Today is Friday, Tomorrow is Hokkaido
Well it's Friday afternoon. I have 2 classes left to teach and one student asked me to help him with his English conversation. He's stood me up 3 weeks in a row though so maybe he will do the same again today. I honestly hope he does because I leave for Hokkaido tomorrow and I haven't even packed yet...Yesterday I went to Yoshino mountain for a festival. Yoshino is far. It took me almost 2 hours to get there. What's the occasion? It's setsubun in Japan now (the "Demon Festival"). You are supposed to send out the demons and ask for good luck. Today is the last day. Tradition states that you are supposed to throw beans out of every door that opens to the outside and say "Oni wa soto!" (DEMONS OUT!) And then you close the door and throw beans inside and say: " Fuku ga uchi!" (GOOD LUCK IN!). The people in Yoshino are supposed to be descendants of the demons though so they throw the beans and say "Oni wa uchi, fuku mo uchi". So they welcome the demons in instead of sending them away.
The festival was pretty cool in Yoshino. And since it was outside at the top of a mountain, it was also COLD... (Get it?! Cool and Cold! HAHAhaha... ha. OK, I'm tired. Leave me be.) 6 people dressed up as demons were dancing around to the conch shells and the beating of drums. It's actually pretty scary if you're a kid. Very ominous... After the Oni Odori (demon dance), there was a concert. Taiko and flute. I love taiko. I wish I could see it more often. It's so primal and powerful... And the drummers have to be really, really fit because they use their whole bodies to beat that drum. Last night, it was a husband and wife performing. For most of the performance, the man was
wearing nothing but a fundoshi (that's the white thong that the sumo wrestlers wear). I'll bet they were cold... I put up a pic of the woman (I was very jealous of her back and arm muscles)... you can see the guy's fundoshi on the other side of the drum (bottom centre of the pic). They were both playing on the giant drum at the same time. Again, taiko is awesome... I wish I'd brought my camera... I only had my crappy phone camera with me so I apologize...I'll try to do better in Hokkaido.
posted by Samantha @ 10:47 PM
2 Comments:
Wow thats really cool! We dont get anything like that around here! My supervisor was telling me something about how she and her family were going to celebrate setsubun last night, but she didnt explain to me what it was all about. I wish I could have seen a festival like you did, though, i bet that was really neat. What are you going to Hokkaido for? Are you going with that group for the snow festival? Anyway, have fun and thanks for the comment on my blog!
Argh, I totally forgot about Setsubun. Did you eat that massive log of sushi in the auspicious direction or whatever? Both times I tried I nearly made myself sick.
Enjoy Hokkaido. I am mucho jealous.
Post a Comment
<< Home