Day 3 Kishiwada - Final Chapter

Three things left to talk about.  The first and second are quick stories and the third is a summary of a fascinating part of our day where we learned about "Danjiri"

First....
Lunchtime dialogue as guests at sushi lunch in the home of My grandfather's best friend and his family.

Brian points to a piece of sushi and inquires to mom what it is.

Mom - "Oh, that's really good, try it"

Brian - "yes, but what is it?"

Mom - "Ohhh, that's Japanese weiner. It's really good"

Brian stifles a laugh like a teenager

Brian looks at Michael to see if he's laughing yet.  He's not.  Guess I'll have to let it go...

Mom - not in on the joke as usual - "No, try it.  I love Japanese weiner"

Brian - tries to stifle the laugh but it's out now and it's not gonna be held back - "Hahaha"

Brian thinks to himself how rude it would be if his hosts understand enough english to know what he's laughing at.  Brian looks at Michael with the hope that he's giving him a dirty look instead of laughing but now he's definitely cracking a smile which makes Brian laugh even harder!

Mom - "Ohhh, yes, I have always loved Japanese weiners!"

Brian - "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  Mom, stop!"

Michael is laughing at this point but we both really don't want to laugh.  It's just not possible to stop laughing at this point.

The Japanese hosts - NOT laughing at all.  Please let them have no idea what I'm laughing about!!!

Second...
After lunch, we had a visitor came over to say hello to us.  It was freaking adorable.  This woman is a neighbor and also Matsutane-san's 93 year old cousin!!!  Those are some good genes!  But how she greeted my mom is what was so adorable.  She comes into the house and right in front of my mom, she gets down on both knees and bows so deeply to her that her chin was scraping the floor.  I just love the Japanese hospitality and how hard they try to impress guests.  She continues to bow several more times and say how nice it was to see mom (mom translated loosely later).  Can you imagine an American neighbor coming over and getting onto the floor and bowing to a guest of another person's house like this?

This may help to explain the need for really clean floors in Japanese households.

Third...
Danjiri!

On my facebook wall last week, I expressed disgust about parades.  I am hereby retracting my statement and I am hereby correcting it.  Not all parades suck.  AMERICAN parades suck. Japanese parades are AWESOME.  I'd pay to see a parade like the Danjiri Harvest Festival that takes place in Japan every year.  Watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOs-WYeUBew

What is Danjiri?  At the heart of it all, Danjiri is a harvest festival for Kishiwada that allegedly started over 300 years ago by the lord of the Kishiwada castle.  It is a spiritual event and involves towing mobile shrines through the streets of the city with the hopes of influencing a plentiful harvest.  One can imagine how the event evolved from a basic spiritual parade to the athletic and dangerous even that it is today.  Perhaps one bountiful harvest came after spectators noticed that the shrines moved through the city more quickly that year?  I'm not really sure.  I just heard about this awesome event for the first time today.  However, what this event is now, is an entire village of people literally racing around these mobile shrines up to 50 kilometers through crowded streets risking life and limb.

Let me stop you there.  As I sat down to watch the video that Hiroshi wanted us to see about Danjiri, I at first thought oh, this is going to be some cultural video that I hope is at least mildly interesting.  Then I saw how wide the screen was and thought "hmmm, someone put some effort into making this video". Then the Surround Sound kicked in and I realized "I'm in Japan.  They don't do things halfass which now includes putting together a museum and doing floats in parades!"  They even had a 3D video later in the exhibit!!! All for a cultural event most of the world has never heard of.  Anyway, back to the story.

As explained to me by Hiroshi, my host and tourguide, a Danjiri shrine is extremely expensive.  It costs over 100 million yen (over a million dollars).  Approximately 10 wood carving masters work three years to build it.  When I say wood carvings, what I mean to say is that each one is essentially a national treasure work of art with the finest wood carving detail you've ever seen.  The closer you get to it, the tiniest carvings jump out at you.  The are simply incredible to study up close.  In the front, there are brake rods under the wheels that protrude out of the front side.  I think these are used more for steering than braking, you be the judge.  The rear has a long Wooden tail which is obviously used for steering.

Both the front and rear have long Golden Ropes attached.  When I say Golden Ropes, I literally mean ropes woven with 18 karat gold. You can't make this shit up, people.  This is apparently an art in itself and techniques vary by artisan.

This is the banner for the village of my host, Hiroshi

Musical instruments (drums), Lanterns, and huge village signs are also attached to this tank.  So all that's left for this work of art is to race it as fast as humanly possible through 90 degree angle turns, right?

The kids, playing with the drums on top of an old Danjiri

Here are some pictures I took of Danjiri in the museum:

Simply beautiful wood carving detail.

The lanterns are the highlight of this one.  

A medium-detailed wood-carving.  A replica carving like this can go for 10k American.

It's hard to make out just how detailed this one is, but it is amazing to imagine.

All in all over 200 people are powering and maneuvering this small freight train. It appears to be divided up into three separate groups.  Those in the rear, racing to keep up, controlling the speed and holding the tail in place when whipping through turns. There is some incredible footage on youtube of these rear guys getting whipped into building as they hold on for dear life. The front section is doing the major pulling. If one of these guys goes down, he can easily be trampled by his buddies or much worse, by the Danjiri Shrine itself.  Those on the shrine are either dignitaries of some kind that have the honor of just riding along, musicians who maintain the unique rhythm and music that is distinct to that Danjiri and the surfers.  The surfers appear to have a role of conductor of some kind while also attempting to be flamboyant and entertaining, as well.  They leap back and forth across the spine of the shrine and shout and wave their fans wildly in the air.  I'm not sure how much responsibility they have towards the balancing of the shrine but they are a lot of fun to watch up there.

At the end of the day, you cannot help but compare the madness to the running of the bulls in Pamplona.  I can imagine though that the week leading up to this event and the event itself is some serious partying and fun.  According to my mother, the event was a big deal in the past because it was the one time of year that they warlord's opened the castle doors up to the commoners.  The speed and entertainment factors may have grown due to the singular opportunity to impress local royalty.  It's fascinating stuff but regardless of how the traditions started, the event still is run today.

Danjiri can be very dangerous.  When you factor in the weight of the shrine with the speed it moves, turning corners can be treacherous.  If you fall, you could get trampled or slide under the moving shrine If the shrine loses control, you could get smashed in between the shrine and a wall and it would be disastrous.  And shrines can easily tip over and crush someone underneath.  I was told by Hiroshi that over the past 100 years, 40 people have died.  Just out of comparison, in the past 100 years, 16 people have died as a result of running with the bulls.  This may actually be one of the most deadly activities in the world as there are only a couple of events every year.
Some near-misses:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1FnCpQs6yg
One actually falls over in this one.  Pretty scar:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uihvpi7qFG8