Categories
Traditional

Tanabata – Night Of Stars and Wishes

Tanabata (七夕: seven, night), the star festival, was celebrated in Japan yesterday, July 7th. The festival is also celebrated in China where it’s known as Qi xi. It honors the meeting of the gods Orihime and Hikoboshi which are represented by the stars Vega and Altair.

Legend has it that the Milky Way separates Orihime and Hikoboshi, who love each other but can’t be together because of our galaxy. The Milky Way only lets them meet once a year: the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.

Tanabata, night of stars and wishes
Orihime and Hiroboshi separated by the Milky Way. They can only see each other in the night of Tanabata.

How Tanabata is celebrated varies depending on the part of Japan. The common factor of all these celebrations consists on hanging small papers with wishes written as poems (tanzaku 短冊) and ornaments as seen in the following photos. The traditional thing is to hang them in bamboo canes, but when not available any place is good enough.

Tanabata, night of stars and wishes

Tanabata, night of stars and wishes

Tanabata, night of stars and wishes
Does this dragon that grants wishes sound familiar?

Tanabata, night of stars and wishes

Tanabata, night of stars and wishes

Tanabata, night of stars and wishes

Tanabata, night of stars and wishes

Tanabata, night of stars and wishes

Categories
Drinks Traditional

Water Offerings in Meiji Jingu

In Meiji Jingu there’s always a lot of barrels donated as an offering by many distilleries around the country. The funny thing is that last weekend I also found water bottles as offerings. In addition to being a donation to the Shintoist shrine, they are useful so that the kami-gods bring good luck and good business to the water bottlers.

Water bottles in Meiji Jingu

Water bottles in Meiji Jingu

Water bottles in Meiji Jingu

Water bottles in Meiji Jingu
Alcoholic beverages offerings

Water bottles in Meiji Jingu
Other offerings

Categories
Traditional

Kameido Tenjin

We ended our walk around Kameido in the Shintoist shrine Kameido Tenjin 亀戸天神. As it is open 24 hours every day, it can be visited at night and you can take great pictures with night illumination and with almost no tourists/visitors spoiling the photo.

Kameido Tenjin

Kameido Tenjin

Kameido Tenjin
The first bridge right after the main torii is the bridge of the woman (Onnabashi 女橋: woman, bridge).

Kameido Tenjin
The second bridge, right before arriving to the shrine area is the bridge of the man (Otokobashi 男橋: man, bridge)

Kameido Tenjin

Kameido Tenjin

We visited it during the blossoming of the plum trees 梅 as you can see in the night photos, but the ideal moment to visit the shrine is during the blossoming of the wisterias (Fujizoku フジ属) in April and May, when the branches and flowers of the wisterias are beautifully reflected on the water of the ponds.

Wisterias are plants that have inhabited the Japanese archipelago for a really long time. They were already an inspiration to the Japanese people of ancient times, as they are mentioned in several poems in the Man’yōshū (5th century A.D.)

“When the wisterias blossom,
the wind turns them into waves.” Man’yōshū (5th century A.D.)

Legend has it that the wisterias in Kameido were planted at the beginning of the Edo era. The rest of the temple has been reconstructed several times but the wisterias are the original ones.

Kameido Tenjin

Kameido Tenjin

Kameido Tenjin
More or less the same spot as 100 years ago, the wisterias were already there but the bridges were made of wood.

Kameido Tenjin
Another photo from the beginning of the 20th century of one of the bridges of the shrine.

The beauty of the temple and its wisterias inspired many artists of the Edo era. This is an ukiyo-e of one of the bridges of Kameido Tenjin created by Hiroshige in the mid-19th century.

Kameido Tenjin

Kameido Tenjin
Comparison of the work of art of Hiroshige and a photo nowadays.

Kameido Tenjin
The Hokusai version of the Kameido Tenjin bridges.

Kameido Tenjin
Isometric view of the bridge of the woman and the bridge of the man under the snow.

Kameido Tenjin
Enjoying a day under the blossomed plum trees of Kameido Tenjin by Hiroshige.

These are not ukiyo-e, they are drawings also from the Edo era that show the atmosphere of Kameido Tenjin. You can also see the wisterias, the temple, the pond and the bridges.

Kameido Tenjin

Kameido Tenjin

Kameido Tenjin

The Kameido Tenjin bridges, the wisterias and the ukiyo-e reminded me of the Green Harmony by Monet.

Kameido Tenjin

“The temple bell stops.
But I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers” Matsuo Basho

You can get to the temple by walking 15 minutes to the northwest of Kameido station. In the official website of the shrine you can find the exact location.