Chichibu Jinga (Shrine)

On Wednesday at Kakizakai Sensei's, I met French flautist and shakuhachi player, Véronique Piron, who together with Jim Franklin organised the European Shakuhachi Festival in summer. Despite being an intensely hot day, after the lessons, we went on a small Chichibu tour guided by Megumi and Achi. This included an enormous and fascinating antique shop that had sword cases doubling as shakuhachi cases from Japanese patterned fabric and indigo dyed, as well as more bizarre items like an old armadillo, stuffed fox, giant dragonhead-shaped woodblocks that were impractical but very cool, endless trinkets, a taiko drum, beautiful old wooden chests of drawers, furniture, swords, crockery and so on, followed by the main shrine of Chichibu. Given that this is a 'shrine town' in which pilgrims can tour a vast number of shrines and temples, some much more virtuous to reach than others, on steep mountain-tops and more remote parts, we were fortunate that the main one is in town and very accessible, guarded by a host of loudly singing cicadas.





[Commemoration stone with Tanka by Kakizakai Senior. The poem inscribed is a dedication traditional Japanese poem by Kakizakai Sensei's father].

The motifs used on the walls and sculptures are animals and characters of Japanese mythology. The most famous, a dragon and tigers, are attributed to Master sculptor, Hidari Jingoro (who may in fact be a legendary figure). The building was reassembled due to a typhoon in 1966 and restored in 1970. Major events at the Chichibu Shrine include Setsubun in early February, the Rice-Planting Festival on 4 April, Kawase Matsuri in July, and the great night festival culminating on 3 December. This is considered one of Japan's three biggest festivals of float (along with Gion in Kyoto and Hikiyama of Takayama). The architectural plan of Chichibu Shrine is oriented towards Mount Buko. It is dedicated to 3 gods of Japanese mythoology and to the late Prince Chichibu, though the shrine might also lead back to animistic worship of Mt. Buko (according to Sumiko Enbutsu's Chichibu: Japan's Hidden Treasure book). Many Shinto shrines were dedicated to the worship of prominent mountains, rocks or trees. The forest was called Hahaso-no-mori and Mt. Buko was formerly called Mt. Chichibu, thus the forest and the mountain's names including the terms 'haha' and 'chichi' (for 'mother' and 'father'). This dualism, common in ancient religions, is celebrated in the finale of the December festival. In historic times, there was also a Buddhist temple, Zofuku-ji, around this location and for a long time the shrine was called Chichibu Myooken-Jinja. The nearby streets used to be the locale of the nineteenth century silk merchants right into the Meiji area, when the silk trade brought prosperity to the region.

On the way home, at Shibuya Midori Souhonten, Véronique and I had delicious a la carte sushi of the most fresh and artfully created kind.

From Véronique's web site ...
Véronique PIRON, born in 1961, is a professional French flutist, and a Shakuhachi player since 1992. She started to work in France with IWAMOTO Yoshikazu and then in Japan with YOKOYAMA Katsuya and FURUYA teruo, and practiced there with many shamisen and koto players as she got a “Lavoisier” scholarship from the French Foreign Affairs Ministry between 2000 and 2002. She has a SHIHAN licence from YOKOYAMA Katsuya, and got a French State Degree in 2004 for teaching Shakuhachi and Japanese Music. From 2004 she created a workshop about Japanese Traditional Music and a Shakuhachi Class in the State Music School where she is teaching flute, and is trying to extend this teaching into appropriate places in France as those concerned about traditional music. Veronique presents regularly the Shakuhachi inside the Music Museum (Cite de la Musique) in Paris, gives concerts in her country and participates in International Concerts as the International Shakuhachi Summit in Tokyo in 2002. Presently as she is leaving in West part of France from Celtic culture, she is starting a creative and sharing work with representative musicians there. She has an actualite (activity) shakuhachi blog - nipponflutes.

Shakuhachi gambatte

On Saturdays I go to Tachikawa (pictured above) in the west of Tokyo and from there catch a bus for 30 more minutes to the Tabata house (Megumi's parents') for lessons with the other students from Tokyo area, whereas Wednesday lessons are in Chichibu countryside. Tachikawa is quite a transport hub and a gateway to Takao on the Chuo line and the mountainous hiking areas of the west.
[pictured: Kakizakai Sensei and Takahashi Toyomi-san; below Horacio and Takahashi-san]

It is quite usual to turn up early and sit through (and learn from) the lessons of others and for them to listen to yours. In this way the 'clan' can benefit as a group from the plights and perils of others and particularly more advanced students are inspirations to the newer members. Some of Kakizakai Sensei's students have been learning for quite some years and, of course, you never stop!

In the queue for Midori Souhonten sushi last week, I heard nice singing under the breath behind me so I asked the lady to join me at the sushi bar so we could share sushi rolls (served in big portions) which she was glad to do. She turned out to be a professional opera singer who also trained in London, hence the good English, and next time I visit Tokyo, I hope to catch one of her concerts.



[pictured] Kakizakai showing us his 3.2 lengthed shaku! Not many people could get their fingers and mouth around this beast and Richard Chenhall on his 2.7 - lovely G fundamental and beautiful sound.

We have been experiencing some more earthquakes swaying the bed and the chair. I was awoken by one this morning - not a very nice sensation. The weather is something remarkable. I comment sometimes how hot it is (after sweating my way through the no-tree-lined streets to a shaku lesson, for instance) and Japanese people seem surprised because everybody heard on the news last year that our Sydney New Year's Day was 40 degrees. But that's just it! We had two isolated instances of forty degree days some distance apart. Here it is now consistently 32-35 degrees every day, hotter in Kyoto and Chichibu! The humidity does not drop, there is no afternoon coastal breeze and most surprising of all is that overnight it falls only perhaps to 30 or 29 sometimes so it is quite weird to be walking home from dinner late at night in the darkness in such heat.



Well, it is coming time to start packing up and organising for returning home, so I have been scanning some of the art from my books before relinquishing them to surface mail.

Mie - Futamigaura Meoto-iwa + Ise Jingu (Naiku)

Last Thursday to Friday, I took vacation to Mie prefecture town of Ise and its nearby beach of Futamigaura. Okitama-jinga (frog shrine) at Futamigaura (next to Meoto-iwa) was the fisrt photograph motivation of my tour. The Mie area is reached by shinkansen to Nagoya (1.5hrs) followed by a local Kintetsu line train to Ise-shi (2hrs).



A short distance south of Ise is a small town by the sea called Futamigaura. There, tourists are drawn to a pair of rocks in the sea, but close to shore, called the Meoto-iwa, or Wedded Rocks. The two rocks, considered to be male and female, are named Izanagi and Izanami and represent the primal couple in Japanese traditional history. According to legend, it is from this couple did all the Japanese islands arise. The rocks are also deemed husband and wife, and, as such, are joined in matrimony by sacred ropes called shimenawa, made from braided rice stalks. The ropes, which weigh almost a tonne, are replaced x times a year in a special ceremony. The Meoto-iwa celebrate the union of man and woman and the sanctity of the union between husband and wife in the Shinto belief of the people of Japan. Adjoining the Meoto-iwa (wedded rocks) is the Okitama-jinja, also known as the Frog Shrine. It is believed that the ancient goddess of food, known as Miketsu-no-Kami, resides in the shrine and it is there she is worshipped. The frog is Sarutahiko's messenger. Frog is called 'kaeru' in Japanese, which is a homonym for the another word meaning 'return home'. If you travel a lot, pray here for a safe return. 夫婦岩 There were water fountain frogs, frogs in the washing area awaiting bathing and purification, frogs on walls, frogs on rocks, frogs as shrine tokens, frogs in the shrine room itself, stone frogs, bronze frogs, ceramic frogs! Then there were the guardians of the wedded rocks who actually appeared to be various kinds of piebald and black cormorants, all rather large and exhibitionist. The Wedded Rocks are part of Futami Okitama Shrine known for frog sculptures. 二見興玉神社.



It was so hot that after a brief fanned visit to the rocks, I decided to walk along the waterfront, in search of a breeze and the purportedly nice beach and some cool water. There are many small shops lined along the route to the Meoto-iwa but there is also a kilometer long dyke on which to take a pleasant walk with the sea on one side and hotels and ryokan on the other. These older buildings are traditional wood panelled buildings amidst cypress pines and sandy soil. The local food, apart from locally canned Sinto beer (picturing the wedded rocks on the tin at sunrise) and scary-looking seashells from the BBQ, included noodles with mysterious sea creatures and many clam and crustacean components. Offshore are the islands where Mikimoto first invented the cultured pearl and oysters were also abounding, often simply BBQ'd in the shell over a grill. The beach was distinctly grey (not yellow or white as one might prefer) and bathers had to wash off the sand to avoid look dirty! A host of holidaying 20-somethings were frolicking in the (rather too hot) sun and cultivating their coconut-oil tans. I was amused by the proliferation of large inflatable beach toys that included elephant beetles and a whale.



I spent some time unsuccessfully trying to cool off because there seemed to be no such thing as a sea-breeze until it was time to wander back to Meoto-iwa for sunset on the rocks. The views along the promenade back to the Shrine in the low late afternoon sun were worthwhile and the sea possessed a stimulating deep aqua that seemed different. Large barges and cranes were busily excavating rocks from the ocean floor and relocating them to another new pier or storm-break. The shimenawa rope bonding the Wedded Rocks is replaced three times a year. The Wedded Rocks are actually a type of torii gate for worshipping the Okitama Sacred Stone in the ocean. A special ceremony is held in which village men walk out into the water at low tide and gradually replace the many-tonne rope and have been doing so for hundreds of years.



On Friday morning I headed to Ise-Jingu's Neiku (Inner Shrine) via Okage Yokocho that consists of streets of Meiji Period shops, traditional sweets, fish, pickles, pearls and many gift shops and restaurants. The cuisine here was amongst the most regional and interesting I have experienced, particularly in reference to eating types of new sea animals (and weeds)! Ise Shrine is a complex of Shinto shrines, surrounded by the 800-year-old cypress forest. For anyone living in Japan or interested in Japanese culture, Ise Jingu is a must-visit. It is the most sacred shrine in Japan, with great spiritual and historical significance. The city of Ise, located in Mie prefecture, is about two hours from Nagoya. With a population of only about 100,000 but with more than 6 million people visiting Ise Jingu every year, it can become very crowded, especially around holiday seasons. The busiest time of year is definitely oshougatsu (New Year's), when people gather from all over Japan to pray at Ise Jingu. Ise Jingu is divided into two large shrine compounds, containing over one hundred and twenty smaller shrines in addition to the two major shrines: Naiku (Inner Shrine) and Geku (Outer Shrine). The Inner shrine enshrines the sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami, who is believed to be the ancestor of the Japanese imperial family. For this reason, the Emperor visits this shrine when he assumes office, and on other important occasions. It is said to have been erected roughly 2000 years ago, and its location was chosen by the 11th Emperor of Japan, Suinin. The Outer Shrine enshrines Toyouke no Omikami, the goddess of harvest, and was erected in 478 A.D. It is customary to visit the Outer Shrine first, but many consider the (Naiku) Inner Shrine to be most beautiful. The inner sanctum is hidden except from select priests and the Emperor. The main building and inner sanctums of the Inner and Outer shrines are closed to the public, as they are considered to be very holy places. Only the top halves of the buildings can be seen over the gates. The entrance to the Inner Shrine begins at the Uji Bridge, which passes over the sacred Isuzu River. There are two large torii gates at either end of the bridge, and it is said that by crossing the bridge one's mind and heart are purified. What strikes visitors to Ise Jingu the most after passing through the gates is the sense of nature and life around them. The grounds is comprised of 5500 hectares of natural forest as well as young hinoki (cypress) trees, which were planted in 1926 for future harvesting. The trees tower over one passing through the grounds. Along the way to the main building in the Inner Shrine, one can wash their hands and mouth with the water from the Isuzu River at the Mitarashi. This is also done for purifications purposes.



The cedars were stunning and the beautifully groomed grounds every bit as magnificent (in a warmer way) as the temple gardens and shrine gardens of Kyoto or Nikko though its secretive nature and geographical remoteness makes this Shrine perhaps harder to appreciate. Other local attractions include the pearl museum and Ama women divers who dive to more than 10m with tanks to collect shellfish such as Awabi and Sazae.