Osaka.Tenjin Matsuri Festival - Day

Day Parade - 25-7-2007

OK this is going to be a big page. (but it was a BIG festival)

We made a special trip down to Osaka to see the festival. Pam took time off work. She left work at lunchtime and we rushed down in the Shinkansen and got to the parade around 4:30. It had just started. It was very hot and the photos show a lot of sweat. The best thing for us is that the festival wove through some very small streets and we got a real close up experience.

The festival continued for nearly an hour and a half in what we now know is a traditional stop start movement. There is a lot of standing around, but there is also good excitement, atmosphere and a lot of noise.

Boring background .Tenjin Matsuri Festival

The festival has a history of more than 1,000 years. It is dedicated to Sugawara-no-Michizane. Like all great festivals, it is a great little story:

"The festival celebrates Tenjin, the deification of courtier and scholar-poet Sugawara Michizane (845-903 AD), who fell victim of political intrigue and died bitterly in exile. After his death his angry vengeful spirit was held responsible for a series of catastrophes that befell the country. In order to appease him his name was cleared and he was posthumously reinstated, promoted and ultimately turned into a god. Now he is revered as the god of Academics and has a strong following among nervous candidates passing through Japan's notoriously harsh examination system." - whatsonwhen.


One of the three greatest festivals of Japan

Yes this was one of the BIG THREE festivals in Japan. It is actually a fun thing now we are here. Nobody has the best festival, the most fireworks, the prettiest lake. Everything is phrased as "One of the top 3", "one of the five busiest" etc etc. For interest sake there is a list of top 3's in Japan on the Wiki.


Melbourne Sister city

Osaka has Eight sister cities, but one of them is my home town of Melbourne!!!! Melbourne puts on an Osaka festival in summer. The latest was at Docklands in March 2007.


The festival .Photos


I am not exactly sure if this is the Shinto deity Sarutahiko or a Tengu spirit. I will have to ask someone.


I love the nose


Men in traditional outfits. A good day for big hats to protect you from the sun.


A bit of colour and movement


It was hot.....damn hot


Click here to watch a video by nocogiriiwa from a different spot in the festival- Listen the great noises from the band inside.


The drive past


We liked these guys, lots of photos


The parade goes on


a bit of music


Hanagasa Odori (flower hat) dancers


The kids having a go


Showing the youngsters how its done


Watch a video by nocogiriiwa


Hanagasa dancers singing and making noise


A portable shrine


Shishimai lion dance


We didn't get a smile


Chigo children

"Chigo are children who participate in Buddhist processions. From the Kamakura period on, well-to-do families sent their children to temples for their education. In major celebrations, the children being educated at the temple participate in ceremonial processions and major celebrations. They were dressed to represent heavenly beings..... Girls wear a crown with a Phoenix Bird and bright metal pendants called Tenkan. Both boys and girls wear the ancient make-up of the nobility called Kugemayu which consist of two black dots just above the space between the eye-brows and carry artificial lotus leaves as a symbol of purity". - calgary-buddhist



Best job was to be fan-ee not the fan-er


priest


A great smile


Dressed in the imperial-court style of the 8th-12th Centuries marching beside portable shrines
Source


Portable shrine housing the spirit of Sugawara Michizane. - Source

Sugawara Michizane
"After his lonely death, plague and drought spread and sons of Emperor Daigo died in succession. The Imperial Palace's Great Audience Hall (shishinden) was struck repeatedly by lightning, and the city experienced weeks of rainstorms and floods. Attributing this to the angry spirit of the exiled Sugawara, the imperial court built a Shinto shrine called Kitano Tenmangu in Kyoto, and dedicated it to him. They posthumously restored his title and office, and struck from the record any mention of his exile. Sugawara was deified as Tenjin-sama, or kami of scholarship. Today many Shinto shrines in Japan are dedicated to him." - Wiki



I think this was to carry the shrines later on, so that the guys did not always have to carry them, but that is only a guess.


The traditional way to store your fan. Everyone was doing it. In fact many of the girls in the crowd were wearing traditional outfits. It really added to the atmosphere.


I have discovered that these are called danjiri carts. They are one of my favorite parts of any festival. They are huge shrines carried by a large group of guys who alternate in and out. (there is possibly a bit of drinking involved). They carry the carts and occasionally they spin them around, which takes an amazing effort. The whistling and noise is also great.



My first ever You tube video!!!! - It is OK, but the idea is to give some sound and show the struggle that these guys had carrying the shrine. (Do excuse the policeman who gets in the way. He was struggling to keep the crowd out of the way.)



Above their heads!


Going through the small streets meant that there was a problem with the overhead wires. There were a few guys that ran around and made sure that the floats did not get caught. You can see a guy with a huge pole in this photo, ready to lift the wires.


Just to carry the shrine is impressive.


I love this shot.


Squeezing through the small streets


Go go go


As the shrine passes, you can see the spare guys waiting behind for their turn at carrying.


Some really pretty fans


The parade just kept going.


Another portable shrine


The old ladies with their fans danced at the end of the parade. The old ladies always do a great job. They beam with an energy and never seem to tire.


And that was it



After the parade - Tenmangu Shrine


After the parade finished, we were only a few meters from the shrine where the parade starts from. It just took a bit to get through the crowd.


Walking around inside the shrine was a nice break. It was full of people doing a bit of souvenir shopping and just wandering around.


We were amazed by the number of ema plaques. They were packed deep.


No we are not in the photos very often, hi all.


Tenmangu Shrine


As a final note. I was lucky enough to learn a bit more about the different parts of the parade. Thanks to photoguide.jp and their page on the festival.



Tenjin Matsuri continues - Night Festival

The festival continued into the evening. There is another page for those photos.
Click here


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