My name is Kurihara and I work at a satellite office in Kamiyama Town, Tokushima Prefecture. Several times a year, we are invited to participate in local events, such as cleaning up the nearby riverbank and making rice cakes at the end of the year.
This time, we will be bringing you a report on our first-time participation in a festival that was held at Wakamiya Shrine in the Jinryou district near our office in September!
set!!!
On the day, the weather was of course rainy as the powerful typhoon 23 was approaching.
"Are they going to do it?" "Are they going to do it or not?" "Well, it's a typhoon, and with this rain, I don't think they're going to do it..."
I asked myself this question over and over again, and just to be on the safe side, I decided to head to the office an hour and a half earlier than the scheduled meeting time of around 2 p.m. (← I'm not sure what time I was told, lol).
(For example, when there is a river cleanup, if you arrive at the appointed time, it may be almost finished.)
Just to be sure, I went to my neighbors' houses to check whether it was possible to hold the event, and as I arrived at their front door, I saw a group of people with yellow towels draped around their shoulders starting to gather.
(It's unclear whether it's because it's considered good luck, but everyone wears yellow towels around their necks at Kamiyama festivals.)
"Yes, of course I would!"
To welcome the mikoshi.
With renewed enthusiasm, we gathered at Wakamiya Shrine (commonly known as Wakamiya-san) at around 2 p.m., where we found 20-30 people wrapped in yellow towels already sharing drinks.
It is called Omiki, and is apparently an indispensable part of religious ceremonies, and while it may serve to purify the body, it also seems to signify a feast with the gods.
After that, the young men (50 years old is still considered young here) are selected and taken somewhere.
When I spoke to him in the truck as he passed by, he said, "We're going to get the portable shrine."
The mikoshi is shared with Yasaka Shrine (Ryuo) in the nearby Okubo district, and as their festivals are held on the same day, the mikoshi is carried in the Okubo district in the morning, and in the Yorii district (Wakamiya-san) in the afternoon.
Yasaka Shrine (Dragon King)
We also received sacred sake here. On the right is Handa from the Yoyogi office, who happened to be in Kamiyama for satellite work that day. On the right is Kagawa, who works in the Kamiyama office and loves alcohol.
Here too, we were treated to sacred sake, after which the mikoshi was loaded onto a truck and headed to Wakamiya Shrine.
Even the young people have a hard time.
Now, the festival begins
In front of Wakamiya Shrine
They return to Wakamiya Shrine, their home ground, and before carrying the mikoshi, the chief priest recites a prayer.
Everyone bows their heads and listens to the prayer.
In this ceremony, the sacred object is placed inside the mikoshi.
First of all, why do people carry a mikoshi around the neighborhood? I casually asked a local about this most basic of basics, and he gave me a very easy-to-understand example.
"Today is the day when the gods come to show their faces to the common people once a year, and for that purpose they are carried in a portable shrine and paraded around the town."
I also asked around about the gods enshrined there, the purpose of the festival in the first place, etc., but it was difficult to summarise as there were many different theories (even from people in the same town lol), so I won't go into the details here... Or rather, the sister of the god enshrined at this shrine... it's too difficult to explain...
And so, we carry the mikoshi!
Woohoo!
As is typical of Kamiyama, the carriers were made up of a diverse group of men, including locals, people from satellite offices, and immigrants from abroad.
Normally we would have paraded through the town, but unfortunately it was raining, so we only walked along the one road in front of Wakamiya Shrine.
The heights are all different and don't match...
Nishikibi are enshrined at key points, and when you arrive in front of them, the portable shrine is placed and the chief priest chants a prayer.
Prayer prayers are chanted at five locations along a 200m stretch.
Handa has also blended in with the locals
When the people from the town came out...
The mikoshi was swayed and spun in a grand manner...
The portable shrine moves up and down and left and right with great vigor.
Welcome back.
Return
After going around the path, we returned to Wakamiya Shrine, where the chief priest recited a prayer to summon the god, ending the ritual.
See you next year!
Finally, the mikoshi is placed in a storage facility next to Wakamiya Shrine, and the procession comes to an end.
Unfortunately it rained this time, but I tend to get shivering in the rain, so I think I would have enjoyed it more than if it had been sunny.
If the weather had been good, we would have had a BBQ, but it was cancelled due to rain, which is our only regret.
People who usually don't get to meet just by being in the office on weekdays also participated, and by carrying the mikoshi, I was able to make contact with them. It's been a year and a half since the Kamiyama office opened, but I'm still often asked, "What do you do?" So I think the best thing about it was being able to show my face to those neighbors and to tell them a little about the company and myself.
I hope it will be sunny next year!!!
KURIHARA Tsutomu