Daimonji Festival

We had a fun time on Thursday evening at the Daimonji festival. Rieko took us to a viewing on top of an office building in souther Kyoto, so we could see all the characters from one spot. There's a trade-off there; we were pretty far away so we couldn't get the best pictures. I put up a few for people to look at: Daimonji Festival. (You'll need to follow the link to see Renee in her kimono.) Alternatively, we could have camped out near one character and watched one very impressive bon-fire up close. We plan to hike up to one of the characters in the future to get a feel for just how big they must be -- the larger "dai" character is carved into a mountain just behind our house, and I see it every afternoon walking home. Taking a complete guess, I'd say it is about 20 meters tall, maybe more.

The festival takes about half an hour, as each of the characters are set on fire one at a time, ending with the "gate" character, which leads the spirits who have visited during Obon back to the spirit world. Rieko's kimono teacher was there, and inspected Renee. After making a few minor adjustments, she was quite satisfied. We had some authentic Japanese snacks before the festival (sorry, no pictures): glazed sweet potatoes, pickled bean curd, and deep-fried rice balls. And Renee discovered soju. Now, in Korea, soju is a 60-proof licorice-flavored liquor that I found just awful. But the version Renee had was cut to about 15-proof and given a citrus flavor. I had to agree it was quite good.

It cooled down after the festival, and we finished the evening at an old coffee shop. I'm sure I'm forgetting some details -- hopefully Renee can fill them in.

Obon Festival and Important Victory

We finally have internet access hooked up at our apartment. This thrills me beyond belief. In fact, I have written a haiku to commemorate the occasion:

Victory is mine!
Internet installed at home
Checking e-mail now

I might have disagreed while I was still waiting, but now I know that it was well worth the wait. Not having to trudge around a hot, humid city with a laptop in my backpack to use the internet is an exceptionally GOOD THING!!

For example, now I can share some of our more interesting adventures. This past weekend, I bought a yukata in preparation for the Gozan Fire Festival. (aka Daimonji Festival)

First a brief bit about the upcoming festival. The fire festival is the end of the Obon holiday which is a Buddhist event commemorating one's ancestors. In many ways, it is similar to Dia de los Muertos in Mexico.

Each year, during Obon, it is like a family reunion. Many people travel back to their hometowns and encourage their ancestors' spirits to return and visit. One way they do this is by ringing the bell at Rokudo Chinnoji Temple in Kyoto. I went to see the bell tolling late last week. It was amazing how many people were there to encourage their ancestral spirits. Copious amounts of incense were also involved. A friendly monk explained some of what was going on to me after I used the VERY useful phrase : Eigo de daijobu desu ka? (This means something like "It is ok to use English with you?")

Families also hang lanterns in front of their homes or family tombs to help guide the spirits. Dances are performed and graves are visited, decorated and offerings (especially food and drink) are made at the graves, temples, and family/house altars.

The fire festival portion signals the end of the Buddhist Obon, when five huge fires are lit on five mountains surrounding the city to guide the departing souls of the dead back home to heaven. We are going to an event with our good friend, Rieko, where we will be able to see all of the fires as they are lit. This special event is pretty much by invitation only and all the women have to wear kimonos. Sugoi desu ne! (Awesome!)

A yukata is a lightweight cotton kimono used in the summer. You also need a very long belt called an obi which ties into a decorative bow, as well as two koshi himo sashes.

This past weekend, I took Chris with me into town to a kimono shop that I had briefly visited with Rieko earlier in the week. The shopkeepers were amazingly patient and friendly. They knew about as much English as I do Japanese, so communication was slow. But, with the help of my phrase book and award winning Charades moves, we were able to purchase everything I needed. Best of all, it all seems to be the right size.. which is no small feat for me here!

Tomorrow is the fire festival. We are getting very excited. It is one of the four BIG events that Kyoto has each year, so it should be a lot of fun! We'll let you know how it goes and perhaps explain a bit about the significance of each fire next post.