Kurayami Matsuri

Kurayami Matsuri (暗闇祭り, literally, pitch-dark festival) is celebrated at Ōkunitama Jinja (大国魂神社) in Fuchu from 3 May to 5 May. The main event is held on 5 May night but we were brought there by TOFSIA on 4 May, which puzzled me. Anyway, I was in Sendagaya National Stadium on Friday, fulfilling my duty as a patriotic citizen of Malaysia by cheering for the Malaysian team during the Thomas Cup semi-final match against Denmark.

(Above:) Ōkunitama Jinja in Fuchū.

(Above:) Main hall.

(Above:) The place was so crowded that it reminded me of the jam-packed Shinjuku.

(Above:) In the temple's compound, it seemed just like a fun fair.

(Above:) See? They even had a haunted house!

(Above:) A tower in the shrine's compound.

(Above:) A gate that leads to another part of the shrine, closed to the public on that day.

(Above:) For a small fee, you can get your fortune told. And if you don't like what you got? Well, just hang them here and let the wind blow the bad luck away!

(Above:) The following day was Children's Day (子供の日, kodomo no hi). The celebrate the day with carp-shaped koinobori flags.

(Above:) A huge stone which has some significance to the emperor... Geez... Can some one translate the Japanese for me?

(Above:) I managed to get out from the shrine before getting suffocated. But, the situation outside wasn't any better.

(Above:) A taiko (太鼓, Japanese drum) procession was taking place!

(Above:) Standing on the big drums while they were pulled along the streets by the devotees requires good balance!

(Above:) The devotees take turns striking the drum... With a baseball bat? I think not!

(Above:) A portable shinto shrine (神輿, mikoshi). I supposed this is just a scaled-down version.

(Above:) Children carrying a mikoshi on two poles.

(Above:) Sometimes, the devotees wave the mikoshi side by side so widely that participants and bystanders get killed getting struck by it!

(Above:) Now, this should be the big one, parked inside the shrine. The procession would be on Friday, but we missed it because we were in Sendagaya watching Thomas Cup!

(Above:) This used to be a religious event. But now it has turned into a competition to see who can spin it the most gracefully.

(Above:) There were various performances by the road. These people were playing traditional Japanese flute and drums, in a monotonous rhythm...

(Above:) Cute kids, no? I asked the Japanese but they didn't know what's the significance of those characters in the masks.

(Above:) Now, this was the most interesting of all performances. It puzzled me as to why these "monsters" (化け物,　bakemono) went around "biting" children. Actually, in Japanese folklore, a person who gets bitten by these "lions" gets good luck!

(Above:) At 6pm, there was float procession.

These floats, like the taiko drums were from different shrines across Tokyo.

(Above:) Even though the floats looked so big and heavy, these guys were pulling them effortlessly as if they were going downhill...

(Above:) The procession lasted until late night.

- 04 May 2006, Thursday -