Matsuri! Matsuri! Matsuri!

Japanese Lesson #4:

1) Matsuri: Festival
2) Kurama Hi no Matsuri: Kurama Fire Festival
3) Onsen: Hot Springs
4) Jidai Matsuri: Festival of Ages
5) Daimyo: head samurai of the provinces during the medieval period
5) Sankin Kotai: Alternate residence rule during the Edo (Tokugawa Period), where the daimyo lived in Tokyo every other year, and their wives and children were kept as "hostages" in Tokyo.

Today began the start of many matsuri-going-to's for me.

During the day, it was the Jidai Matsuri. I felt that I really, really, had to go because I did research on this parade.

"A procession of people, dressed in clothing from various periods of Kyoto's history as the imperial capital."

That is exactly what it was. A long, long, long line of people. To be quite honest it got a bit boring - but I know that there are ceremonies before and after the festival so next year I plan to go all out on the Jidai Matsuri-ness.

I met up with Colleen and Ingram for the Jidai Matsuri. We all sort of agreed that it was a bit dull. Very quiet, rather. I was trying to figure out the order of the periods in the parade, and asked a lady. It pretty much goes backwards: Meiji, Edo (Tokugawa), Sengoku, the ones between Sengoku and Heian, Heian, and then the founding of hte city in 794. Ingram was asking me question about why people were carrying stuff that looked like luggage in the Edo Period section and I began to explain to him the concept of sankin kotai. Aforementioned Japanese lady heard the words "sankin kotai" come out of my mouth and began to nod her head earnestly - I pretty much got the gist of it right then.

The Jidai Matsuri in essence is a big history lesson, and a pretty potent reminder of what Kyoto is. Tt's also a good example of coercion and political intent. I took a look at a map of the parade route, which is from the Imperial Palace to the Heian Shrine. The route circumvents the city; however, one can draw a pretty straight line fro mthe Imperial Palace to the shrine. When they were creating this festival back in the day (1895), a lot of the Shinto shrines in the area lost government money after a fiasco involving the solidification of Shinto doctrine. So, one other reason why the festival and the parade (and the shrine) was created was so that the Shinto shrines (which are incidentally along the parade route) could show the national government in Tokyo at the time that they can do something properly and not screw it up. That's the basic info that I have now. More later to come when I am in grad school.

Ok so the history lesson is over.

Although the parade was not over, the three of us decided to head on up to Kurama for the Hi no Matsuri. I read on the net that over 10,000 people go to this so it was a good idea. And I was right - SO CROWDED! Even the train (which was only two cars at a time) was crowded. Ridiculously crowded. Add fire to the mix and you have a very delicate situation. No photos for now (I am lazy), but when I get enough for a new photo album expect to see the pictures.

Let's just say there is alot of history for the Kurama festival. Too much in fact. Go google "Kurama Fire Festival" for more information.

Kurama is still in Kyoto, and the last stop on the Eizan-Dentetsu Line. It is actually in Sakyo-Ku, which is the ward that I live in as well, but I am on the southern end of Sakyo-Ku. Ever wonder where the mountains that surround Kyoto on three sides (N, W and E) start? On the eastern end, they start at Kurama. Kurama was my introduction to the inaka. Funny thing is, we were still in the city proper, which goes to show you how much Kyoto just sprawls out. the cool thing is, there is a natural onsen in Kurama, so if I get the guts to go to one I will try the one in Kurama.