Leaving home at 9.00am, on the way to the shrine, we stopped off at one of Ebina's most famous shops, which specializes in gourmet sweets. Traditional Japanese sweets are flavoured with a sweet bean paste, and are often containing green tea, an (a sweet red bean), or a soy sauce/sugar mix. We were going to be feasting after the ceremony, so Midori and I chose a selection of Japanese sweets, ending up spending around $80 there! Sweets in hand, we were ready to go to the shrine. We arrived at the shrine complex, with all of its gardens, manicured pebbles, immaculate pathways, and various shrine buildings, and were greeted by the head priest and his assistants.
Before we went to the shrine, we went to a well, and washed our hands and mouths, cleansing ourselves to enter the shrine. Approaching the shrine, we took off our shoes, climbed the stairs, and then a monumentally loud drumming began, the bass resounding through all of my body. Entering the shrine, the thick smell of incense burned its way up my nostrils, and I saw in front of me two photographs, one of an old man and one of a younger looking woman, on a table-like thing, as well as bowls of fruit and vegetables, and hundreds of white and coloured ribbons.
As we sat down, a priest stood up with a wooden pole that had white ribbons attached to one end, and slowly walked round the table, shaking the pole at regular intervals, and then we all bowed to the spirits, all the while the loud rhythmic beating of the drums continued. This happened several times, and then the head priest rose, gave a little speech, bowed some more to the photographs, and then the young priestess waled up holding a staff to which were attached a dozen or so little bells, and proceeded to walk around the front of the shrine, while the drums resumed and another priest began blowing into a flute. This musical display went on for about 5 minutes, lulling me into a trance somewhat, had a soporific effect. Then once this was over, we stood up in pairs, approached the front, recieved a tree branch with a white ribbon, approached the table, placed the branch in front of the table, stepped back, bowed twice, clapped four times, bowed again, and then returned to our seat.
After one more round of priests drumming, bowing, flute playing, praying etc, we stood up, and walked out of the shrine, put our shoes on, and then walked into another building with the head priest where we had a cup of tea, a Japanese jelly, and he talked about the shrine and its developments, and gave what I deduced to be a little theological speech, something like that despite the fact we cannot see the spirits of the dead, they are very much here with us, and they should be respected, and in turn they will look out for us where they can. Took a little walk in the shrines garden, prayed at another little shrine, and then drove to Akira's brothers apartment, which used to be their fathers before his death 3 years ago. One of the walls in the main room was dominated by a little shrine to their mother and father, and there were the photos used in the Shinto ceremony. In front of the pictures there lay a few of their material possessions, such as glasses and their favourite cigarette brand, as well as a bunch of grapes, a pear, an apple and a rock melon. Peculiarly, there also were two cups of coffee, all of which were offerrings for their spirits. The shrine had given us bags and bags of food, as the Murao family have long been patrons of this particular shrine, and so once a year at this ceremony they give back to the family in return for the offerrings to the shrine and spirits they've made. We knelt at the table (low Japanese style) and had a banquet. Everyone had brought food to supplement the shrines contributions, so there were bento boxes containing wagyuu beef, salmon fillets, a large array of vegetables, fruits, sweet bean bread, tea, water, beer, to name but a few. We feasted for hours, and even then we could not eat it all, so it was divided up between everyone, and I would not be surprised if it lasts a week more.
All of the Akira's family were interested to hear about NZ, and so my Japanese was pushed to its limits describing New Zealand culture, food etc, as well as my previous experiences in Japan, and the differences between 'Nyuujiirando-go, Igirisu-go, and Amerika-go' (New Zealand English, English English and American English). After feasting away for hours, it was time to leave, and so concluded my first real Shinto experience.
I thoroughly enjoyed today's experience, it was a very intricate and special occassion, and I was very lucky to have been allowed into that particular shrine, as only Shinto families are allowed into it, another shrine catering for all people. I had a very good time of it, though I doubt I'll be able to eat anything for a few days at least!
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