Last week was a special festival called Karasu Zumo in Japan, or "Crow Wrestling." It's celebrated at Kamigamo Shrine in Kitaoji, Kyoto, which from our location took a little while to get to. In fact, it took us about an hour and a half, so lets get to that part first.
On a Quest
The train system in Japan is relatively easy to navigate, especially if you take a mainline train, such as Keihan. We took that to Tambabushi first, which is a major hub for the Kyoto area as you can change to the local line from here. In our case, we did not know it, but to reach the station we needed we had to take the subway, which resulted in it not being listed on the main board [which took up a solid chunk of the wall]. Usually all you have to do is fine the station you're going to, which lists the fare next to it, and hop on a train heading that direction. One of the elderly women that had been watching us asked where we were headed and pointed us to the main office. There the conversation went something like this:
"Where are you trying to go?"
"Kitaoji."
"Kitaoji?"
"Yes. Kitaoji."
"Kyoto?"
"No. Ki-ta-o-ji."
"Oh! Kita-Oji. Take the subway off platform 2."
That started us in the correct direction, but we were still stumped as to how we were supposed to get tickets. This led to one of us going to ask again where we buy the tickets, then him magically appearing at a section in the wall that opens and pointing out how to change the screen to subway prices. With that we set off onto the dark world of the subways. Or what we thought would be dark. They're actually the same type of train that runs above ground, are just as clean, but just spend more time underground than above it. Getting the correct station though involved some careful reading of our google directions. It told us which stations to travel through, but did not show us how they were written. Luckily go and shi ended up being stations four and five and from there we were able to find the "O" in Kita-Oji.
Once we were off we found ourselves smack in the middle of the Kyoto suburbs, and relied on Google Maps to get us to our destination. We passed one shrine and it told us to continue on, but as it seemed pretty busy we asked if this was Kamigamo or not. With an affirmative answer we headed inside.
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| The main torii gate at Kamigamo Jinja |
Kamigamo was originally founded in the 8th century BC in dedication to the thunder kami. After it burned, it was rebuilt during the Heian period as a means to purify the Demon's Gate coming from the imperial palace, the northeast corner of a house. This is why there are two large mounds of sand in front of the main ceremony hall, as sand is used as a means to purify this area. Several ceremonies are held throughout the year to help further this purpose, including the Hollyhock festival and the Karasu Zumo/Chrysanthemum festival.
Karasu Zumo is dedicated to the crows that taught people how to sumo, and two priests act as crows at the beginning of the ceremony, hopping around and cawing. The young boys who sumo in white loin cloths are also symbolic of crows. Watching the festivity is a priestess chosen to act as princess, who played the same role in the Hollyhock festival during the spring. She is offered up the chrysanthemums to purify before the bouts begin. After the sumo bouts, chrysanthemum sake is served to purify the body and soul.
Kamigamo is currently a world UNESCO site, as it carries a great deal of history and is one of the oldest shrines in Japan.
Where Did I Find All This Out
Sake is one of the most sacred parts of a shrine festival, and is especially important as the shrine brews it themselves. While we were in line, one of the residents started to speak to us in English. As a general rule, we've learned that if someone starts speaking to you in English they are usually trying to practice. He most likely was, but it was really beneficial for us as he worked for the company in charge of researching UNESCO sites. He said it was his first time actually getting to see the festival and showed us a paper compiling all the information he had found out about Karasu Zumo and even why Kamigamo was so important. On the back he had drawn a rough map of several shrines around the imperial palace in Kyoto. It was a real coincidence, and if I hadn't been suffering the starts of heat sickness I would have loved to talk to him more about it.
After the festival, we went and said our prayers and wishes to the main deity at Kamigamo, as its actually an entire family that is housed there. It was probably one of the better shrines to do so at, as the main hall had directions in English on how to pray.
First throw in your offering of money.
Bow deeply twice.
Clap twice.
Recite your prayer or wish.
Bow deeply once.
At other shrines, I think you may also have to ring a bell before you bow to wake up the kami housed there.
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