Naoko, a Japanese mom over at “Heenai Heenai”, has a great post about local festivals in Japan, particularly the one in her hometown. Great pictures, and good stories. I wanted to share this with a wider audience because it is a great example of something many Westerners don’t get to see: a local Shinto festival in the countryside.
When I talked before about Shinto Kami, I mentioned that many kami were very local, and so many places in the countryside developed very specialized rituals and festivals for their kami. However, despite the variety of rituals, some things are very common, very Shinto to these festivals:
- Use of o-mikoshi as explained below.
- Usually takes place in summer or autumn, often to celebrate harvest.
- Expresses the village’s gratitude to the local kami for their protection over the year.
- Supplication to the kami for another good year ahead.
In Naoko’s post, she talked about the o-mikoshi (お神輿), which is a kind of portable shrine. In Ian Reader’s book on Shintoism he describes the common practice where the kami is “transported” in a ceremony to the portable shrine, then carried aboard a portable shrine through town, with lots of noise, drinking, and excitement. The shrines are often pretty large, so this is a big team effort that can last all day. Whether the kami is real or not, it’s a day for the town to gather together as a community, and celebrate the season, while carrying on an ancient tradition.
Westerners usually don’t get to see such things because most live in large metropolitan areas where festivals are less common, or more touristy, but I often hear of foreign-exchange students living in remote areas, so I would love to hear some stories if you have them. I think these festivals, large and small, reflect a lot about Japanese religion and spirituality that can’t easily explained in textbooks, so sometimes pictures and stories are more helpful. 
Anyway, go visit Naoko, enjoy the pictures, and say hi!
Hello, this blog is about my life as a father, Buddhist and Japanophile / Koreaphile. Any useful information I can pass along will hopefully make the 
Tokyo has very authentic festivals, although they do attract lots of tourists. The drum group I belong to does music for the Sanja Matsuri in Asakusa Tokyo every May. The omikoshi for this festival (there are three) are really huge and heavy–it takes 100 people or so to carry each one. The three major mikoshi (Ichi no Miya, Ni no Miya, San no Miya) are the spirits of the two brothers who found the statue of Kannon in their fishing net, as well as the village chief at that time. (The statue is now hidden in the altar of Sensoji.) The shrine near the temple is also dedicated to the three. The festival is one of the three great Tokyo festivals, and there are many more in addition to those. There seems to be some interest in fostering festivals even in local areas. The shrine in my neighborhood also has a festival with mikoshi.
Here is a Wikipedia page about Sanja Matsuri:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanja_Matsuri
Yeah, I was thinking about the Sanja festival as I wrote that part, and realized that there are good, genuine festivals. What I meant was that there is a lot going on outside of Tokyo, and where possible, to see what’s there.