節分２０１５年 / Setsubun 2015

Today is a holiday known as Setsubun (節分), which is celebrated every year on the 3rd of February. The holiday marks the end of the harsh cold weather, and reminds us to look forward to the coming spring and to embrace the joy and good fortune of the season. The word itself, means seasonal separation, and dates back many centuries to the time when Japan still used the lunar calendar.

Most importantly, Setsubun is a time for casting evil demons (鬼 / “oni”) out of one's home. This is accomplished by the ritual throwing of beans in a custom called “Mamemaki” (豆撒き, literally, “scattering beans”). Traditionally, roasted soybeans are used due to their being a symbol of purity, but any sort of legume will do. We chose to use peanuts, because they're delicious, and fun to eat. They also make for easy cleanup since they come in their own shell.

My wife, as master of the house, is the one casting out the demons. The guy in the demon mask is not other than yours truly! I should note that we are doing a bit of role reversal here, since demons are traditionally cast out by the elder man of the house, but somehow it seems appropriate this way. Anyway, such practices are becoming common as Japan continues to modernize. She chased me around the house throwing peanuts at me and shouting “Oni wa soto!!” (鬼は外！ “Demons, out!”) until I was suitably dispelled. So, let this be a lesson to all you real demons out there. If you come into our house, you can expect the same treatment! Stay away!

To round out the fun, we also ate Good Luck Direction Rolls (恵方巻き), which we consumed while facing to the Southwest to ensure that the rolls achieve their maximum effect. I’d say we’re ready for the year!

Being a busy working person, I'm wearing a store-bought mask. Making one's own mask by hand, however, is fairly common. While I was out shopping this evening, I saw many children wearing clever handmade masks, many of which were most likely school projects.

If there was time, we might have enjoyed going to Nezu Shrine for their annual celebration, but I’ve still got work to do this evening so we decided to celebrate at home instead.

初梅花 / First Plum Blossoms of the Season

It's quite early in the season, but still I decided to take a long walk and head over to  Yushima Tenjin Shrine (湯島天神) (a.k.a. Yushima Tenmangu), in the Yushima neighborhood of Bunkyo City, for the start of the annual Plum Blossom Festival (梅祭り). There are very few blossoms to look at right now, but still the Shrine was alive with visitors enjoying the beautiful, albeit chilly day.

Yushima Tenjin Shrine originally dates back to the mid-5th century, but has lived on in the current form that you see here since the late 1400s. The buildings that stand today we're all constructed in 1995 as part of Japanese Shrines' traditional renewal. The Shrine is particularly famous for its long history as a place of study for Confucian scholars during the edo period (1603-1868), but also for its annual Plum Blossom Festival.

Yushima Tenjin Shrine has another, lesser-known claim to fame, which is that being directly adjacent to the University of Tokyo, receives thousands of student visitors each year. Students praying for success in their studies, write their wishes on these emma and leave them here for Tenjin (the primary God of the shrine).

The flowering plum trees are still almost all buds, but I still managed to get some nice floral shots.

If you would like to look at the rest of the photos form this set, please visit my Picasa Album. Thanks as always for visiting!

Nezu Shrine Annual Festival 2014 / 根津神社例大祭 平成２６年

神輿　弥生町内会　｜　Yayoi Neighborhood Association's Mikoshi

Apologies in advance to my readers. Here I am writing about something that happened over a month ago already. It's pretty bad, I know, but believe me it's not because I'm lazy; it's just been a really hectic month! Anyway, getting on to the fun! On 9/21-22, Nezu Jinja held their annual shrine festival, and again this year our entire town was in a fun festival mood!

Check out this next photo -- this was me at last year's festival. Words can barely describe how much fun I had and what a wonderful sense of community I felt as I carried the Mikoshi (神輿) along with the other members of my local neighborhood association.

Nezu Shrine Festival 2013
I'm guessing I don't need to point out which
one is me (hint- look for the white dude)

This year, however, my friend was in town from Chicago so I enjoyed this year's festival as a spectator rather than as a participant. Because of this, I was not as busy as I was last year and had the opportunity to enjoy the festival in a totally different light. I also had the pleasure of enjoying pride in my town while showing my friend around his first shrine festival! Nezu Shrine looks so much different than usual when it's all decked out for the party! If this doesn't put a person in the celebration mood, then I guess nothing will! The air was definitely charged with excitement (which I'm sure was helped along by all the booze. LOL)!

There would be no festival without music of course.

There was a traditional performance of Kyōgen (狂言) theatre, too! The performance was mesmerizing and also quite comical as well. We all laughed quite a few times, and with no dialogue it's a laugh for everyone there, regardless of which language someone speaks.

There was also a special performance by the Nezu Elementary School Performing Arts Group. I can't say that I understood much about the performance, but they were excellent and they obviously practiced very hard for this!

One thing I definitely did not know about was that as the main part of the festival is ending, there's an "after party," one might say, held down the street from the shrine that continues later into the night! The after party was alive with music, dancing and revelry! The dances being performed were fantastic, mostly because they were local dances specific to Tokyo's Bunkyō City and even more local ones known only in Nezu! Wow! To be honest, up until this point I was not even aware of these dances and the very local culture that's part of my neighborhood traditions so I'm extremely glad I made it to the afterparty this year! It was even more incredible to see how many people of all ages know these dances very well and perform them with expertise and confidence. There were, of course, quite a few people who were basically learning as they go, watching the "village elders'" moves carefully and mimicking them. I wish I possessed the confidence to do the same, but when I was invited to join in I was too chicken. Heh! Maybe next year.

I took a video of some of the festivities here. This is one of our local dances / songs called Nezu Ondo ("Nezu Worker's Song"). It's hard for me to communicate just how much fun I was having during the moments of this recording. Please enjoy!

After the party broke up, my friend The Phonaut and I walked back to my place on a high note and settled in for the night. What a wonderful time! I sure hope Phonaut enjoyed the party as well. I'm already looking forward to next year!

As usual, there are more photos from this event in this Picasa Photo Album. Enjoy!

Shitamachi Tanabata Festival / 下町七夕まつり

Write your wish upon a tanzaku (短冊) and hang it from a bamboo bough! It's time once again for the celestial couple Hikoboshi (彦星) and Orihime (織姫) to be reunited! I'm talking about Tanabata of course!

This year my wife is super busy with work and we won't be able to make it to Sendai for the big celebration. I was still eager to get into the Tanabata spirit, however, so I decided to hang out by myself, and I spent the day at the Shitamachi Tanabata Matsuri (下町七夕まつり).

The festival runs the length of Kappabashi St (合羽橋通り) from Ueno to Asakusa. Both sides of the street were lined with food and drink vendors, games for kids, sidewalk sales and second-hand goods vendors setup flea market style. In addition to lots of over-eating and getting drunk (a fine matsuri tradition!) there was also taiko drumming and music and dance performances.

These tasty snacks are actually not Japanese at all. They're a deep-fried Mongolian treat called Bobb that are similar to chewy cake doughnuts, and they're delicious! After I ate a few of these I found a vendor selling shaved ice (かき氷 / kaki-gouri), but this isn't your average lemon, lime, strawberry or blue shaved ice. This one is called "Adults' Shaved Ice" and rightfully so-- there are two toppings to choose from: yuzu liquor (柚子酒) and plum liquor (梅酒)! I chose yuzu and it was extremely tasty and refreshing, and was also just strong enough to add a pleasant boost to my matsuri mood! As you can see, these guys prepare the ice the old-fashioned way using an old school hand-crank machine. Compared to the modern electric shave ice machines, this one makes the ice a bit crunchier the which seems to match well with the booze. (^_^)

Today was a fun day!! I was reminded again of why I love living in the Shitamachi area. Folks here keep it real and don't bother with lots of frills or bells and whistles. Shitamachi is old and worn-- kind of like a favourite pair of old jeans that's way more comfortable and got more character and style than any pair of new jeans you'll ever buy. That feeling is captured perfectly in a the Shitamachi Tanabata Matsuri. 

There's a bunch more photos of the event for readers who are interested; just follow this link to the photo album.

Hakusan Shrine Hydrangea Festival / 白山神社紫陽花祭り

Spring is coming to an end in Tokyo, and besides the heat, what comes along with the end of spring? Beautiful Hydrangea of course! Known as "Ajisai" (紫陽花) in Japanese, I went to see a whole bunch of different varieties of them on display yesterday at the 30th annual Ajisai Festival (紫陽花祭り) at Hakusan Shrine (白山神社) in Bunkyo City sort of nearby my home. Each year festival organizers setup a shared space adjoining the grounds of the Shrine with Hakusan Park to display nearly 3,000 hydrangea. Although the festival proper has been held annually for the past 30 years, Hakusan Park has been open to the public since 1891 (明治24年), and Hakusan Shrine dates back to the mid-900s in the Heian Period (平安時代). For today's post I'm ending with a simple introduction. Please enjoy the photos below!