fertilize the rice fields).Date Maki-伊達巻, an egg and fish paste roll shaped to form a swirl were said to have bee a favorite of the great daimyo Date Masamune. Their scroll shaped also can be seen as a celebration of Japan`s traditional literature, which was written and illustrated on scrolls.
The second tier ( NI NO JU 二の重), contains grilled foods and sea foods- yellowtail (BURI- which represents promotion, as this fish has different names in its different growth stages), shrimp ( whose bent back represents achieving old age), Sea bream ( TAI, which for the Japanese conjures up images of omedeTAI- celebration, etc…
The third tier ( SAN NO JU 三の重) contained vinegared dishes
and the fourth tier ( YO NO JU 与の重, please note that the character here 与 is not the standard character for the number 4 ( 四), which could also be read SHI (death), and is thus avoid. This might also be the reason that four tiers are no longer popular) contained boiled dishes including KONBUMAKI ( kelp) which represents happiness ( because the sound of KONBU is similar to that of yoroKOBU- to be glad) and lotus root, whose holes, which can be peered through, represent the looking toward the future, etc…
As I said, the above does NOT represent the rule and will find variations of this arrangement.
(And there are many more dishes that I have not mentioned yet. I will add to this list little by little and promise a more comprehensive list by next O-Shogatsu)
In Japan today many people order their osechi ( each tier costs at least 5,000 Yen and the price can go much higher than that), but many houswives make some of the dishes themselves even if they do order a set.
Each of the dishes can also be bought separately at department stores just before O-shogatsu.
Its fun to sit around the house for three days, noshing now and then out of the osechi trays ( with plenty of SAKE, of course!), enjoying not only the taste and beautiful presentation of the food but also each little tidbit`s symbolic significance.
Some more O-Sechi favorites: Date Maki (伊達巻), on the left- made of eggs and fish meal, and Kamaboko- made of fish paste. These were part of my own O-Sechi ( 2011)
By the way, though O-Sechi can be picked at freely at any time diring the first three days of the year, at MEAL TIMES it is always taken together with O-ZONI (お雑煮), which is a soup containing O-Mochi ( pounded rice cakes). O-zoni is interesting in that though O-Shogatsu is celebrated by just about everyone in Japan in quite a similar way- there is great variation in O-Zoni, depending on the region. There is even a saying TONARI NO ZONI (隣りの雑煮) which means that even within the same region, or neighborhood, O-Zoni varies from household to household.
I have heard that this sometimes leads to spats in the first year of marriage, since a new bride might make O-Zoni which to her husband is NOT O-Zoni. Or since a brides new family might insist that she make O-Zoni THEIR WAY.
Generally speaking,, speaking in Western Japan the Mochi in the soup is usually round, while in Eastern Japan ( including Tsukuba), it is square.
A famous O-Zoni oddity is that in Kagawa Prefecture ( on the island of Shikoku) the Mochi ( which is round) contains AN (餡)- sweet adzuki beans!.
Also, in the Kinki Region ( Nara and Kyoto), the soup is made of white miso paste,
Since in Tsukuba there are residents who have come from all over Japan, I have always thought it would be fun to have a ZONI event in which the various types of New Year`s soup would be made and served at one place.
Anyway, I hope you get a chance to taste O-Sechi and O-Zoni. Though you can buy the former, the latter is pretty much only made at home. But I think if you mention that you are interested in trying some New Year`s soup with MOCHI to a Japanese friend, that just might bring you some to try!
And one more thing!
The chopsticks used for eating O-Sechi and O-Zoni are different from normal chopsticks- they are slender at BOTH ENDS! That is because while you are eating, the God of The New Year TOSHI-GAMI SAMA is eating with you! They are also often made of willow wood, which is believed o have the power to drive away evil!
Have a great year!
Junko Takasaki`s O-Zoni (2011) in the style of Iwaki (Fukushima Prefecture)-Taro,Carrots, burdock, fried tofu, mushrooms, leaks and chicken in a soy sauce based broth- topped with citron (yuzu) peel shavings
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A Deeper Look at the Fascinating Roots of Carp Streamers (Koi Nobori) and Other Children`s Day (KODOMO NO HI) Traditions
By Avi Landau
Carp streamers (Koi Nobori) fluttering in the wind by the shores of Lake Kasumigaura
In Ibaraki Prefecture, lovers of traditional Japanese culture usually look forward to the period between mid- April and early May. First there is the excitement of HANAMI ( Cherry blossom parties) and then there are the amazingly extravagant carp streamers ( koi nobori), which are raised up at the homes of families with boys, to be admired- and photographed.
Carp streamers fly over the nanohana and peach blossoms in Koga, Ibaraki Prefecture
Sure, you can see plenty of carp streamers ( of a more modest scale) and other childrens Day decorations anywhere you go in Japan in this season. But before May 5th, there could be no better way of savoring this season than taking a drive or a bike-ride in the Ibaraki countryside. You are sure to see plenty of this area`s abundant, breathtakingly large and colorful koi nobori waving proudly against the blue sky. It is quite a spectacle!
Let me tell you about how this, and other customs related to what is now called Children`s Day ( Kodomo no Hi) have evolved.
Carp streamers in Hanamuro, Tsukuba (2012)
When looking into the origins of various elements of Japanese culture, one often finds dual or multiple roots. Even beginning students of the Japanese language are confronted with this fact as they soon learn that there are two or more ways of reading kanji characters. There are even two ways of counting, the more purely Japanese way- hitotsu, futatsu, mitsu… and then the one based on the Chinese, ichi, ni, san.
It is especially interesting to keep this in mind when discussing Japan’s calendar of traditional annual events.This month’s standout special day is Children’s Day (子供の日, kodomo no hi) which has come to involve an array of festive decorations and foods. Most notably, there are the carp streamers (鯉のぼり), which can be seen proudly flapping in the wind (in this part of Japan, as I have already mentioned, we are lucky to be able to see especially large and elaborate ones) in people`s yards or balconies or displayed at shops and shrines. Inside people’s homes, or at restaurants and hotels we can also see the armor or warrior dolls (Go-gatsu ningyo) which have been put on display.
Carp streamers being lowered for overnight storage in the Ibaraki countryside
Now, much less commonly, you can see a plant called shobu (菖蒲, this is a relative of the yam and NOT the iris – the flower whose name has the same pronunciation and the same Kanji character!) ) on sale for use in the bath, and even more rarely in this part of Japan (though you can still sometimes see it), placed on roofs, along with some mugwort (蓬,yomogi). At wagashiya (Japanese sweet shops) and convenience stores, kashiwamochi and chimaki are on sale, as the special sweets of the season.
What does all this have to do with Children’s Day?
Carp streamers over the moat around Tsuchiura`s Kijo Castle ( The Turtle Castle- so called because in times of flood it looked like a turtle floating in a pond)
First let me say something about Japanese festive days in general. Certain days were recognized by the ancient Chinese as being pivotal seasonal markers. These came to be known as sekku (節句)
when adopted by the Japanese. To mark the seasonal changes, each sekku involved eating certain foods and displaying certain decorations. In those times the significance of these was usually one of keeping away bad luck or ritual protection.
The major sekku which are still widely celebrated in Japan are:
January 7: Nanakusa (seven herbs) no Sekku
March 3: Momo (peach) no Sekku
May 5: Tango no Sekku, or Shobu (calamis) no Sekku
July 7: Tanabata
September 9: Kiku (chrysanthemum) no Sekku
(It is interesting to note that the Chinese, and subsequently the Japanese are fond of ODD NUMBERED days and months.)
Armour and carp streamers on display in the lobby of Tsukuba`s Okura Hotel
It now being May, the festive day of the month is of course (as stated above), Tango no Sekku, which is now known as the national holiday, Children’s Day. However, since this particular date has been recognized as being special since ancient times, there have been meanings connected to it which have changed over the generations.
If you ask a Japanese friend about the significance of Children’s Day, they will explain that it is a day on which to celebrate boys and for families with boys to pray for their sons` and grandsons` healthy growth and success. This goes in tandem with March’s Momo no Sekku (March 3rd) which is a celebration of girls. They will also probably explain that carp streamers symbolize strength and perseverance - important masculine attributes.
The story of Tango no Sekku, however, is much more complicated than this, and its history and the origin of its customs are now unfamiliar even to most Japanese.
In ancient Japan (and still today), this is the season for planting rice*. At this time of year, in order to pray for abundant crops, fertility in general as well as for removing impurities from the village, young women ( called 早乙女, saotome) would spend a day isolated in a special women’s huts called onna no ie (女の家). This hut would be covered with a plant called CALAMIS (SHOBU, in Japanese) and mugwort, which in ancient China were believed to have purifying powers (because of their strong smells). Remnant features of this ancient practice can be seen surviving in the Heisanbo Festival held each May 5th at a small Kashima Shrine in Dejima, on the shore of Lake Kasumigaura.
In the Nara Period (710-794), the Japanese would decorate themselves with garlands of shobu and later in the Heian Period it was common (and still is) to decorate homes with these protective plants. At this time tall poles would also be set up by rice fields to welcome the God of Fertility.
This photo shows shobu (calamis) stems and mugwort (yomogi) on the roof of one of the old samurai residences which are open to the public, in Sakura City, Chiba.
Later when Japan came under military rule, the Japanese name for the plant shobu, came to held significant for its homonym, 尚武, shobu, which means reverence for martial arts. Thus, the plant shobu has remained a part of Tango no Sekku throughout the generations and many Japanese still use it in their baths on this day for driving away evil and fortifying the body. It is surprising that most Japanese today confuse the traditional shobu with HANA SHOBU, which are irises. These extremely beautiful purple flowers can often be seen being usued as INCORRECT symbols of Tango no Sekku, at shops, etc.
It was during the years of military rule that Tango no Sekku came to be associated with boys. One possible explanation for this can be that it had originally been a day to isolate women, and that left the boys to be celebrated!
Kashiwamochi- this season`s festive sweet. with the leaf wrapping peeled half off
Kashiwamochi as it looks when it is bought or served- with this particular sweet, dont eat the leaf!
Kashiwamochi, the traditional sweet most commonly associated with Tango no Sekku is a pounded rice cake wrapped in the leaf of a Japanese oak. Eating this sweet in this season is an original Japanese custom and signifies the connection between generations, as these trees don’t lose their leaves until fresh leaves have appeared!
Eating chimaki, a conically shaped paste wrapped tightly in leaves, is a custom which originates in China. May 5th in China, is the memorial day of the great poet scholar Qu Yuan (屈原, read Kutsugen in Japanese) who was famed for his loyalty. On the 5th day of the 5th month, men would throw offerings into rivers (he drowned in one) in his honor. At one point, many men at different locations dreamed that it would be better to wrap these offerings in purifying leaves. This became standard practice, and is common today in Japan.
Raising carp streamers probably is a continuation of the native practice of setting up poles near the rice fields to welcome the rice god. Since Tango no Sekku came to be a day of celebrating boys, Japanese in the Edo Period (1600-1868) adopted the carp as a symbol of success. This is because of the ancient Chinese story of the carp struggling upriver and transforming into a dragon.
Another interesting reason for the samurai to have admired carp was the fact that this powerful fish, struggles desperately when caught, but when placed on the cutting board, it resigns itself to its fate, and dies with what the Japanese warrior class thought to be DIGNITY.
Anyway, the merchants of the Edo Period always tried to emulate the ruling warrior class. They were, however, forbidden from hanging a family crest. Carp streamers were raised in their place, with one family trying to outdo the other in extravagance.
This custom spread throughout Japan and can especially be enjoyed in Ibaraki where farmers often display fantastic and very expensive koi nobori sets to celebrate their male offspring. The reason for this is that farmhouses in Ibaraki are on average the largest in Japan and many families have large yards (within compounds) in which to raise the high poles needed for the giant streamers.
For those who live in smaller abodes there are appropriately-sized streamers and even tiny origami or cloth carp.
Finally, there are the dolls and armour which are displayed. Grandparents often spend thousands of dollars on a display for their grandsons, though if you want some dolls for yourself you can get the same exact dolls for a song at second hand shops (since many Japanese would not buy or are even afraid of used dolls!). These dolls became popular in the late Edo Period as emulating the Samurai class was all the rage for the merchants and then farmers. These dolls and armour are displayed to pray for boys success and health and can be found in a myriad of forms.
On a gray and rainy day a lonely Koi Nobori pole stands without its colorfull carp
After the war, since the day had been associated with warriors, the name was changed to the more egalitarian Chidren’s Day, though girls and boys are still actually celebrated separately.
There are many other, more obscure decorations for this season, but I have written too much already, so go search them out for yourselves.
For an interesting way to spend Childrens Day, see my article-
http://blog.alientimes.org/2008/05/up-in-arms/
or head out to the curious and very rustic Heisanbo Festival -
http://hpcgi2.nifty.com/tradevents/wiki.cgi?p=HeisanboFestival
A woodblock print on display at the National Museum in Ueno
* One thing that always complicates Japanese culture is the fact that the calendar was changed! In 1871 the government adopted the Western Calendar and as a result the SEKKU as they are celebrated today fall about one month earlier in the year than they usually did. In some areas of Japan certain SEKKU and other festivals and holidays and celebrated according to the old calendar.
Interestingly, however, in the case of Tango no Sekku this one month difference does not now make much of a difference because the rice transplanting season has also moved up about one month earlier in the year- so the raising of the long poles still coincides with the ancient tradition of set up poles by the paddy fields before transplantation.
My own carp streamer- hanging from the ceiling ( I don`t have- and can`t afford, the requisite wooden pole
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A Fine day For Fire-Walking at Mt Kabasan (加波山) !
By Avi Landau
It is ironic that with Japan's often gloomy summer rainy season, there is usually plenty more sunshine in mid-winter than there is in mid-summer. And so, though today, the To-Ji (冬至), or winter solstice was certainly the shortest day of the year, it was also one of the sweetest -- with clear blue skies, no winds, and temperatures which were neither too hot nor too cold. In other words, a perfect day for fire-walking, which is what was going on today at Makabe's Kabasan Jinja Shrine, just as it has been on every winter solstice day for more than five hundred years.
When I arrived at the shrine at noon, a dense and excited crowd had already gathered tightly round the area which had been marked off earlier in the day with sacred bamboo (imitake) and rope (shimenawa). Standing on tip-toes (I am not your stereotypical TALL gaijin) I could have a look at what was going on within the sacred space. At the far end, a portable shrine had been set up, with various offerings from the sea (umi no mono), from the fields (yama no mono), and plenty of O-Miki (ritual sake) neatly arranged on an altar which was also adorned with branches of sacred sakaki, which would attract the GODS to this spot.
In the center of the cordoned off space was a neat pyre of chopped pine wood, with some ritual paper representing the deity of the shrine placed on top in the center. Five men, two of them younger, and three much older who were dressed in white robes and head-dresses more reminiscent of the Sahara or Arabia than China or Japan, were busy with various preparations. The oldest gentleman, who I later learned is in his mid-80s, was performing various purification rituals, consecutively waving sakaki, a sword, and blowing a conch (hora-gai).
Quickly tiring of standing on tip-toes, I set about exploring the precincts of this venerable shrine, which legend says was first founded by the semi-mythical barbarian subduer Yamato Takeru, who supposedly prayed at this site for victory in his campaigns of Eastern conquest. Today scores of parishioners clad in white HAPI coats and head-bands were busy chatting in the various shrine offices. Other visitors, from far and near, were buying votive tablets, tossing coins into the main offering box, taking pictures, or just waiting around impatiently for the ceremony to begin.
I was also able to chat with some of the shrine staff about the history of the shrine and the fire walking ceremony (Hi-Watari), which I will relay to you later. But now it was time to get into position for watching and photographing the ritual, and relying on plenty of pent up New York wile and CHUZTPAH I was able to manoeuvre myself into a favorable spot.
At this point, the old men in white were kneeling in front of the altar, muttering incantations with great concentration and solemnity. They then went ahead and lit the pyre, which on the windless day burned beautifully. The crowd watched the flames, as if intoxicated, for more than thirty minutes, as the old priests circled, chanting to themselves, and going through what looked like martial arts KATA (pattern practices), sometimes miming sword strikes which included strong KIAI (cries of EEII). They also would occasionally take colorful amulets from their belts and hold them up to the fire as they circled, looking as if they were seeking the fire's weak points which they would attack.
As the fire burned down, the younger men used long sticks to create a path down the center of the pyre. When this was ready, the oldest man drew his sword and performed another purification ritual. Building up his courage he let out a strong kiai as he passed through the center of the flames. He then stopped in front of the altar acknowledged the KAMI (Gods) and took a swig of O-Miki. He was quickly followed by the other white-men.
When they were finished, it was the parishioners' turns. They all filed through the fire, and then on to the altar, as if drawn uncontrollably to the sacred SAKE.
After leaving the sacred area these locals proceeded to the shrine office where they cleaned their feet, received a certificate of having participated and settled down for some beverages and snacks. After all the parishioners had passed through the flames, it was time for anyone else who wanted to to do so.
This took quite a long time, as all sorts of folks, young old, mothers carrying babies, passed through the fire.
When I asked those who had just passed through if their feet burned, they all seemed to agree that more than hot feet, it was their faces that felt the heat, from the flames on both sides.
When the last person FINALLY passed through, the old man called out - FINISHED. Then pandemonium broke out; as the crowd rushed into the sacred compound.
Many locals bring metal containers into which they put some burnt wood or embers from the fire. They then keep this in their houses for one year as protection from colds. The mad scramble for these red hot pieces of wood seemed very dangerous, but luckily no one seemed to have gotten burned.
The Mt. Kaba Shrine Fire Walking Ritual had come to an end, and everyone seemed very satisfied indeed.
In 1394, the abbot of the Enryaku-Ji temple, which protects Kyoto from the unlucky North-Eastern direction and is probably Japan's most influential temple, travelled the country making pilgrimages to its sacred sites. One place he and his entourage of monks visited was Mt Kaba, which was supposed to have once been used for sacred rites. This priest, Genkai-Shonin (源海上人), carried out various esoteric rituals which were part of the Tendai Sect and had been brought to Japan from India and perhaps Persia, by way of China where the sect's founder Saicho had come into contact with them. It is from these ancient practices that the current Mt Kaba Shrine's Fire Walking Ritual have evolved, and that is why they have such an exotic air. Please keep in mind that until the Meiji Period (1868-1912) Buddhism and what is now called Shinto (native religious practice) were often combined in a syncretic form of worship.
The fire walking ritual is believed not only to cleanse all those who undergo it of one year's worth of impurities, but also helps to invigorate the sun, which until the day after the solstice gradually becomes weaker and weaker in the sky.
I myself almost took off my shoes and passed through the flames. I was seriously contemplating it... but I got cold feet.
Maybe next year.
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A Fun-Filled Fertility Festival (with nothing left to the imagination)- HEISANBO – in Kasumigaura City`s Ushiwata
By Avi Landau
The women who plays OKAME ( Heisanbo`s wife) is all dressed up and ready to go
Ritual impregnation as a prayer for abundant crops and human fertility (conception) at the Heisanbo Festival (May 5, 2012)
There are some, who based on their readings of certain books, or visits to Japan which include the Noh theater , a tea ceremony experience or a meal at an exclusive KAISEKI (traditional haute-cuisine) restaurant, are under the impression that Japanese traditional culture is all refinement, elegance, and understatement. The unspoken word, the pregnant silence, the subtle gesture, the elusive symbolism............
and I guess that they would be correct to a certain extent.
But those of us who gathered at an old shrine today (May 5th 2012) on a hill overlooking Lake Kasumigaura in the hamlet of Ushiwata (牛渡), got to see another side of Japan`s traditional culture- one which can still be often encountered in the countryside ( and in just about every city as well at festival time)- a culture which knows nothing of refinement or subtlety, but one that is rustic, ribald, bawdy, and bursting with energy- in other words: LOTS OF FUN!
The Heisanbo Festival which is held each year on May 5th (which is the National Holday- Childrens Day) functions as a prayer for abundant harvests and human fertility (conception). I guess it could also be said to be a celebration of spring itself- in the most playfull and springlike way.
To the left of the main torii gate, in a small hall used for prayers for easy delivery, I saw the two wooden phalluses used in the Heisanbo Ceremony
About 30 minutes before the main rituals began, a priest sounded the drum while the little SAOTOME girls looked on
The festival, in fact, consists of 3 separate parts: first, at 3:30 PM, a horse is run three times around the shrine`s main hall ( this is a surprisingly treacherous and dangerous undertaking, especially with all the children running around unrestricted. It even looked for a second like the horse, quite hysterical, would break away). This is part of the festival was a symbolic act of plowing.
I later learned that for a time, a few years back, a tractor had been used in this part of the ceremony instead, but fortunately the horse has been brought back!
A horse is run around the shrines main hall 3 times
I held one in my hand
But no matter how exciting it is to have the live horse (with bearers in traditional garb), the centerpiece of the event- what nearly everyone comes to this event for- is the middle section: the Heisanbo Ceremony- which is a comic ritualization of the reproductive act.
Heisanbo is the name of a farmer who is out plowing the fields. His part is played by an elderly local gentleman who is a real character and genuinely funny. He dresses in pajama-like peasant wear and soils his face with ashes.
The locals who play Heisanbo and Okame getting ready
Two other ACTORS, a man and a woman (both local) dress up in kimonos- stuffed to make them look pregnant. Then they don very old wooden masks which makes them both representations of women of child-bearing age.
After the horse has done its thing, Heisanbo makes his appearance. He also makes three circuits of the main hall- but there is one thing which arouses excitement in the crowd (of men women and children of all ages)- he carries with him, in the correct anatomical location, a huge wooden phallus!
As he makes his way around the shrine, woman approach him and touch or caress the large member or take it against their own pelvises. Men occassionally beat him with leaf-laden branches, as well.
The masks used in the ceremony were also on display ( in the same small hall) before the festivities began
What then happens is that the two WOMEN appear. The story which is supposed to be told is that Heisanbo`s wife coming to greet him during a break in his hard day of plowing. She brings food, but has also come for a lunch-time QUICKY. The only trouble is that some other women or perhaps supernatural being (played by a local gentleman) has transformed into the wife`s double in order to be on the recieving end of Heisanbo`s sexual favors!
The most amusing part of today`s festivities for me was how when Heisanbo was busy with women who had come to the festival to pray for conception. the people who had come with cameras asked for poses so that memorable pictures could be taken ( and plenty were!). The only problem was that the other two actors had already made their entrances and were beckoning (like MANEKI NEKO) to heisanbo to come consort with them- but he was busy with the other women.
I laughed out loud when the male actor in the female mask called out in his deep voice- Hey, what about me?
The Kashima Shrine in Ushiwata (Kasumigaura City) sits upon a hill which is actually an ancient shell-mound (KAIZUKA- a garbage dump of sorts for the area`s prehistoric inhabitants)- the ground is literally strew with shell and pottery shards, with some placed as offerings at this small hall
The ground within the precinct of the shrine is strewn with 3,000 year-old pottery shards and shell, the remnants of prehistoric meals
After the Heisanbo portion of the event was finally completed it was time for the last ceremony of the day- THE SAOTOME ritual, which involved two little girls ( about ten years of age) who were dressed in red YUKATA. One after the other, they were pulled gently along out in front of the main hall by an elderly KANNUSHI (Shinto priest). This was also done as a prayer for abundant harvests and brought to mind the ancient tradition of having women segregated from the communitty just before the rice was transplanted.
One lwoman who had come to the shrine to pray for fertility and took hold of the wooden phallus
Heisanbo being tapped with leaf laden branches
A shy little touch
On the top steps of the Main Hall three rice seedling bunches which would be used later on in a prayer for abundant harvests
The priest slowly leads one of SAOTOME down the main worshippers path
And then back to the shrine for the next little girl`s turn
A view form behind of the Kashima Shrine in Ushiwata ( Kasumigaura-City)- the area is teeming with shell and pottery shards
The simplicity, humor, and dramatically rustic setting made for a memorable event- one that I must say was lots more fun that the Noh theater or a tea ceremony.
And the setting is highly atmospheric as well. A village deep in the Ibaraki countryside, all around are the shell mound upon which the shrine sits are rice field, lotus root fields and big old traditional farm-houses. Since the heisanbo festival is held on May 5th, many of these houses ( those with male offspring) have hoisted impossibly large and colorful clusters of carp streamers from very high polls which are in fact made of whole trees.
The road running along Lake Kasumigaura which takes you to Ushiwata from Tsuchiura is also of great interest- with charming old villages and a wide variety of curious Kofun Period tombs. The ones that definitley merit a stop are a cluster of tombs made of oyster shells, and a large tomb mound built to inter a loyal ox.
Carp streamers flying proudly in front of a large farmhouse in Kasumigaura City
An ancient grave made of oyster shells- along the road by the shores of Lake Kasumigaura
I will post more pics and give more details tomorrow!
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A Glimpse (and Whiff) of Things to Come
Plum Blossoms In Tsukuba - Feb. 4, 2009
By Avi Landau
Even in Japan's mild-wintered Kanto region, in most years, on February 4th, radio and television weathercasters can do nothing but complain about the inappropriately cold weather. This year, however, on that day, afternoon temperatures actually reached a toasty 14 degrees centigrade, an unusual case of the weather properly befitting the occasion, Risshun (立春), the first day of spring. And, as an extra treat, many of Tsukuba's plum blossoms (ume no hana), Japan's symbolic harbingers of spring, burst into bloom (perfectly on cue) on the very same day! These earliest blooming of Japan's popular flowering trees are also its most fragrant, and yesterday's warm breezes might have carried their thick, sweet, syrupy smell to your nose.
The traditional Japanese calendar is divided into 24 equal sections called SEKKI (節気), which creates an idealized, perfectly balanced four-seasoned year. The first day of spring is determined as the exact middle point between the winter solstice (冬至, toji) and the vernal equinox (春分の日、shunbun no hi), which usually has RISSHUN fall on February 4th. Subsequently, we have the first day of summer (Rikka, 立夏) on May 5th this year, that being the day equidistant from the spring equinox and the summer solstice (geshi, 夏至）. The other two seasonal turning points, the first day of autumn (risshuu, 立秋) and the first day of winter (rittou, 立冬), are determined in the same manner, creating four seasons, each ninety days long.
Plum blossoms In Tsukuba
When Japan still followed its old calendar, Risshun, the first day of spring, was also the first day of the new year, the day on which all Japanese would grow one year older together. That is why on the evening of the previous day (February 3rd, this year), it is the tradition to eat the same number of soy beans as your age (sometimes plus one!), in what is called the SETSUBUN festival. Another name for the evening before RISSHUN was TOSHI NO YORU (歳の夜), which could be translated as the BIRTHDAY EVENING.
Of course, the Japanese seasonal divisions are not usually in accordance with meteoroloigical realities, as the coldest days of the year usually hit during the weeks AFTER the first day of spring, and in many parts of Japan the snow remains deep. There is even a famous expression and lyric to a well-known song which goes "HARU WA NA NOMI" (春は名のみ), which means "spring in name only". Despite the cold of early spring, for the Japanese it was the OCCASIONAL warm breeze, the stirring of certain plants and animals and the blooming of the plum blossoms (especially on snow covered branches), that is to say the little CHANGES and HINTS which gave hope and expectation of things to come that were what early spring was recognized as and appreciated for.
The blossoms of the plum tree (ume no ki), which has been bred into such numerous varieties since being brought to Japan more than 1000 years ago by returnees of missions to various Chinese dynastic courts, rival those of Japan's national flower, the cherry blossoms (sakura no hana) in terms of endearment in the hearts of the Japanese people. In fact, in the early Showa Period, there was a heated debate over which of the two WOULD become the national flower. The plum's strong points were not only that it was beautiful and highly fragrant and the first major blossom of the new year and thus symbol of spring's coming, praised so often by Japan's greatest classical poets. It was also a unique feature of the DAILY JAPANESE DIET in the form of UME BOSHI, or salted plums, as well as a popular ingredient for liquor and juice. It was probably the fact that plum blossoms were already the national flower of China (which they still are in Taiwan), and had been introduced to Japan from there that the UME lost out. Of course, there is also the matter of the more delicate cherry blossoms being more representative of the quintessential Japanese notion, MUJO, the fleeting nature of all things.
Despite having been brought in from abroad, the first western scientists to encounter the plum trees, including Philip Von Sebold, mistook them as being native to Japan. This could also be because, though a popular motive of Chinese art, there is no special tradition of viewing their flowers nor is there the custom of regularly eating their fruit.
For the Japanese, there is another interesting significance to the plum blossom: its connection to the passing of entrance examinations! The other day, just as I was mentioning plum blossoms to a friend of mine who has been driven to distraction by her son's upcoming exams, someone's cellphone rang. It was hers. A considerate friend had sent her a photo of a plum tree in bloom as a way of saying, "I hope your son is gonna pass!"
How did the ume no hana come to have such a connection to studies and the passing of tests? Well, the answer is simple: the plum tree was a favorite of SUGAWARA NO MICHIZANE, the great Heian Period poet, scholar and calligrapher who was unjustly expelled from the capital, died in exile, and was later enshrined as the GOD TENJIN, the patron god of scholars, poets, calligraphers and students. According to legend, when Michizane was leaving the capital on the road to exile in distant Dazaifu, Kyushu, it was only his plum tree that Michizane bade farewell with this, the most famous of all his poems.
KOCHI FUKABA NIOI OKOSE YO UME NO HANA
ARUJI NASHI TOTE HARU NA WASURESO
(If the East wind blows this way, send your fragrance to me, o plum blossoms,
even though I am no longer there).
Legend then says that the tree came flying all the way to Kyushu to give the forlorn aristocrat solace to the end of his days (which was not very far off).
Plum Blossoms In Tsukuba
There are almost always plum trees, sometimes hundreds, at shrines dedicated to Michizane, or TENJIN, as he is called in deified form. In this season, millions of supplicants visit these shrines to pray for exam success, and appropriately the plum blossoms are opening, filling the sacred precincts with the fragrance of HOPE.
Luckily for those of us who live in Ibaraki, Mito, our prefectural capital is the home to one of the most famous places for enjoying plum blossoms, KAIRAKUEN. The ume festival there will begin toward the end of this month.
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