Autumn Festivals
The sound of Japanese drums reverberates in the night air when the practice for the autumn festival begins. As the festival approaches, the parishioners of the nearby shrine get busy cleaning the shrine, practicing shishimai (獅子舞/ lion dance), and preparing food and drinks.
The villagers who play drums are all children in my nearby shrine’s case. They used to be boys only, but girls are welcomed these days because of the decrease in the number of children.
Male parishioners who are crazy about playing drums teach kids how to play. Kids get together nightly to practice drumming.
When the gigantic earthquake and tsunami hit the Tohoku region, the way the survivors cooperated with each other without being overcome by panic surprised the world. Their efficiency was in stark contrast with the incapability of the politicians and government officials.
One of the reasons the survivors acted so orderly might be that the people in rural areas are used to cooperating with each other for festivals, volunteer fire corps, and other voluntary activities.
I, who grew up in a new residential area in a big city hadn’t been aware of this side of Japanese society until I left home. There weren’t any festivals where I was brought up since there were no shrines. Volunteer fire corps didn’t exist because there were governmental ones.
The Japanese who live in rural areas dedicate much of their time and energy to their communities. Shishimai performers devote a considerable amount of their time practicing shishimai.
When the shishimai was finished at yesterday’s festival held at my nearby shrine, kids queued up to have their heads bitten by the lions (shishi) as you can see in the middle picture. By getting bitten by the sacred animal, kids are supposed to be able to enjoy good health.
Can you see the guy standing behind one of the lions? He had played the rear of a lion. Shishimai is danced by two men: one is responsible for its head and the other the rear. These men looked happy after the dance. When they saw the kids’ smiling faces, they might have felt that all of their hard work had paid off.
The autumn festivals are held to express our gratitude to gods for a successful harvest. Since they are Shinto rituals, they need priests. However, the shrines in the village I live in don’t have priests, so a priest who resides in a different shrine in a neighboring town comes to conduct the rituals. Priests get busy because many shrines hold autumn festivals on the same day. You can see the priest hurrying off for the next shrine in the right picture although the shishimai is still being performed before the gods.
When the ritual is finished, naorai (直来) begins. Naorai means having the food and drink that have been offered to the gods. By sharing the offerings, we are supposed to be purified. However, I witnessed some villagers start drinking while shishimai was still being performed.
All in all, Shinto festivals don’t look like solemn religious rites. Carrying a mikoshi (御輿/portable shrine) and playing drums excite the parishioners. Having a meal and sake with neighbors must be a fantastic way to wrap up a busy yet fun festival weekend.
Thank you for reading.
Since it’s a long entry, I’d appreciate any corrections even on a small part of it.
The villagers who play drums are all children in my nearby shrine’s case. They used to be boys only, but girls are welcomed these days because of the decrease in the number of children.
Male parishioners who are crazy about playing drums teach kids how to play. Kids get together nightly to practice drumming.
When the gigantic earthquake and tsunami hit the Tohoku region, the way the survivors cooperated with each other without being overcome by panic surprised the world. Their efficiency was in stark contrast with the incapability of the politicians and government officials.
One of the reasons the survivors acted so orderly might be that the people in rural areas are used to cooperating with each other for festivals, volunteer fire corps, and other voluntary activities.
I, who grew up in a new residential area in a big city hadn’t been aware of this side of Japanese society until I left home. There weren’t any festivals where I was brought up since there were no shrines. Volunteer fire corps didn’t exist because there were governmental ones.
The Japanese who live in rural areas dedicate much of their time and energy to their communities. Shishimai performers devote a considerable amount of their time practicing shishimai.
When the shishimai was finished at yesterday’s festival held at my nearby shrine, kids queued up to have their heads bitten by the lions (shishi) as you can see in the middle picture. By getting bitten by the sacred animal, kids are supposed to be able to enjoy good health.
Can you see the guy standing behind one of the lions? He had played the rear of a lion. Shishimai is danced by two men: one is responsible for its head and the other the rear. These men looked happy after the dance. When they saw the kids’ smiling faces, they might have felt that all of their hard work had paid off.
The autumn festivals are held to express our gratitude to gods for a successful harvest. Since they are Shinto rituals, they need priests. However, the shrines in the village I live in don’t have priests, so a priest who resides in a different shrine in a neighboring town comes to conduct the rituals. Priests get busy because many shrines hold autumn festivals on the same day. You can see the priest hurrying off for the next shrine in the right picture although the shishimai is still being performed before the gods.
When the ritual is finished, naorai (直来) begins. Naorai means having the food and drink that have been offered to the gods. By sharing the offerings, we are supposed to be purified. However, I witnessed some villagers start drinking while shishimai was still being performed.
All in all, Shinto festivals don’t look like solemn religious rites. Carrying a mikoshi (御輿/portable shrine) and playing drums excite the parishioners. Having a meal and sake with neighbors must be a fantastic way to wrap up a busy yet fun festival weekend.
Thank you for reading.
Since it’s a long entry, I’d appreciate any corrections even on a small part of it.
One of the reasons the survivors acted so orderly might be that the people in rural areas are used to cooperating with each other for festivals, volunteer fire corps, and other voluntary activities.
I, who grew up in a new residential area in a big city, hadn’t been aware of this side of the Japanese society until I left home.
Volunteer fire corpses didn’t exist because there were governmental ones.(the plural of corps is the same as the singular form)
I appreciate your appreciation since not many people are interested in this kind of (rather boring) entry. ;)
>Hopefully children who take part in these events become fascinated and motivated to become priests
Your comment made me realize that I don't know much about how to become a Shinto priest. Shinto priests are supposed to be civil servants (there is 神社庁 in the Japanese government), but when I googled around, I found that many priests have other jobs and work as priests on the side since their shrines don't produce money. Mmmmm...I'll research more on it.
I, who grew up in a new residential area in a big city hadn’t been aware of this side of (the) Japanese society until I left home. (Not really needed)
Shishimai performers devote a considerable amount of their time practicing shishimai. (For me, "it" doesn't refer back to shishimai.)
Shishimai is danced/performed by two men: one is responsible for its head and the other (performs) the rear.
When they saw the kids’ smiling faces, they might have felt that all of their hard work had paid off.
The autumn festivals are held to express our gratitude to gods for a successful harvest.
You can see the priest hurrying off for the next shrine in the right picture although the shishimai is still being performed before the gods.
Naorai means having the food and drink that have been offered to the gods.
However, I witnessed some villagers had started drinking while shishimai was still being performed.
Chinese people have shishimai too, don't they? The Japanese shishimai is said to have its origin either in India or China. I wonder if Chinese people have this custom of having their heads bitten by lions. Shishimai's lions look rather cute. They aren't scary at all.
If I wrote "I witnessed some villagers had started drinking," wouldn't it sound as if they had started drinking before I noticed them drinking?
What do you mean? :D
Do the men who perform shishimai eat it or do they pretend to eat it?
This was the best I could find, it's from an old movie, so it's more complicated than it is in real life, and more violent ^^; We don't usually attach a fish with the lettuce.
Do you have both style of lions in Japan? The first lion is "southern style" and the one that barges in is "northern style".
I'd never seen Japanese shishimai until I moved to this village I live in now. So I didn't know much about it. I googled it and was surprised to find out that there are all sorts of shishimai in Japan. Here are some of them:
I thought that the lions are supposed to be sacred, but it looks like a tengu (天狗) is fighting against a (bad) lion in the second video. I'm confused. (^^;)
I found some video clips of the Chinese lion dance held in Kobe on YouTube. They look pretty professional. Considering that China is such a huge country, it’s amazing that the Chinese lion dance has retained its standard style.
The Japanese shishimai varies a lot. The Japanese shishimai with tengu seems to have begun quite recently. Older versions don’t have tengu and they seem to dance very slowly. I guess in some villages, they felt that the old versions were boring and started to modify them.
At a villagers’ meeting: (My imaginary conversation)
“Why don’t we throw in a tengu or two to make it more interesting?”
“Good idea. Let’s do it.”
“Why don’t we have the festival at night and use some fire to make it more exciting?”
“Cool!”
I’ve found some Okinawan shishimai video clips. Their shishi (I think they call shishiシーサーin Okinawa) are hairy and look very different from other Japanese shishi.
The Okinawan lion is furry like the northern style Chinese lions ^^
Maybe there are various styles in Japan because it was imported and it was adjusted to suit the tastes of the Japanese.
This is the only style of Chinese lion dancing I know, but there could be more different ones.
http://www.kimono-taizen.com/know/hakama.htm