Matsuri da! (53): Out of the waterfall into the fire!

A QUICK QUESTION: If you were going to purify or drive the evil from a religious object, how would you do it?

The Japanese choose to cover all their bases. Sometimes they use water—parading a mikoshi, or portable shrine, under a waterfall—and sometimes they use fire, by marching another mikoshi through a blaze built on shrine grounds. It doesn’t pay to take any chances!

One example of the first occurs as part of the Mikoshi no Takiabi Festival (literally, the festival for bathing the mikoshi in a waterfall) held by the Shirataki Shrine in Happo-cho, Akita Prefecture, early in August.

The festival itself was conducted for many years without using the 17-meter waterfall located just behind the shrine as a purification device. A group of roughly 40 men gather early in the morning at the shrine, which is said to date from 853, and depart at about 7:00 a.m. to parade the mikoshi through the neighborhood. It is described as a “rough festival”, in which the bearers violently swing the mikoshi from side to side and up and down during their procession. This is said to denote the strength of the spirit within.

But August in Japan is intensely hot, and one year just before the start of the Second World War, when the men returned to the shrine in the early afternoon–probably dripping with sweat–they decided on the spur of the moment to cool off under the falls. They enjoyed themselves so much they took another spin underneath the water, adding the chant, “Wasse, wasse!” And thus a new tradition was born!

The event was originally a purification ceremony, but it now incorporates wishes for domestic safety and prosperity in business.

In contrast, the 1,800-year-old Kushida Shrine in Imizu, Toyama Prefecture, burns the badness out in a festival held in mid-September. As in the Akita Prefecture festival, the men start by carrying the mikoshi through four surrounding neighborhoods during the day. They are accompanied by traditional lion dancers, a common part of festivals in Japan. When they make their way back to the shrine at around 6:00 p.m., the priests start a fire using old cedar on the path leading from the entrance to the main shrine building, just past the torii gate.

The first to pass through the fire are the lion dancers, and the men carrying the mikoshi follow just behind and tempt the flames. This is said to rid the area of evil.

The origins of the event are unclear, but local stories say it started at an old Buddhist temple in the area by adherents of Fudo-myoh, giving the Shinto rite an added dimension.

Didn’t I say the Japanese like to cover all their bases?

Try this site for an impressive photo of the mikoshi near the waterfall. And here’s another great shot.