Minakuchi Shrine, Tenri

This small shrine, located just off route 169, next to the settlement of Shibutanicho on the Yamanobenomichi, was known as Tenno Sha until the Meiji period. It enshrines Susano and Homuda Wake, who is more commonly known by his posthumous name of Emperor Ojin, the primary kami of Hachiman shrines.

The shrine lies between 2 of the many keyhole kofun that lie in this area. Just to the south is the tomb attributed to Emperor Keiko, and this seems to be an accurate attribution based on the Nihon Shoki. To the north is the much large moated tomb officially attributed to Emperor Sujin, but most historians place his tomb some distance away.

Glimpses along the Katsuragi Kodou

On Saturday I spent a great day walking along the Katsuragi Kodou, an old road that runs along the base of the Katsuragi and Kongou Mountains in the west of Nara Prefecture. I was accompanied by a couple of other Japan-bloggers, Aurelio ( margen del yodo ), and Ted ( Notes from the Nog )

For this first post I thought I would just upload a few views through gates into private front yards and gardens. This first one was in the village of Owacho down at the south end of the trail. The gates provide a great frame for the typical Japanese gardens inside.

This one was in Kamogami, the area that was the original home of the clan that moved to the Kyoto basin and founded the famous Shimogamo and Kamigamo shrines.

These last 2 were in Nagara, a village abouth halfway along the path that is famous for its "Old streets" of Edo period buildings.

The Katsuragi no Michi starts a little east of Gose station which is about 2 hours south of Kyoto or 90 mins from osaka

Typical Japanese Landscape 22

Most major Japanese cities, like many major cities around the world, are located on the estuaries where large rivers reach the coast. This is the Naka River runing through Fukuoka.

Small Tengu mask

My latest mask, a small version of the Tengu. There are numerous renditions of Tengu, sometimes bearded, sometimes not, sometimes black hair, sometimes white. I went for a long white beard for this one.

Kagura mask index

Tauebayashi: planting the rice

The 4th and final post on last weekend's Tauebayashi Matsuri.

The Tauebayashi Matsuri was originally a religious festival. Rice was life, and fertility was the concern of many religions. Nowadays the matsuri is kept alive as a "folk art", but the religious aspect is still vital. The 4 corners of the paddy have gohei in the 4 colors, and in the centre is a sacred tree representing the kami of the rice paddy. Ritual sake has been poured around the tree, and the bottle left as an offering. After prayers, the planting begins.

The planters were originally "saotome", possibly translated as "virgin", but also with elements of fertile maidens. Nowadays the maidens are aged up to 80 years old, and also some young men planted as well.

To the accompanienment of the song and drumming, which is supposed to strengthen the rice but also functions as a worksong, the line of planters gradually move backwards across the paddy planting as they go.

There were actually a couple of saotome in the group.

Finally a short video of the scene.

More photos and videos of Tauebayashi

Rice Planting!.... the musical!

The third post on the Tauebayashi Matsuri we went to on Sunday. This time a look at the musicians who play the worksong during the rice planting.

This character has no name, though he is wearing a Hyottoko mask. He keeps time for the music with a pair of small "changara", which is the local name for small hand cymbals.

There is a single flute player in the ensemble, and a group of 3 kodaiko players. The kodaiko is carried vertically and only the top is hit.

There is one player of the dora, a kind of bell/gong.

Most of the musicians play the okedo taiko, and it provides the meat of the sound. It is carried horizontally and both heads are struck.

For the first half of the planting the music was performed by the childrens ensemble, playing a smaller okedo taiko.

A short video of the lead singer.

More photos and videos of Tauebayashi

Faces from a Matsuri

Another series of photos from the rice-planting matsuri we went to yesterday, the Tauebayashi, in Kawahira.

I don't feel very comfortable taking photos of people, so I'm not very good at it, but in the context of a matsuri, where everyone is taking photos, I do try.

The only masks to be seen were on the farmer and his Ox that led the procession and then did a ritual circuit of the rice paddy accompanied by suitable mooing.

This is the lead singer of the musicians. He sings of what a beautiful day it is and how much fun it is to be out in the paddies planting rice. easy enough for him to sing as he is not bent over all day actually planting :)

The matriarchs of the village look on, critically one suspects.

It is supposed to be maidens that do the planting, but there are very few maidens in rural Japan, most having moved to the cities. However there were a couple of young beauties among the mostly middle-aged planters. Most photographers seemed to congregate at their end of the planting line.

For the first half of the planting it was the children who performed the music.

More photos and videos of Tauebayashi

Rice planting the old way. Tauebayashi Matsuri

Spent a great morning today downriver in the village of Kawahira for the Tauebayashi matsuri.



Tauebayashi is a rice-planting worksong from this region of Japan, and kawahira is one of a handful of villages that still perform it. They performed it at last summers Horanenya Matsuri in Gotsu Honmachi

In this first of four posts, the sequence of photos show the procession to the rice paddy to be planted.

It was a full matsuri, with lots of tasty local food at cheap prices, no crowds, and very friendly people, all attributes of village matsuri's that I enjoy.

I'll post more photos over the next few days.

If your only experience of matsuri has been at some of the big, famous, city-based matsuri's, then you have missed a really wonderful part of Japan.

More photos and videos of tauebayashi

Mizuki Shigeru Road

I really enjoyed our afternoon in Sakaiminato, and as well as the collection of bronze yokai sculptures (a small selection of which you can see here, here, and here ) there are yokai all over the place.

The trains on the JR Sakai Line, which connect Sakaiminato to Yonago, are decorated inside and out with scenes from Shigeru's stories.

The street lamps around the station appear as Medama Oyaji, Daddy Eyeball.

Halfway down the street there is even a faux "shrine" complete with ema.

Paintings and drawings of yokai adorn the walls and even the sidewalks of the street

Lining both sides of the street are shops selling yokai products of every conceivable type, masks, canned drinks, clocks, the usual range of Japanese omiage with yokai packaging. It was hard to find any type of product that wasn't made in a yokai form. When I next visit I intend to see if I can find some yokai condoms.



There is also another large set of "negative space" sculptures on the street and at a nearby seaside park.

Finally, there is the Mizuki Shigeru Museum which has displays of Shigeru related materials, numerous screens showing anime, and yokai material from around the world collected by Shigeru.

Yokai Gallery 3

This is the third post on the yokai sculptures on the Mizuki Shigeru Road. Details in Yokai Gallery 1

Salaryman Yamada is not, as far as I can tell, a yokai, but he is a character in Mizuki Shigeru's work, and is based on a friend of his.

Omotogami is another name for Omotojin, also known as Kojin in neighboring Izumo. I was surprised to see it classified as a yokai as it is in fact a common kami in this part of the world. It is often known as an aragami, which is usuually translated as "rough deity", but I prefer the translation "turbulent deity", as it is a force of nature and quite capable of causing damage. More posts on Omoto here

These are Shigeru's creation, Daruma and guts, and are based on the well-known Daruma, who was the Bodhidharma who brought Zen (Chan in Chinese) from India to China. In his common form he has no arms or legs as they have atrophied from years of sitting in meditation. In Shigeru's daruma, the little creatures are daruma's "guts", and if they are killed Daruma becomes weaker.

Uwan is an invisible Yokai that inhabits old houses and temples. His shouts can only be heard inside the building. In the Edo period artists began painting images of various "invisible" yokai.

Medama Oyaji is the father of Kitaro, Shigeru's most famous character. A ghost reborn as just an eyeball, the character is known as Daddy Eyeball in the english version. He loves to stay clean and is often found bathing in a bowl.

Keukegen is completely covered in hair and is known to cause disease in humans. It inhabits damp, airless spaces, so the solution is to open windows and doors and allow some air circulation.

Yamabiko is a tree spirit living in the mountains that creates the echoes you hear in the mountains.

Syunobon is a yokai originally from Fukushima. When following you he appears human, but will startle you by reverting to his original form.

Aonyoubou (Blue Wife) is a form of Goryu, an "angry ghost". The most famous Goryu is Michizane Sugawara, commonly known as Tennjin. Humans killed for political reasons are particularly prone to be angry ghosts.

Yokai Gallery 1

Yokai Gallery 2