son of soy » festival

Mitarashi Matsuri at Shimogamo Shrine

Rick Elizaga — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 19:31:48 +0000

On a warm evening in late July, wading into the cold stream at Shimogamo shrine to offer candles in the purifying ritual of the Mitarashi festival.

Hitawari-sai Firewalk 4

Rick — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 08:47:21 +0000

A woman walks a path cleared through the burning wood and hot coals.

Hitawari-sai Firewalk 3

Rick — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 08:46:26 +0000

Spectators, many of whom will later become participants, watch the ceremony from above.

Summer Festivals: Hiwatari-sai Firewalk 2

Rick — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 08:45:07 +0000

Hot coals from a burning pile of cypress will be spread into a field and form the path for the fire walk.

Nils at Gion Matsuri

Rick Elizaga — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 08:07:10 +0000

My photos of this year’s Gion Matsuri parade (on July 17) were pretty boring, but here’s one you won’t find on Flickr — Nils of Alive in Kyoto (well, the back of him, anyway) filming the turning of one of the Yamaboko, or parade floats.

catching up: setsubun

Rick Elizaga — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 23:39:35 +0000

(From last month, Feb 3, the beginning of spring…)
Above: Setsubun maki-zushi container with oni face.
You must eat uncut maki-zushi on Setsubun, while facing a certain direction, in silence — a clever custom started by convenience stores.

Handful of toasted soybeans, to throw out of the house while chanting "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" (Demons out! Good luck in!)

Bonfire at Yoshida-jinja, in which the last year's temple charms are burned.

Among the Setsubun ashes, a slightly burned daruma doll.

saginomori-jinja matsuri

Rick Elizaga — Mon, 08 May 2006 18:06:14 +0000

A couple months ago, Mari and I moved into a new (old) house near Shugakuin Rikyu, about 15 minutes on foot from our old place. Among our new neighbors is our multi-talented friend Kitaoka-san — architect, photographer, lotus expert and aficionado of local festivals. Last week he invited me to volunteer with him in the Saginomori-jinja matsuri, the festival for the Shinto shrine down the street.

After battling my insecurities about not understanding exactly what I would be doing — and a mix-up in which I was given size XL shorts instead of size M — I joined Kitaoka-san and about 80 other neighborhood guys for an evening of heavy lifting, yelling and free sake. Photos by Mari.

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Note: I worked hard, but didn’t include a photo of me carrying the mikoshi because my expresssion didn’t look painful enough.