Festival photo 1 |
Festival photo 2 |
By Benwitz sensei
On June 13, when we went to Osaka Castle, I picked up a flyer about all kinds of festivals and events in Osaka. Reading it on the train, I discovered that a rice-planting ceremony was scheduled for the very next day (June 14) at Sumiyoshi Taisha (Grand Shrine). I asked Nagai-sensei if I could go, because I had already been to the sites the group was going to in Kyoto. Sensei said yes, and Eric decided to go with me. We left the group at 11 a.m. at Uji station after the Buddhist meditation experience.
It took a long time (almost 2 hours) to get to Osaka. We went almost entirely by JR trains, which were covered by our JR pass. We only had to pay 200 yen to ride a private train line for the last three stations.
It was easy to find the shrine complex. We could see the gate before we even got off the train. The first thing past the gate was a bridge so steep you couldn't see across it to the other side. There were wooden steps nailed on to the surface of the bridge so you wouldn't slide off the slippery incline.
Once inside the shrine grounds, we headed for the gagaku music that we heard. We found the rice-planting ceremony in full swing, with people in red and white outfits, straw hats, and rubber boots knee-deep in the paddies. A woman in ancient court costume was dancing a slow and stylized dance on the central stage. Some men led an ox, also in historic garb (orange harness) around the outside edge of the rice fields.
As we watched, an armored samurai on tall wooden clogs paraded up onto the stage, followed by a whole entourage, some of whom were playing conch shell horns. Two armies slowly approached each other around the perimeter, where the ox had gone before. Both consisted of local boys, from teenagers down to kindergartners. One army wore red, the other white. Every individual boy bore a naginata (spear), though most were mere sticks without blades attached. As each boy met his opponent, they clashed in mock battle.
The last part of the festivities saw the girls, again ranging from teenagers to kindergartners, also in traditional outfits, perform two dances in the perimeter where the boys had fought. An announcer thanked us for our participation in the annual rice planting ceremonies and expressed hope that we would all return again next year and the year after that.
Eric and I, instead, went off on an unsuccessful quest to buy Osaka postcards, and ultimately took the train back to Kyoto, where we rejoined Nagai-sensei and the others at the ryokan (inn) just after 6 p.m.