Shoki a la Peckinpah

I thought I would post a slightly longer video of Iwami kagura. A dance usually last 45 minutes, but for now I post the final sequence of Shoki by my local kagura group Tanijyugo Shachu.

In the synopsis for the dance it says that Shoki subdues the demon with his ring of miscanthus reed and then stabs him and kills him.

In this version I counted more than 20 stabs!!!

The hoop of miscanthus reed is still used today and is called a Chinowa. Passing through the ring is supposed to protect you from communicable diseases.

Gonokawa Matsuri Parade

Monday was the annual Gonokawa Matsuri in Gotsu.

Dragon Boat racing, kagura, brass band, hip-hop dancing, and of course fireworks.

For the first time I was able to see the parade, so these are just photos from that.

To the accompaniment of the Gotsu-Shi Ondo, which sounds an awful lot like every other "town" folk song Ive heard, the parade consists of a variety of civic groups, clubs, companies etc performing the Gotsu folk dance, which looks an awful lot like every other town folk dance Ive seen.

One nice touch was the kagura dancers joining in the parade.

Omiya Shrine, Udo.

Just a couple of kilometers along the coast from Sagiura is another tiny fishing village with a shrine that was both mentioned in the Izumo Fudoki and listed in the Engi Shiki.

The village Omiya Shrine enshrines a male-female pair of kami, Shinatsuhiko and Shinatsuhime.

According to the ancient creation myths, after Izanagi and Izanami created the Japanese islands they were covered in mist, so Izanagi created Shinatsuhiko to blow the mist away, therefore the pair are known as gods of wind. In the village they are known as gods for safe travel by sea.

This whole section of coast is really quite wild and beautiful with just small fishing settlements in the occasional cove. reminds me of Cornwall in many ways. According to the Kunibiki myth this section of the peninsular was created by taking land from Shiragi, the Korean kingdom known as Sila in English

Hamada Childrens Museum of Art (inside)

Here in Shimane we have more museums and galleries per capita than any other Prefecture bar one. This may partially be due to the continued haemorrhaging of the population to the big cities, Shimane's population is decreasing faster than anywhere else, but it is most probably due to the massive influx of construction money from Tokyo. Shimane continues to vote LDP.

One person who has benefited from this influx of construction money is local-born architect Shin Takamatsu, the designer of the Hamada Childrens Museum of Art.

Architecture, modern or otherwise, lends itself easily to photography that leans towards the anstract, as does mine.

In the late afternoon and evening the sun creates fantastic patterns of light and shadow.

While all the big cities in Japan have their fair share of interesting modern architecture, its fun to explore the rural areas of Japan to find such things.

Singing Grasshopper

During the evenings usually the only light on in the house is a small lamp above my desk.

It tends to attract all kinds of bugs.

The other night this guy came and hung around for a while and didn't mind me poking a camera lens at him/her.

Its a Kirigirisu, a Singing Grasshopper.

During the Edo period they were sold in small bamboo cages as pets, something that still goes on today.

Ther are a lot of bugs in Japan, so its no surprise that they are still collected by boys.

Witchcraft in Kyoto,

Went to watch some kagura last night and was very excited to see a dance I had never seen before. The Kifune dance tells the story of a Kyoto wife whose husband has left her and she visits the Kifune (Kibune) shrine north of Kyoto to seek help getting revenge.

At the shrine she is given instructions as to how to transform into a demoness and then be able to curse her ex husband. Just to remind you, the female parts in Iwami Kagura are played by males. I thought this guy did an excellent job.

The dance is based on a Noh drama called Kanawa (the headress she is wearing with three lighted candles on it) and it is based on a tale in the Heike Monogatari about events in the eigth Century.

The next part of the dance concernes the afflicted husband who visits Japans most famous wizard Abe no Seimei for help ridding himself of the curse. This part of the dance is played as pantomime and one of the tools used by Abe no Seimei is a vuvuzela!!

This is now a rare dance as it was banned in early Meiji as the subject matter of witchery and magic was considered "superstitious" and primitive. Teaching that the Emperor was descended from the sun, on the other hand, was the basis of the new State Shinto.

Inasehagi Shrine

Inasehagi Shrine is located in the tiny fishing village of Sagiura on the coast of the western end of the Shimane Peninsular. and is a relatively important shrine being mentioned in the 8th Century Izumo Fudoki and also in the Engi Shiki, a tenth Century document that lists shrines that received support from the Imperial government.

The main kami enshrined here is Inasehagi who is sometimes described as a guide to Amaterasu's envoys who descended to Izumo to convince Okuninushi to hand over to japan to her descendants, and sometimes described as an arbitrater for the discussion (Kuniyuzuri Myth)

All variations of the story say it was Inasehagi who went from Inasa Beach to the eastern end of the peninsular (now Mihonoseki) to fetch back Okuninushi's son Kotoshironushi (Ebisu)

Inasehagi was the son of Amenohohi, one of the five male children created by Susano and Amaterasu. In fact Amenohohi was the first envoy sent by Amaterasu to Okuninushi, but he changed sides and settled in Izumo without reporting back.

Amenohohi is considered to be the ancerstor of the Senge, the priestly family that has run Izumo Taisha since its founding and were previously governors of Izumo.

It is not clear whether Inasehagi came with Amaterasu's envoys or was already in Izumo with his father.

There is a subsidiary shrine in the grounds to a kami called Hakuto which seems to be connected with the white rabbit of Inaba,

Kuro Oni. Black Ogre/Demon

It's been a very long time since I finished a new mask.

Garden, firewood, and home maintenance seem to have taken more of my time than usual, but I am hoping to get working on my masks again soon as all this winters firewood is already ready.

I have about 20 masks in various stages of construction, but I just finished this one.

Like all my masks they are in the Iwami kagura style, but being a barbarian I tend to experiment a little.

It is of course for sale.

My other finished masks can be found here

Vacation 2010 Day 6: Mercedes Benz Museum

As I was in Stuttgart I couldnt not visit the Merecedes Benz Museum, not because I am into cars, but because I am into interesting architecture.

The museum opened in 2006 and was designed by the Dutch architectural firm UNStudio.

I found it a very good museum, well laid out and with excellent displays.

The museum starts at the top with the oldest examples of Daimler vehicles. and visitors then descend and pass through time up to the present day.

There were also examples of what the future holds.

The entrance price was reasonable, audio guides in various languages are available, and photography is permitted..... I am tending to avoid paying to enter somewhere I cant take pics.

Between the museum and the neighboring showroom was this fine sculpture.

I married a bag lady!

And she has been busy making more bags using Ainu designs and embroidery.

These first two are made of wool and much bigger than the ones she usually makes.

These next four Yoko says are cases for sunglasses, but I reckon they could be used for regular glasses, cigarettes and lighter, cell phone, etc etc

These last two are made using material from old Obi's, the sash used with kimonos.

If anyone is interested in owning one of these and wants to know sizes and prices., email me and I will pass it on to Yoko

Some other Ainu-design bags of hers can be seen here, but they have all been sold already.