Miko

These three young Junior High Schoolgirls are Miko, or shrine maidens, and are taking part in the procession of the mikoshi at a matsuri. Before the procession they had performed Miko-mai, a sacred dance in the shrine.

These miko are volunteers, and just train for this performance. At many of the larger shrines that have full-time staff you may see older Miko, working in the shrine shop or office. Nowadays the only requirement to be a miko is being unmarried, though in earlier times it was necessary to be a virgin. Before that shrine miko were pre-pubescent girls who retired at the onset of puberty. In Izumo the tradition was different, and miko remained miko all their lives and passed on the function to their daughters. Nowadays many miko are daughters of priests.

Miko also assist the priests with ceremonial duties as in the photo below where a miko is performing Oharae, a purification ritual. There are a few female priests in Shinto, but not many.

Another type of miko no longer existing were the wives of Shugenja. The miko would go into a trance under the control of her yamabushi husband. Miki-san, the founder of the Tenrikyo religion was functioning as a stand-in miko when she began to have trance. Shamanesses and priestesses were probably the norm in ancient times before the influence of Buddhism.

Takahirayama Shrine, Miyoshi

When I go walking and exploring I usually follow a route that takes me from shrine to shrine. Sometimes, in remote areas, the maps are outdated and the shrines no longer exist. This shrine is close to the center of Miyoshi, and was abandoned. The torii had been taken down, the shintai removed from the hondens, but the buildings were still intact, though boarded up.

I checked on Google maps last night, and now these structures have been razed. I haven't been able to find out why. Sometimes shrines are moved to make way for construction of roads, tunnels, etc but this was not the case here. It was a fairly substantial shrine too, with several secondary shrines in the grounds.

Grand Toit (outside)

The Shimane Arts Center in Masuda combines galleries and performance spaces. Opened in 2005, and designed by Naito Hiroshi, the rectilinear boxes of the design is unusual in being clad by more than 250,000 rooftiles, hence the building is commonly known as Grand Toit, from the french for big roof.

The rooftiles were made up the coast at Gotsu in the reddish-brown color typical of the region.

Externally the design is not particularly noteworthy, but inside is spectacular.

See photos inside Grand Toit here

July harvest

Here are some of the veggies I've been picking from my gardens this month.

Known as ninjin in Japanese, carrots were introduced from Europe through Nagasaki in the 19th Century. They grow pretty much all year round, but my main crop I plant for winter harvesting.

Most people round here have never seen beets, though the leafy variety known as Swiss Chard was introduced in the 19th Century. Hokkaido now grows a lot of sugar beets. As with carrots, my main crop I grow in the Fall, and mostly I pickle them. Pickled beetroot can not be bought in Japan.

Tomatoes were introduced by the Portugese in the 17th century, though improved strains were introduced from the USA in the 20th century. This variety of yellow cherry tomatoes I hadn't tried before. The larger red tomatoes are just starting to get ripe and I'll be picking them continuously until November.
Of course we have also been picking kilos of green peppers and eggplants!

Baby Monkey mask

This is not a very common kagura mask, in fact the only time I've seen it used in a performance is with our village's kagura group. One of the dances they perform every year at the all-night matsuri is Yorimasa, and part way into it the stage is suddenly invaded by a family of monkeys. The adult monkeys chase into the audience and grab unsuspecting young kids,... older kids have seen it before so they stay out of the monkeys' reach. The baby monkeys are played by 3 and 4 year old kids. It's they who wear this mask.

Most groups matsuri performances will include some form of pantomime or audience participation.

Around here kids start early with kagura. In a few places girls have started to take part, but mostly kagura is still for boys and men.

This mask is, of course, for sale at an unbelievably low price!!!!

Kagura Mask Index

Saigo, Dogo, Oki Islands

This manhole cover is from Saigo, the largest town (pop 13,000) on Dogo, the largest of the Oki Islands lying off the coast of Shimane.

The design is fairly simple and straightforward,...fish!

Being small islands, fishing is the mainstay of the economy for the Oki's. Also its a very popular destination for hobby fishermen; more than half of the passengers on the ferry are usually carrying cooler boxes and rod cases.

I've thoroughly enjoyed myself every time I've visited the Okis, and all the food we ate there was really tasty.

More from the Oki Islands

Sugio Hachimangu, Ichiki.

The village of Ichiki lies on the upper reaches of the Yato River at the base of a mountain that has a small ski resort on it. The Hachiman shrine lies in the centre of the village.

There are a lot of smaller, secondary shrines within the grounds of the main shrine. There is a shrine to Konpira, a very popular kami that originally came from India, a Kannayago Shrine, the kami of metal-workers, the ever popular Inari, the god of harvests (and geisha!), and an Omoto Shrine, the local land-kami. Every 6 years Omoto Kagura is performed here.

100 years ago most, if not all, of these secondary shrines would have been scattered about in small local communities. That was the essence of the traditional religion, local, mostly nature-based gods. The government began a program that closed half of the shrines in the country. They didn't close any Hachiman shrines, as the God of War was an important national kami, and that was the point. The small local shrines were all moved into a central "national" shrine, where national rituals and national kami would become the focus of peoples attention.

On my walks around the backcountry of Japan I have been pleasantly surprised to see a few local shrines being re-established.

Tauebayashi (Rice-planting song & dance)

Yesterday was the Houranenya Matsuri in Gotsu Honmachi, the old town of Gotsu at the mouth of the Gonokawa.

Before the procession started a group from Kawahira, a village between Gotsu and my village, performed a folk dance, the Tauebayashi.

The gentleman with the cool hair-do was leading the dance. His mask appears to be a version of Hiotoko, but may be another character.

Both men and women performed the dance which accompanied rice-planting in earlier times. It's purpose was to strengthen the rice.

Trouble in the troop!

I was sitting at my desk a few hours ago when I heard a bang on the tin roof of my chickenshack. I turned and looked out the screen door to see a monkey go running along the concrete wall that "protects" my house from a landslide. About 2 meters behind the first one came another older, larger one, that I presumed to be male. There was a lot of screaming about 50 meters away, then the older male came wandering slowly back. (photo above)

2 years ago there was a full-fledged attempt for a younger male to become Alpha male in the troop. For 2 days there was a lot of screaming and tree shaking by the 2 males as the females sat on branches and appeared to scream their support for one or the other as in a pro-wrestling match.

I've been seeing the monkeys every day recently as they are raiding the village gardens. Immature pumpkins are their preferred choice right now.

Sunset over Takashima

Living as I do in a narrow, steep valley, I rarely get to see the sunrise or sunset, so it was particularly exciting yesterday evening to watch the spectacular sunset over Takashima.

We were in Miho Misumi, about half-way between Hamada and Masuda. Takashima lies a couple of kilometres offshore. It is now uninhabited, but was inhabited until fairly recently.

Takashima should not be confused with Takeshima! Takeshima is the Japanese name for a group of rocks that lie much closer to Korea than Japan, and are controlled by Korea who call them Dokdo. Currently there is a diplomatic spat between the 2 countries as the Japanese Education Ministry has decided to teach Japanese children that Dokdo belongs to Japan. Japan claimed ownership in 1905 a short while before they annexed Korea and while the Korean Foreign Ministry was already controlled by Japan and therefore in no position to argue. Historically the Korean claim to the rocks is much stronger. Japan has territorial disputes with Korea, China, Taiwan, and Russia..... all of its neighbors!