Naked Men Carrying Torches

are hot. Literally. Though I admit I exaggerate on the naked part. They were almost naked - a loin cloth and a little straw skirt short of naked to be exact. Whoever says that Japanese people are serious business men/women who wear dour business clothing and are workaholics has obviously never seen a Japanese matsuri. Let me just say: Japanese people can turn up the heat when it comes to parties.

Last week, I went with Max, his host dad and Meli to the Kurama Hi Matsuri. It was epic. First of all, I got to experience my first mannin densha, which basically means a train so crowded that even if you aren't holding on to anything, if the train is jolted you will barely move because you are wedged that tightly between one person's shoulder and another person's chest and the clear panes of the train door. Slightly uncomfortable to say the least.

At the actual festival, however, we were one of the lucky few who didn't have to join the herd of futsu *normal* people roped off into narrow sections beside the street; Max's host dad had connections with a family who lived there and so in addition to stuffing ourselves with sushi and soba beforehand at their house (which was on the actual street the procession passed by), we also got these special passes that let us walk wherever we wanted during the festival without being held back by the police. Which meant basically that we got to walk in the middle of the procession.

The Kurama Hi Matsuri is a fire festival and so there was fire EVERYWHERE. It was astounding that a wooden city like Kyoto which is so cautious when it comes to fire would actually have a festival like this. The festival starts at 6:00 when fires called kagaribi are ignited all at once in front of the houses, and the climax (or climakusu in Japanese) is around 9:30 when the mikoshi is carried down the mountain. For those of you who are wondering what a mikoshi is, it's basically little portable shrine for the god because, you know, its rather tough to spend all your days in a stuffy, dusty hall and it's nice to taste a little fresh air once in a while! Throughout the festival - here is where the almost-naked men come in - a procession filled with people holding large and small pine torches (taimatsu) winds up and down the mountain. The pine torches total more than 250 and the huge ones weigh more than 80 kg each. They are held on the shoulders of as many as four men at a time wearing nothing but loin cloths and chanting Saiye! Saiye! Saiyo! Saiyo! and sweating like crazy. Those who are lucky have someone trailing after them, dousing them with water and swiping the sparks from their skin.


Also in the procession were taiko drummers and people carrying these long poles with bells at the top that jangled with each footstep. We got to walk amongst the torch-bearing people and the bells and whatnot and there were several times where I could feel the heat of the torches come alarmingly close to my face. At times, however, the fire felt good as it's getting increasingly colder here in Kyoto, especially in the mountains where the festival was held. Smoke was everywhere, and there were moments when it was so thick that it made my eyes burn. By the end of the night our shoes were black from stepping on all the burnt black heaps where the torches fell. But other than that, the festival was pretty great. At the festival's climakusu as we watched the mikoshi descend through a conflagration of torches cascading down the hillside, I found myself mesmerized by the cinders swirling in bright flecks across the dark, cloudless sky: the sweet scent of burning pine sap: the voices chanting saiye! saiyo! as the mikoshi swayed vigorously on a tight knot of bare shoulders: and the people-packed houses and shops on either side of the street channeling the the light into a bright lasso around the dark mass of the mountain...

Here's the Mikoshi!

Other news:

Last weekend AKP took us on a field trip to Obama - a small town which became famous with President Obama's election - where we visited a chopstick factory and made chopsticks! We also made washi - traditional handmade Japanese paper - at another place.

Basically to make washi you dip these mesh metal boxes into the bins pictured above. The bins are filled with goopy grey material (if you've ever had Chinese egg drop soup, it's kind of like that consistency) which you then swirl around in the mesh boxes until the water drains and the goopy stuff settles to the bottom. Then you decorate with flowers and sparkles and colors to your heart's delight and dry the goop and voila! You have washi.