The priests arrived, walking quickly to their position for the ceremony.
A senior priest comes to each fire and casts leaves and salt. People around sang prayers alongside the various officiants.
The priests continue to throw prayer sticks into the fires.
We came back to Japan just on time to see this Jidai Matsuri Festival. This festival (the Festival of the Ages presenting different periods of the history of Kyoto) is held every year on October 22nd. October 22nd was the day, over 1,200 years ago, when Emperor Kammu decided to move the capital to Kyoto. The festival is symbolic of Kyoto, her people and the city great history and culture.
This was a great opportunity to take a few pictures of the people and the costumes.
Soldiers of the Imperial Army of the Meiji Restoration.
This is about a pretty special place in Kyoto, a temple not often mentioned in guidebooks. I’ve been several times in Kyoto and I have now lived in for a few months, but it was the first time I visited this place. And what a beautiful surprise it was!
The temple Otagi Nembutsu-ji was originally founded by Empress Shōtoku in the second half of the eighth century, in Kyoto’s ancient burning ground. At the beginning of the Heian period, it got washed away by the flooding of the Kamo River. It was rebuilt at the beginning of the tenth century. In the 13th century, it was again destroyed during a civil war. In 1922, the temple was moved to its current location in the Arashiyama neighborhood of Kyoto. It got again damaged by a typhoon in 1950.
This temple features some 1200 sculptures of Rakan, little stone statues representing the disciples of Buddha. These statues are the main interest of this place and are really surprising. They were carved by amateurs and donated between 1981 and 1991 for the reconstruction of the temple. There are all kind of amazing, amusing, surprising, weird expressions among all these littles characters.
The weather has been pretty bad lately and it was still raining when we visited the temple. Still, we spent quite a bit of time there, having fun meeting all these little people, each with different look, pose, expression. Many were alone, serious, like you would expect for disciples in a temple. But other were with their cat, their kid, their attitude, etc. We loved the two drinking buddies, laugh at the comedian removing his mask to tease the visitor. Akiko liked the tennis player (!) and I found my soul mate in the guy who brought his Souseki (one my my favorite Japanese writer) book with him.
Despite the rain that didn’t stop, we spent an enjoyable time amongst these sculptures, trying to find more faces with interesting pose or expression. This is a place I definitely want to return to, when the weather will be better. Sure, it is not one of the main famous temples of Kyoto, but it is so different and really was a lot of fun.
The Daimonji Gozan Okuribi (Daimonji Bonfire) is an event held on the evening of August 16th, during which gigantic Kanjis (Chinese characters) and other motifs are depicted by fires lit to illuminate the slopes of the mountains surrounding the Kyoto Basin.
Although there are several interpretations as to the origins of this event, it is generally regarded as “a fire at the gate” for seeing off the souls of ancestors after commemorating welcoming them during the Obon festival.
The best known character is “Dai” (meaning “large”) set on fire on Mt. Daimonji. Others famous ones are “Myo” (the one on my picture) and “Ho” which make up the word “Myo-Ho” (excellent teaching of Buddha) on Matsugasaki Nishiyama and Higashiyama mountains.
We were invited to a friend’s house, centrally located and high enough to offer an easy panoramic view of five fires (all except one). Unfortunately, it had been raining all day and we even wondered if the festival would be canceled. So, instead of a buffet outside on the top terrace of the house, we had a dinner inside and just went out for the fires. These fires only last for 30 minutes at most. A lot of people were in the streets to catch a sight of these fires.
“Myo” is best seen from Kitayama-dori (near Notre Dame Jogakuin).
The Takanogawa River bank (north of Takanobashi Bridge) is best for “Ho”.
Nishi-Oji-dori (Saiin – Kinkakuji) is a good spot to view the “Dai” at Hidari-Daimonji.
Kitayama-dori (northwest of Kitayamabashi Bridge) offers good views of the funa-gata motif.
The torii-gata motif is best seen from Matsuobashi Bridge and Hirosawa-no-Ike Pond.
From the highest point of the Funaokayama Park (free admission), you can command a panoramic view of all the mountains with the exception of the mountain with the torii-gata motif.
The Summer is the festival period in Japan, and this is specially true in and around Kyoto. There are so many festivals and events, it is difficult to choose which one to attend. Akiko has chosen a very special one, not well known, and visually quite impressive — the Matsu-age Fire Festival.
The location is Hanase, a small village about 25 km up north of Kyoto. As the festival starts late, one has to plan transportation to be able to return to Kyoto when everything is over. We selected a special tour bus (Kyoto Bus) coming from Demachiyanagi station. We left just before 6 pm and arrived there a bit after 7 pm. It was already night. The event was to start around 9 pm.
This village is located in the middle of the mountains. The road that leads to it is very narrow and quite dark, with very sharp turns. After getting off the bus, we followed the other people and crossed a small bridge. There were already a lot of people lining up the road, all of them with tripod and camera. Most were quietly seated, waiting. We found a nice little spot to place our gears and install ourselves. We couldn’t see much, except for a bunch of torches planted on the other side of the river, surrounding a 20 meter high Japanese cypress log with a large torch placed on top. We waited like this, wondering what was going to happen, for well over one hour.
A couple of men, wearing traditional cloth, then arrived along the road with a torch alight. They met other men similarly dressed, and all of them, carrying torches on fire, returned to the bridge, crossed the river and started to light the numerous torches planted around the pole. The event was starting.
These local men took small torches attached to lengths of twine (called “Agematsu”), lighted them in the bonfire, and hurled them up at the torch located at the top of the pillar, trying to set it alight, all to the slow tune of drumming. It took them a few trials before the fire started at the top of the pillar. Each time a small Agematsu almost reached the torch, people applauded, cheered and commented (ala, hoshii!) After a little while and a few direct “hits”, the top torch was on fire. It started raining and we headed back toward the bus. Just before we reached it, the festival reached its climax with the fire growing enough to send the whole tree-torch crashing to the ground! It was now raining hard and time to return to Kyoto.
This countryside tradition highlights some of the more rural areas of Japan. The Matsuage Torch Lighting festivals are held in three outlying cities in Kyoto. It was originally a ritual undertaken to commemorate local fire deities, honor the dead, pray for good crops and ward off fires.
“Hassaku” is an event held on August 1st in Gion Kobu, the main Hanamachi (entertainment district) in Kyoto. Geiko (geisha) and Maiko (apprentice geisha) visit their master as well as all the ochaya (teahouse) in the district to thank the owners for their patronage and support during the year. An incredible number of photographers line up the streets hoping to catch a photo of them. The police has to be around to control such crowd!
We arrived a bit before 10, and it was already crowded. I mean, the main street, Hanamikouji, was packed with photographers. Many of them have been there for quite a while, seated, waiting. The day was particularly hot and humid. And nothing was happening.
We moved around, went to another location. In front of a famous teahouse (ochaya) more photographers were waiting. Back on te main street, we could see some maikos driving by in taxi, but none yet walking around. Then, a couple of them, wearing a gorgeous kimono arrived and walked by. All the photographers jumped and pushed each other to take pictures.
Two maiko enter a chaya (teahouse)
A geiko (geisha) walks around with her “team”
With this heat, I wonder how the maiko, covered with thick make-up and wearing such heavy kimono, do it. Impressive.
Obon (お盆) is the Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one’s ancestors. This Buddhist custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to their family places and visit and clean their ancestors’ graves. During this time, the ancestor’s spirits are supposed to revisit the household altars.
During Obon, many people typically visit their ancestors’ graves. I therefore decided to take this opportunity to visit a favorite off the beaten path spots in Kyoto — Higasi Otani, one of the most dramatic cemeteries in Japan. Great views and a good opportunity to see how the Japanese tend to their lost loved ones. The Higashi-Otani Mausoleum sets thousands of lanterns for people visiting their ancestors’ graves.
We had planned to visit Uji yesterday, the day of the famous fireworks which is supposed to be one of the greatest and largest around. So we went to the city of Uji, which is less than 20 minutes away by train from our place in Kyoto. Unfortunately, on arrival, we discovered that the show had been canceled due to the typhoon and heavy rain. Well, that was too bad for the fireworks, but at least we would get to see Uji’s main attractions.
Uji (宇治) is a small city situated between Kyoto and Nara, two of Japan’s most famous historical and cultural centers. Its proximity to these two former capitals resulted in Uji’s early development as a cultural center in its own right. The two main places (Byodoin Temple and Ujigami Shrine) are both Unesco World Heritage sites and both attract a lot of visitors.
Byodoin Temple (平等院, Byōdōin) is a perfect example of Buddhist Pure Land (Jodo) architecture. Together with its garden, the temple represents the Pure Land Paradise. It initially was built in 998 as a countryside retreat villa for the powerful politician Fujiwara no Michinaga, not as a temple. Michinaga’s son turned Byodoin into a temple and ordered the construction of its most spectacular feature, the Phoenix Hall built in 1053. It was nicknamed Hoodo (“Phoenix Hall”) because of its shape and the two phoenix statues on its roof. The hall is now featured on the back of the Japanese ten yen coin.
After arriving at the temple, we immediately purchased another ticket to visit the hall, but had to wait for almost one hour. This gave us enough time to visit the garden and the small museum. The hall is indeed truly beautiful and the statue of the Amida Buddha inside is magnifient.
Another detail worth mentioning is the fact that this Phoenix Hall was never destroyed by fired like so many other structures in Japan. This makes it one of the few original wooden structures to survive from the Heian Period.
The second place, the Ujigami Shrine (宇治上神社, Ujigami Jinja) is believed to be the oldest standing shrine in Japan. Although there is no official record of when it was first constructed, experts estimate that Ujigami Shrine was well established by 1060. It was closely linked to Byodoin Temple as its “guardian shrine”.
Unfortunately, the main hall being renovated, it is completely covered up and we could not see more than the Haiden and the two little Kasuga shrines. We definitely will have to return here next year. A hundred meters south stands Uji Shrine, also built in the same nagare-zukuri style. It was closed and we could not see much more than the front facade.
Uji is also famous for its green tea and there are green tea shops everywhere. We enjoyed a little matcha (green tea) ice cream.
Recent Comments