Today was another day of exams, and I once again had almost nothing to do. Mr. Hayashi, Mr. Komuri, Mr. Kimura, and myself all went out to a place in Sone that serves tacos, and so we had a big lunch on Mr. Hayashi. The food was OK, but not Mexican by any stretch of the imagination. I loaded the tacos up with garlic tabasco sauce, but they could have used some of the habaneros I have stashed away at home.
After lunch we came back and I lounged around the school for a while, until it was time to get out of there. Mr. Komuri shuttled me off to Miki town in his car, and we found a parking spot near downtown Miki and walked into the town center. As soon as we arrived, there was a cluster of men surrounding a mikoshi, or portable shrine. Everyone was drinking and having a good time, and I was surprised to learn that these guys would be lifting this gigantic shrine up a steep staircase to the temple grounds. The mikoshi was a lot bigger than I had imagined – it looked like a tough job.
There were eight mikoshi all together, and each one had a huge team of people that would lift and carry it around. Inside the mikoshi there were young boys catching a ride, and also a drummer, who would beat the drum frantically or slowly, depending on the mood of the crowd. It’s hard to imagine, so I’m posting a movie to get a better idea of the scale of one of these things.
You can download the movie here. It is around 4.5 MB, so it should take a while to download.
Each mikoshi had to go up the steep stairway, and if the mikoshi went down at any point, it was considered a major problem. Bad luck, a pox on your family, you name it. We followed one of the mikoshi up to the top, and I couldn’t believe how many people were running around. The mikoshi that had made it to the top were circling in a giant courtyard, and people were milling around taking pictures, flirting with the people carrying the mikoshi, and drinking way too much.
Mr. Komuri went to a local high school, and so he knew a lot of people. We met one of his friends that lives in California (Pleasanton, CA) and comes back to Japan once a year to attend the festival. He spoke English quite well, and it was fun to talk to him and get his impressions of California, especially while being surrounded by such a unique Japanese atmosphere.
After watching the mikoshi run around for a while, we went down the steps and had dinner in a tiny restaurant at the base of the hill. The dinner was traditional Japanese, and so I really had to work with the chopsticks. Everyone in attendance praised my ability, but it was not easy slurping down giant udon noodles without flinging sauce all over the place.
After dinner we went out on the street, and we set up shop along the main avenue where the mikoshi come back down the steps. Each mikoshi weighs, according to Mr. Komuri, almost 2 metric tons. I’m not sure how much a metric ton is compared to a regular ton, but it sure sounds (and looks) heavy. The first mikoshi started coming down the stairs, and Mr. Komuri explained that the first mikoshi is not tied down, but each one after that is tied up so that if they drop it, it won’t go crashing into the crowd killing everyone. The first one is kind of a throwback to tradition, so everyone watched to see if they would be crushed by a runaway shrine.
I managed to survive – nobody dropped the shrine, so we were able to get out of there relatively early. On the way back, I couldn’t help thinking that I’m going to do this all over again in two weeks, when my hometown has it’s Matsuri festival. I had promised the gang at my yakitori that I would be there, so it should be interesting.
After I got home, I started downloading Survivor, and then headed over to the yakitori to grab a quick bite to eat. The gang was all there, along with a new guy. I spent time talking to him, and making him comfortable speaking English. We got to talking about the Matsuri festival in Futami, and one of the guys offered the use of his ceremonial robes for carrying the mikoshi, called a hoppi. I was hoping that it would be “no foreigners allowed”, but once you are wearing a hoppi, you are cleared for take off. Now I’ve got the gear, and I’ll be carrying one of these things around Futami in a couple of weeks. Yikes!
