Stacy: Day 5 - The Day of Shinto Ceremonies

THIS day, I was super excited for! Experiencing this culture is why I'm here. There's nothing more Japanese than participating/witnessing their native religion.

According to the Yasaka Shrine website. At 8:30am, they would hold the Gyomon Festival (winter). This is where they offer winter clothes to the enshrined deity. I'm not positive, but I believe this is the same ceremony that informs the geisha to switch to their winter clothes.

We arrived about 25 minutes early just in case there were crowds. Our hotel was a 4 minute walk away (we could see it from the hotel entrance), so that was no problem. However, we stood at the main shrine worshipping area (and very closely surrounding areas) until about 9:10, and nothing happened. We could see a lot of movement in the main hall (behind the main worshipping area), with the miko (shrine maidens) and men (priests in training?) rushing around in their daily uniforms. We even saw dune men carrying drums, and decided to follow them... But they entered a modern building, so we did not follow further.

This ceremony was a bust, so I obtained my goshuin, and we walked around the shrine. There was another ceremony there at 11am, so we meandered around a large and lovely park located directly behind the shrine.

Now 10:45am, we stood around the main shrine, again, until, finally, at 11am, a white-robed man (priest in training? Male version of shrine maiden?) shooed all the people in the walkway to either side.

Then, a line of Shinto priests marched out! We followed closely behind the white-robed men at the end to be sure we could see the ceremony.

So this knife ceremony was to the gods of metal and fire, I believe.

We were kept away from it, but that was fine by me! I gestured to the white-robed man of photos were ok, and he nodded yes. So, I documented the event.

First, the shrine was purified. The main priest/officiant waved a stick with holy, folded, white papers around the altar. Then, he purified the rest of the priests using the same method.

Next, one of the other priests offered holy branches with the white folded papers tied to them.

I believe some other items were also offered (possibly rice, sake, and probably a third item I cannot remember to be a common Shinto offering).

Then, another priest unfurled an old-looking scroll written in the Japanese equivalent of cursive, and chanted from it for probably five minutes, or more. Then, two lay gentlemen (in suits) offered something at the altar. After that, they wrapped up the ceremony, and I believe gift bags were given to the attendees. Since it's a knife ceremony, perhaps the attendees had given their crafting tools to the priests beforehand to have them purified and blessed for the coming year. (That's my guess.)

Off to the next ceremony! This time, we were off to the shrine of Fushimi Inari Taisha, about 25 minutes South, by train. It is the head shrine in this area. At 1pm was the prayer-stick burning ceremony.

I couldn't find out a lot about this ceremony, but basically, in Shinto, the Japanese people write their prayers and wishes on sticks about 1.5 feet long and 1.5 inches wide. Today, they were to be burnt. The Shinto burn pretty much everything--their charms and holy items only last a single year, and then you are supposed to bring it back to the shrine where you bought it to be respectfully burned. If you need a new one, you obtain it at that time.

For this ceremony, we had a front row view (standing)! At first.

We had stood there for 30 minutes, waiting patiently for it to begin, right where people pray. The view I had was into the main hall. Nando thinks we could have sat down inside, but I felt uncomfortable doing that since I am not a believer.

With maybe 10 minutes before the ceremony was to begin, "shrine cops" came and shoved all of us on the left side back about 4 feet, and cordoned it off. Turns out that was to be a pathway for the priests to take from the main hall to the site where they would burn the prayer sticks (still where people worship, but outside the main hall.

So, now, since we all moved backwards, I was no longer in the front, but had quite a crappy view.

These photos were the best I could do.

After the ceremony, and people started to leave, I could see that this is where they burned the prayer sticks.

Anyway, for this ceremony, from what I could tell, they purified some statues inside, then brought out tray upon tray (large, golden trays!) of offerings. Fruits, fish, rice, sake, and more of those holy branches with the white folded papers tied aroun them. It went on for at least 15 minutes--I kid you not.

Miko (shrine maidens) in their golden ceremony garb with red hakama (pleated pants) danced, holding a rattle-like device with small bells and ribbons on it.

Then, the priests gathered the prayer sticks, and ceremoniously marche them out, in front of me, to the fire pit, where they were burnt.

And, that was pretty much that.

With 3 hours until the next, largest ceremony, Nando and I decided to explore this shrine while it was still daylight.

This shrine is known for its thousands of Torii gates. There are sooooo many. We'll be back in a couple days for a hike up the mountain to see the more hidden parts of the shrine.

Due to all the ceremonies, there were street vendors everywhere! Obviously, I couldn't try much, but there was this one vendor who took whole oranges or grapefruits, cored them, and then use his whizz-bango machine to juice the insides. He then stuck a straw in it, and voila! Fresh OJ! It was delicious!

After shopping some, we headed back to the hotel to grab dinner before the next ceremony started at 6pm.

I don't know what this ceremony is called, but it is for the repose of souls. We got there just in time, and now Kristen and Aaron were with us!

We stood (again) on the left-hand side. I've gotta stop doing that... The crowd was thick, again, and we were somewhere in the middle. For whatever reason, they had put up fabric to make a corridor from where the ceremony was being held to the main stage, where a lot of people were sitting. From my vantage point, I couldn't' see anything except the light of the bonfire through the fabric.

After about 30 minutes of not being able to see anything, the people around us began to leave. Meaning Aaron could wander around, and he noticed that 1, if you stepped back a lot, you could see over the cloth, and 2. you could see MUCH better from the other side!

About the ceremony: honestly, since I couldn't see anything at the beginning, I can only tell you that there was chanting, singing, and then the fire got brighter. I think I saw a priest move around the bonfire a few times, but he was blocked by a pillar or large stone lantern that was in the forefront.

Even though we couldn't see much at the beginning, Kristen was happy to have experienced what she did. She enjoyed the sounds emanating from the light, while being engulfed in darkness.

After that, we went back to our hotel to do laundry. Only to find out that hotels.com had down incorrect info for our hotel, and our hotel does not have coin laundry on the premises. Grrrrr. Had to find a 24 hour place as it was almost 10pm, and most coin laundry closed at that time.

When we got there, there was a homeless lady sitting there, inside. It was a small room, and it was filled with a horrible smell. I know I should be compassionate, but, yikes..... Bought some alcoholic beverages to take the edge off.

Now, to sleep! Tomorrow is a big and buys day.