Weekend in Amakusa
Last weekend I went to Amakusa for the first time since the obon festival in August. This time, I went to take part in the autumn festival in Jougawara. This festival is rather interesting. On the Saturday, the men living in the area parade from the Joukiba shrine to the Uchigoshi Shrine, carrying lots of mikoshi and other sacred items, and chanting. The trip is about 2 kilometers and is very tiring for them. After an hour or so, they arrive at Uchigoshi Shrine, and many people greet them. They bring the sacred items to stay overnight at Uchigoshi. They are greeted with a lion dance, with 2 young boys doing "tama-furi". The following day they do a parade in the opposite direction taking the items back to their permanent home in Joukiba.
In the evening, the men taking part in the festival visit as many houses as possible in the area for eating and drinking. One of the main stops is my wife's ancestral home, and this year I was the main host. I had to stay up very late and drink a lot so I was very tired the next day, and the drive back to Kumamoto was very hard.
2 comments:
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Rick, I wondered what you did when you went to Amakusa. Thanks for spelling it out in a ten-minute quick post. What in the world is tama-furi?
on
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It's waving an object around in an exhausting sweeping motion that's supposed to put the lions under a spell, or something of the sort.
on
