Haiku & Reflections from Japan: Festival of Fire

Longtime UNS Member, Sharon Meyers, is currently living in Japan for several months. This is a glimpse into her world and journey.

Path of sacred fire
mountain sky, night of spirits
harvest moon, bonfire

Kyoto carries the burden of a long history of fear – of fire. Traditional temples, shrines and homes alike were built of wood, apt to burn. They still do. In my own neighborhood of Higashiyama, a nearby local shrine has burned down three times since the 700s, rebuilt over and over since. So, the Kurama No Hi Matsuri Festival of Fire is an eccentric event that both honors and celebrates fire, and in a Shinto ritual of sacred spectacle.

This week, I witnessed this once-a-year festival in Kurama, a small village high in the northern mountains of Kyoto. It has been held for more than one thousand years to welcome the kami/spirits from the Yuki Shrine into their community.

With the call “Shinji ni mai rasshare/the festival has just begun” in the setting sun, I watched fires being lit for hundreds of taimatsu/pine torches. Each home in this mountain village displayed its family heirlooms through open shoji screen windows – many of samurai armor and swords – while a fire blazed in front, ready for a torch. The procession began through the main street with children bearing small torches, while adult men remained the focus of the ritual as torchbearers, carrying loads up to nearly 200 pounds. The group swelled until more than 100 torchbearers in historic garb of loin cloth and cord skirts assembled at the entrance to the Kurama-dera temple, awaiting the sacred straw rope to be cut. A smaller select group then climbed up the mountain to the Yuki Shrine, and returned carrying two mikoshi/portable, yet very heavy shrines, back to the village as a show of both strength and veneration.

Lasting until midnight, this festival of fire ended with an enormous bonfire of torches, offering a remnant of a very different time in Kyoto history. It was easy to get caught up in the fervor of the collective energy in this sacred ritual and simply savor it all.

When was the last time you got caught up in the energy of the moment, and even its sacredness?

Arigato,
Sharon

Garden Chat Recipe

Autumn Pumpkin in Dashi Broth

serves 2

Ingredients:

1 small pumpkin about 1 pound in weight, sliced thinly

2 cups dashi broth (1 T dashi, dissolved in 2 cups water)

1 T each soy sauce (or coconut aminos), sake (or white wine) and mirin

1/2 T sugar 

To Make:

-Add dashi broth to medium sized pot with pumpkin and bring to the boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes until the pumpkin is fork tender.

-Add soy sauce, sake, mirin and sugar and simmer another 5 minutes.

-Add a bit of salt if you like and serve.

Note: This dish is often served with sliced green onion tops or furikake