Nagano trip

Nagano trip

To all my "regular" readers, my apologizes for being so sporadic! Things are getting very busy what with studies becoming more demanding and weekend events cropping up. This past weekend was devoted entirely to a Yamasa run trip to the Nagano and Gifu prefectures. It was a packed trip from Friday after classes to Sunday evening, so studies were a little behind at the start of the week. Rather then write a long narrative of the trip I've just posted a link to the pictures and added a few captions. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, enjoy these instead, please.

Oshogatsu - New Year's Eve

Although I’m back in School at Yamasa once more, I promised to write about the lovely experience I had on Oshogatsu, New Year’s Eve. It had been a cold and mostly grey day in Kyoto and I had been tourist-ing around since 8 that morning. Gion had been a bit of a disappointment, as had been the closed castle and the garden at Ryoanji, so I was undecided as to whether I would make the effort to go somewhere to see the New Year being rung in. Back at my little ryokan, the only dinner available was udon (noodles), but I was making the best of it, when the hotel owner sat down to chat with me. She must have thought I looked lonely there all by myself. I asked her what people did to celebrate the year’s end and she told me about the ringing of the bell in the temple. I asked her where was the nearest temple, as there are no busses after 8 or 9 to that part of town. She assured me there was one just a little ways up the road. She drew me a rudimentary map and I thanked her and returned to my room. I was still not sure it was worth the effort, but when I Google-mapped the temple and found that it really was close, about half a kilometer away, I decided to go.

I set out on foot at about 11:15. When I arrived at the temple I was surprised to find only a few people standing around a bonfire that was being built, from what I had heard, I was expecting a crowd. The big bell was lit up, as was the temple itself. I greeted people and got the expected strange looks, but soon the woman standing next to me struck up a conversation and asked me where I was from. When I said “America” she immediately brightened and told me that her daughter had just returned for the holidays from America where she is studying. Soon Keiko was introduced to me. Her American English was good. She had clearly been studying in the States for a while. She seemed happy to explain things to me, and from then on she and her mother took me under their wing and made sure that I was shown what to do.

On Oshogatsu the tradition is to ring the BIG bell 108 (then one more) times to ring out the earthly desires that weigh us down in life, thus starting the New Year fresh. The head priest at the temple later explained at length how the number came about, but besides it involving old traditions and scriptures, I didn’t get much of the explanation and Keiko found it hard to explain as well.

At the temple each person who comes t ring the bell goes to the temple first and gets a little wooden tablet with a number on it, a receives a little gift of tea and a blessing from the temple staff. The number is your turn at ringing the bell. The little tablets are collected in order until all 108 and the final have all been rung in. I did this with Keiko, who explained to the Buddhist monk, head priest, (what should I call him, I don’t really know), how it was that I was there, as it was just people who were affiliated with the temple in some way that had showed up that night. He was very welcoming. As the night went on, there were less and less people there, but the bell had not been wrung enough times yet, so we started to take second and third turns at the ringing it. Soon every one who was left was taking another turn and another turn, each ring counted with the little tablets. My new friends explained that every year is different. Sometimes there are plenty of people to ring in the year and other years, like this one, people have to take many turns. Since Keiko’s father was head of the lay people for this temple, her family was staying to the end, so I stayed too, and helped ring in the year.

When we had finally made the count, it was about 1:30 am. The bonfire had burned down low and only an handful of people were left, so Keiko and her family invited me to join the for a cup of tea up in the temple. While we were sipping our tea and listening to the explanation of the 108 rings, others were scurrying about putting things away and packing up. I was just thinking it was time to excuse myself when they invited me to join them for more tea with the group in another building.
“ This is a good opportunity for you” they said and seemed to be happy to offer it to me so I accepted. In a building attached to the temple we were seated at low tables, the Head monk sat in the middle of the U, with Keiko and I, her mother and father and another woman on one side, and 5 or 6 men on the other. We were all served a special New Year’s sweet and macha tea (green powdered tea) by kimono clad ladies. Once every one was served the priest gave a short speech, a hope for the coming year I took it to be, then he handed out presents to each of us, me included! These consisted of the little board, ema, that one usually writes a prayer or wish on and leaves at the temple, and a little package with a backscratcher and an ear pick (cleaning tool), all decorated with signs of the new year which is the year of the bull or ox, depending on how you translate. I asked what I should do about the “ema” since I wouldn’t be there to bring it back and the priest said to take it home and put a wish on it and bring it back next time I came to Japan! I was very touched that they should include me in this small but very special gathering! I thanked every one and asked that we take a picture of the group, which we did, but my hosts took it with their camera, so I am waiting to see if they will remember to send it to me! After many farewells and thank-you’s, I headed back toward my hotel on foot, but was soon picked up and dropped off by one of the families from the temple. My head was still spinning with amazement at how the unexpected can be so wonderful. I felt it was a very special opportunity indeed.

If you’re interested in learning more about Japanese New Year’s celebration check out this web site:
http://mothra.rerf.or.jp/ENG/Hiroshima/Festivals/27.html

Nara and Mount Inari

The first three pictures of from the New Year's celebration (oshogatsu) and the rest are from Nara, the first capital city of Japan.

Nara, Japan

Here's the link to my latest pictures from Kyoto. I want to write about my very special New Year's Celebration but that will have to wait till I have a bit of time, in the meantime here are some pictures so you have some idea of the places I visited.

Fushimi Inaritaisha Shrine and Mount Inari