I went to the annual festival of Toko Yasaka Shrine.
It was located a 5-minute walk from Tenno Station on the JR East Oga Line and was relatively easy to reach by train.
It was pouring in the morning and drizzling in the afternoon, so there were not many people and the parking lot was empty. However, when the festival is held on a sunny day, the parking lot is full. There is no nearby parking lot, and it is located in a residential area, so we recommend that you take the train to avoid disturbing the neighbors.
Table of Contents
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Higashiko Yasaka Shrine
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annual festival
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Bull Riding
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Spider Dance
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Light trucks instead of palanquins
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Lastly
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P.S.
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Link
Higashiko Yasaka Shrine
The festival here originated when the barbarian general Sakagami Tamuramaro enshrined Susanoo-no-mikoto as a deity in gratitude for his divine favour during the third conquest of Ezo in Enryaku 20 (801AD), and the rituals here that continue to this day were held in their present form in the late Heian Period, in Kouhei 4 (1061AD).
annual festival
The festival is held on 7 July in the western calendar and includes the performances ‘Bull Riding’ and ‘Spider Dance’.
Bull Riding
The event is said to be a series of events in which a man is made drunk, Susano-no-mikoto is brought down and made into a deity clad in divine rank and paraded through the city on a sacred bull, heading for Tenno-gishi, now Funakoshi Suidobashi.
My friend said he didn’t look as drunk as he usually does, so ‘the times?’ and we watched God go forth from the drinking room.
There was a circle written in miso on the road on the shrine side of the starting point, the sake room.
To prevent the bull from running amok and the Susanoo from falling, the men in hakama restrain them while the local residents follow them through the town. I also followed them. Of course, I walked at the same speed as the bull.
The fire brigade is carrying cylindrical cans of cattle manure to dump on a cart, and it’s adorable to see school-age children running around the area saying, ‘It smells like poo’ and getting excited.
No matter where you go, children love to see the poo. It’s cute.
When you arrive at your destination, the bridge embankment, without incident, you see that the end point was also marked with a circle in miso.
spider dance
The river was swollen due to unfortunate rain, and I think only bull riding was performed. Originally, they would go riding in the river.
That said, there was one thing that surprised me.
I overheard an elderly local man talking to a bystander,
‘Aren’t they doing that this year?’ ‘The river is like this.’ ‘This is the times, isn’t it? ‘I guess so.’
My head was filled with ‘?’ It was.
Light trucks instead of palanquins
I saw a group coming towards me across the bridge, and when I looked closely, I saw that a pair of sacred cows were coming towards me.
It was too hazy to see clearly, so I was too late to spot him, but there were a number of white cars lined up in front of him, which also filled my head with ? filled my head.
How can a palanquin be so high-calibre that it’s a light truck?
The children sat on the back of the cart (I wonder if the police chief with jurisdiction over the place of departure, in accordance with Article 56 of the Road Traffic Act, has been given permission?) and crossed over here.
According to my friend, they and their families cannot eat cucumber for a year. Why cucumbers? Speaking of cucumbers, kappa. Speaking of kappa? I wonder if it’s different.
I can’t deny that I feel a little whitewashed when modern vehicles appear at the festival, but the fact that only the lore is kept is hilarious. This hilarity is similar to the moment of the Emperor’s coronation ceremony and the audience with the royal family.
Something unfathomable, something like awe. There is something hard to describe about these things.
I like it, don’t you? I like that kind of thing.
Lastly
I miss the fact that the meaning of Shinto rituals, festivals, shrines and temples has probably changed a lot in the last century.
It was raining and splashing enough to break my camera, so just this one shot.
More about festival stalls in the next article.
P.S.
As I am Japanese, I write the original text in Japanese and translate it. So there may be mistakes in translation. If you would like to read the original text in Japanese, please refer to the following link.
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