A blog about adventures, academia, adoption and other things starting with the letter 'A'. I'm a geek, a metal head, a shiba inu wrangler and a vegetarian, and I write about all of the above. You have been warned!
Matt Alt from Alt Japan and co-author of the book series including Yurei Attack!: The Japanese Ghost Survival Guide
and Yokai Attack!: The Japanese Monster Survival Guide recently gave a talk entitled How to Survive a Kappa Attack. You can listen to it and listen to the recoding at http://www.pechakucha.org/presentations/how-to-survive-a-kappa-attack. You may recall that I happen to absolutely love kappa, but that doesn't mean that I am unaware of their potential danger. When I ventured around the ancient temples of Kyoto waving a cucumber, I knew what I was doing. Do not try this at home... unless you have listened to Matt's talk and you know how to survive.
Today is Setsubun, one of my favourite seasonal festivals. Unfortunately I am stuck under the kotatsu blowing my nose and can't enjoy it much this year though [/selfpity]. I was going to write a nice educational post all about what Setsubun is and how to celebrate it, but there are so many good posts on the topic that you should really read those instead. Like Fran-Japani's. Or Gaijin Wife's.
In summery, dried soybeans are thrown while saying “ogres out, fortune in”. This is
meant to both ensure a safe and fortunate year and also to bring spring
on. I say “ogre” here for the Japanese “oni”. Some people translate oni
as devil. I think that’s because they are often red and have horns.
Otherwise it’s a silly translation. The oni live in mountains, carry
clubs and dress in tiger pelts. They carry off and eat children. My
perspective is skewed because I first encountered oni in the picture
book “The Red Ogre Who Cried”. It’s a beautiful book about a gentle oni.
Anyway, it’s traditional for someone to dress as an oni so that really
little kids can throw beans AT THEM, making the whole thing more
exciting. This isn't some kind of morality tale where kids get to triumph over the oni though. It's all about the age-honoured Japanese tradition of scaring the crap out of tiny children. In all seriousness, I think it's great. This video is from a kindergarten. As you can see, the Oni don't hold much back. Notice that the boy who repeatedly tries to stand up to the Oni and throw his beans at them gets particularly targeted, eventually getting "abducted". This is a common "Oni" tactic. Can't have the kids being too brave!
In years past my delightful partner got to play the role of oni at the preschool where he worked. The staff
prepared a hit-list of children for the oni (including the girl who had
told everyone she “wasn’t afraid of ogres”). The kids
(some of whom are as young as two) were gathered in a room and sang a
song to cheer themselves up. The Mr and his fellow oni came stomping down
the hall, banging on the walls; at first in time with the song but
gradually increasing the tempo until the song could not drown out the
sound. They burst into the room and began terrifying the children,
throwing the targeted kids over their shoulders and dragging them away
to a store room. One kid remembered his beans and valiantly flung them
with all his might, trying to rally his friends into defensive
formation, but it so happened that he too was on the hit-list and he was
promptly dragged away. The reduction of tiny children to terrified
sobbing messes is a much beloved part of the pre-school experience here.
I’m sure they’ll laugh about it one day… The terror didn’t stop there, however. The staff kept it up for weeks. A
group of kids went to the toilet and some came back before another; the Mr was furious with them for “abandoning” their friend “when you know there are
ogres around”. They were tearfully bracing themselves to go back out
into the newly terrifying corridors to secure their friend when he
returned in one piece. The sound of road works nearby was
designated as “ogres beating their clubs”. Any staff member who hadn’t
been seen for a while was presumed eaten. Hilarious fun for all the adults and probably only mildly scaring for the kids. In all seriousness though, I think the mixture of terror but suspicion that it's probably actually completely safe makes for a good experience for the kids. They get the exhilaration of the adrenaline but they can "check in" with their caregivers and see that they aren't genuinely panicking at the same time. It's like a safe way to experience a real fright. Much better than roller-coasters. Setsubun isn't the only occasion that kids get terrified by the way, just the only time they are given ammunition to fight back with. This "kidnapping" was during an Obon dance.
One of the tiny elementary schools (a total of ten students at the time I taught there) I taught at held a summer "camp" at the school (it's between a river and a forested mountain) where the kids were challenged to climb the mountain in the dark with flash-lights. The teachers and enthusiastic local sadists hid in the forest and stalked them (rustling the bushes and making weird noises) or even jumping out at them. Not a single kids made it all the way up the mountain without freaking out and running for his or her life back down to the school!
My favourite yokai is without a doubt the kappa (although I
am partial to the umbrella spirit 傘お化け too). One day when this came up in class, a
co-worker asked if I was aware that there are kappa in the river behind our
school. The students expressed some disbelief, and she reminded them about the
grave stone. There was a general chorus of “ooooh, yeah” and “that’s right!”
Afterwards I asked the teacher about it and she told me the story of a local
samurai whose death at the hands of kappa is commemorated with a monument near
the river bank.
The samurai grew vegetables, and one day he noticed some
eggplants (aubergines) had grown with a pattern in their skin that resembled
the daimyo’s family crest. He was excited at the idea of presenting the ripe
eggplants to the daimyo and wondered what sort of reward or good fortune might
come his way as a result. He carefully tended to the young eggplants, but one
morning he found that one had been taken. The next night he laid a trap and
waited in ambush. A kappa swam up out of the river and came into the garden,
taking another eggplant. The samurai leapt out and killed him. The next day the samurai was summoned to meet with the daimyo. As he hastened down the road the kappa's three sons bared his way and demanded that, having killed their father, he must duel one of them. In a rush to get to the daimyo to samurai refused, promising to discuss the matter with them on his return, and rushed away. The incensed young kappa vowed vengeance. They gathered all the kappa of the river and laid an ambush. When the samurai returned from his meeting with the daimyo the kappa leapt out and slaughtered him.
Although in this story it was an eggplant, traditionally kappa are meant to like cucumbers. So, obviously, I thought eating a cucumber near a stream might be a good way to find some. Sadly it didn't work.
I was very excited to see the grave stone, but although everyone vaguely knew the story no one seemed to really know where it was. I got a map from the library that had historical sites marked, but like most Japanese sightseeing maps there was no consistent scale and no minor roads marked. I rode down the little side street I thought it might be, between scary old houses that looked abandoned but had very angry sounding dogs chained in the yards, and ended up at an old temple. I could see an overgrown graveyard through the trees so I decided to go in and look for the grave. The bell tower was crumbling away and I was afraid that it might collapse as I walked under it, but being crushed to death by a giant Buddhist bell in the middle of an abandoned temple while looking for a monument to a samurai killed by kappa seemed like a suitably dramatic way to go, so I walked through the gate anyway.
Someone was obviously coming in to care for the graves, but the same could not be said of the temple itself. Vines were growing all over it, through the windows, and monkeys seemed to have moved in. I couldn't find the right grave stone and it started to rain, so I gave up.
I walked into a classroom, gave a student a bit of paper and said "draw a kappa"... no questions asked she whipped this up for me in two minutes.
The next time I visited that school a student came to tell me where the grave was (a few steps from her house, actually). Word of my quest had gotten around. She told me that it had been overgrown and surrounded by trees, but recently it had "きれいになった" (been cleaned up). I found it easily following her directions but was disappointed to find that "cleaned up" meant covered in concrete as part of the construction of a cul de sac housing development. Ahh, Japan. Despite the lack of suitable atmosphere I was very happy to have finally found it.
We took a spontaneous trip last weekend. We can do that now
that we have a car. Having a car is seriously awesome. We headed to Miyazaki
prefecture for a one night and visited the Takachiho gorge and the near-by cave at Amano-Iwato shirine
that features in Japan’s foundationalmythology.
Preparing nice and early for that up-coming right hand turn! Oh, and yes, that is Vader's TIE bomber displayed... it also speaks in his (officially licensed) voice. He gets very grumpy when you deviate from the dark side.
Driving pretty much anywhere in Kyushu results in gorgeous scenery
Especially when the rice is ripe for harvest and the sunlight is golden
Takachiho is stunning. The rock formation is caused by layers of lava from a volcanic eruption, and the water is clear up close but brilliant blue from a distance.
Obligatory tourist shot of row boats in Takachiho Gorge
Clear, sparkling water in a shallower section
Takachiho from above
At the gorge we got caught in a tourist trap and ripped off
500 yen; not a huge amount of money but a bit of a shock to experience. We drove
to the gorge on the Saturday of a long weekend, and it was packed with cars and
tour coaches. There were uniformed traffic guides at all the turns, separating
small from large vehicles and directing them to different car parks. As we came
into the clearly marked entrance to the car park we had been directed to a man
in a visibility vest holding a traffic directing baton leapt in front of the
car and directed us to turn left. We followed his instructions and pulled into
a small private car park, upon which he charged us 500 yen. It was so sudden
that we paid up and only realised as walked away from the car that the car park
we had been heading into was free, and the man’s “uniform” was purchased from a
hardware store. I was pretty angry about it, but my more forgiving husband
forbade me from making a scene. Spoil sport.
Nagashi somen near the gorge: usually this is a special summer thing but for some reason it is offered all year round at the gorge. You try to catch chilled noodles with your chop sticks are they flow down the halved bamboo.
If that isn't to your taste, try dango (grilled sticky rice balls) are fish so fresh that their friends are still in the tank nearby looking for them :(
We opted for delicious hot tea from a bamboo pot
Takachiho Shrine: 600 year old cedar trees surround the shrine
I have never seen one of these with babies before~ I would love to know the significance (if any)
While the gorge was beautiful, the real highlight was Amano-Iwato. It was less touristy, wilder, and held a sense of real power and emotion even for a cynical atheist like me.
Looked a lot like Tasmania, actually.
The stones are piled by pilgrims
As I said, the trip was unplanned so we hadn’t booked any
accommodation. That isn’t an issue in Japan, since there are always rooms
available in love hotels and car parking is included free of charge. I used the
handy love hotel finder website www.love-hotels.jp
on my phone and found one nearby that would allow is to take a room from 8pm
(overnight stays are usually only permitted after 11pm, any earlier and you pay
an per hour rate not a fixed fee). We’ve visited a number of love hotels
(that’s a whole other blog post), but this one was by far my favourite.
View from our love hotel jacuzzi
Our
“room” was a newly-built free-standing two story unit that was three times
bigger than the entire apartment I rented in Nagoya. From 8 pm to 11 am was 6000 yen, about $60, and the “room” was equipped with: a theatre room with
massage chairs, a huge projection screen and karaoke, a spa overlooking the
beach, a microwave, ice box and kettle, a king sized bed, brand name amenities
(Dove body lotion etc) and a pokie machine. If you find yourself in the
vicinity of Nobeoka I recommend Uno Hamayu. I took a cider from the fridge so when we
left the next morning a staff member dropped by so I could pay for it. She was
wearing the kind of apron that kindergarten teachers or child care workers
wear, and I wonder if she goes straight to work at a nearby pre-school after
finishing her love hotel shift.
Parking is not only free, but also discreet
Theatre room with karaoke and massage chairs
Second TV in the bedroom, also with karaoke, and a gambling machine
AND just in case there weren't enough TVs, the bath also had one
During お盆, the spirits of deceased relatives are said to return to the world of the living for a short visit. Everyone travels back to their ancestral homes, dances are held, special foods are eaten and graves are cleaned and tended. At the end of the o-bon period, the spirits are guided back safely to the afterlife with lanterns and fires.
My favourite place to experience this is in Kyoto, where the huge words and pictures are laid out on the sides of the mountains surrounding the city are set alight.
Starbucks Kyoto decorated their cups on the day. Each mountain has a different design.
It's technically called Gozan no Okuribi (五山送り火 literally "five mountain send-off fire"), but everyone I talked to called it Daimonji Yaki (大文字焼き lit. "big letter burning"). While a lot of tourists like watching the fires from scenic places like Kinkakuji, you can also rent rowing boats and enjoy the sight of the fires while lanterns drift by you and the sounds of Buddhist chanting fill the air.
There's a lovely short video taken on the lake below. It's a shame they used music instead of letting you hear the chanting and the soft splashes of the row boats, but it still conveys some of the atmosphere.
In Japan, things tend to be ordered from large to small;
general to specific. You give your name family name first then given name. You
write your address from prefecture to street number. In Australia we do the
opposite: Street number to state, given name then family. Likewise Australian
dates are the exact reverse of Japanese dates. Australians write day/month/year
and Japanese write year/month/day. There’s a consistency in the thought processes
that leads to these ways of writing dates. Why on earth Americans write
month/day/year I have no idea. But then, I also have no idea why they say “I
could care less” not “I COULDN’T case less.” Anyway, this does have something
to do with Tanabata, I promise. Tanabata is celebrated on July seventh, which
is 7/7 no matter which system one uses to write dates. Tanabata is not a public
holiday, but we do get “star jelly” in school lunch to celebrate it.
Orihime (織姫Weaving Princess), daughter of the Tentei (天帝Sky King, or the universe itself), wove beautiful clothes by the bank of the Amanogawa (天の川Milky Way, lit. "heavenly river").
Her father loved the cloth that she wove and so she worked very hard
every day to weave it. However, Orihime was sad that because of her hard
work she could never meet and fall in love with anyone. Concerned about
his daughter, Tentei arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi (彦星Cow Herder Star) (also referred to as Kengyuu (牽牛))
who lived and worked on the other side of the Amanogawa. When the two
met, they fell instantly in love with each other and married shortly
thereafter. However, once married, Orihime no longer would weave cloth
for Tentei and Hikoboshi allowed his cows to stray all over Heaven. In
anger, Tentei separated the two lovers across the Amanogawa and forbade
them to meet. Orihime became despondent at the loss of her husband and
asked her father to let them meet again. Tentei was moved by his
daughter’s tears and allowed the two to meet on the 7th day of the 7th
month if she worked hard and finished her weaving. The first time they
tried to meet, however, they found that they could not cross the river
because there was no bridge. Orihime cried so much that a flock of
magpies came and promised to make a bridge with their wings so that she
could cross the river. It is said that if it rains on Tanabata, the
magpies cannot come and the two lovers must wait until another year to
meet.
Long long ago, when we first came to Kyushu my husband worked in a highly
academic English language pre-school (yes, there are academic pre-schools). He
was tasked with writing the script for a Tanabata play, using concepts and
vocabulary appropriate for children as young as three. The preschool version has Tentei getting cross because Orihime and Hikoboshi kept sneaking off to have picnics together instead of doing their chores (^_^)
Nana
Read the manga, watch the anime, listen to the tribute CDs... but stay away from the live action movie
Tanabata is deeply intertwined in my brain with Yazawa Ai’s
manga “NANA”, about two girls named Nana (which is also the pronunciation of
the number seven in Japanese: the 七 part of 七夕) who
meet on the train to Tokyo and end up sharing an apartment (number 707)
together. Tanabata (7/7) has a special significance that becomes increasingly
tragic throughout the manga.
Tree of Wishes
Wish Tree
For
Tanabata, the tradition is to set up a leafy bamboo branch and decorate it
using long pieces of paper with wishes written on them. Traditionally at the
end of the celebrations the branch is thrown into a stream to carry the wishes
away… but these days the whole thing usually goes in the burnable garbage.
Don’t worry though, the smoke probably rises up to the stars (and gives Orihime
asthma).
and Yokai Attack!: The Japanese Monster Survival Guide
recently gave a talk entitled How to Survive a Kappa Attack. You can listen to it and listen to the recoding at 
Posts
