Life In Japan: Shinto Monk Home Blessing

All of us at one time or another have had strangers come to the door.  Maybe it's Jehovah Witness or Mormon recruiters; someone looking for a prior resident; a person whose car has broken down; a magazine salesman; one of those people who go around stuffing fliers in mailboxes, advertising a new gym, a sale on snow tires, a new restaurant opening down the street, a holiday sale; a person with Alzheimer's disease who wandered out of the back door of their house down the street.

But how many of you folks can say they've had Shinto monks come by to bless your home, your life, and all of those in your immediate family?



Of course, they're seeking alms.  But that's really standard operating procedure here in Asia.  When I was in Myanmar, shortly after sunrise, young monks would fan out through the neighborhood where I was staying and ask for a daily contribution for their sustenance and the continuation of their spiritual work.  The community values their presence and what they contribute to the social equilibrium, and shows its appreciation with pocket change and small bills.  Is this so different than passing the hat, collection basket, handheld wireless ATM at a church in the U.S.?  I think not.

Besides, the Shinto monks who go door-to-door here put on a nice little show!  See for yourself . . .

It must be working.  No one around us that I'm aware of has gotten the plague, we've had no invasions of locusts, blood seems confined to the arterial systems of the hosts, we never get thunderstorms of hail and fire.  We have our share of frogs but quite honestly they're cute little critters.  Noisy but cute.

I'd say Japan is better off than most ancient civilizations.  Meaning, if it ain't broke don't fix it.  I'm certainly looking forward to another visit from the Shinto good fortune team when they run out of money.  Until then I think I'll just levitate . . .





[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]



Life In Japan: Shinto Monk Home Blessing

Benten Shrine Ceremony

I mentioned in I Love Japan Redux that my local village has quite a number of events and various excuses to get us all together in one place doing something, working or playing, sometimes both.

 

This past weekend was our annual Benten Shrine ceremony.  In addition to every village having a community center, most also have a dedicated shrine.  Ours honors Benten, the goddess of the arts, dance, music.  That works for Masumi and I, in that she's an accomplished pianist and opera singer, and I write pulp fiction.

Two weeks ago we cleaned up the area in preparation for today's informal get-together -- cleared a lot of undergrowth, removed weeds from the hedge rows, generally tidied up.
Then on Saturday, at 11 am sharp -- Japanese are never late! -- we assembled in the cluster of trees at the top of the hill where the shrine sits.  

 

It's nothing very spectacular, a modest but adequate shrine -- we've gotten no complaints from Benten or any of the other Shinto deities.

 

A monk had traveled all the way from either Tokyo or Osaka to say prayers and conduct a short service.  His sect is allied with water. 

I guess because the Benten shrine is next to the water, and historically our section of town is sometimes threatened by flooding, his special blessings have direct relevance. 

As he chanted incantations, waved special tree branches, and a prayer paddle, the rest of us stood, watched, listened, bowed several times. I have no idea what's going on at these things.  I just go with the flow.  It's all quite pleasant, solemn but not tense.  Fortunately, I got no flashbacks to my Catholic experience growing up.  Otherwise, a strait jacket would have been required.


 

Each family contributes snacks to the ceremony.  The offerings sit on special wood stands every household owns, called a さんぼう -- pronounced sanbou -- and these stands are placed around the Buddha figure at the head of the shrine.  Since the snacks are left in their bags, though さんぼう are small, each one holds a decent amount of cookies, candy, pastries, even cups of instant noodles and soups. 

After the brief ceremony, we experienced the high point -- especially for the kids -- of the whole event.  Once the ceremony conducted by the monk was complete, the さんぼう were removed from the altar and all of the contributions of edible treats were piled on a table.  The kids lined up in front, adults behind them.  Most had a plastic bag in hand and ready. 

The treats were then thrown wildly to the attendees and everyone scrambled to catch and grab what they can.  It's sort of a Shinto Halloween without costumes.

Once all the treats had been given away, the adults were treated to shots of sake and strips of dried squid.  



I know I know.  You Westerners are thinking 'Dried squid? Yuk!'  All I can say is it took me a while.  At first some of the snacking here seems downright weird -- as if jaw breakers, licorice, beef jerky, Pop Rocks and other crazy stuff we 外人 (gaijin) eat aren't weird, right? -- but I've developed a solid taste for most everything Japanese, after coming and going for ten years.  The truth is that dried squid is actually rather delicious!  It's like salty rope.  Salty rope?  Doesn't that put your salivary glands in overdrive just thinking about it?

The whole celebration took about an hour.  Lots of smiles, good will, warm feelings.



I think it got Benten's seal of approval.

Do I hear music?

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]



Benten Shrine Ceremony