NOT FOR CHILDREN!
That's what the clerk in the tour office warned us when we asked to buy tickets for the Nagoya Fertility Festival tour. She then brought out photo albums with pictures from last year's tour just so we would know what we were getting ourselves into. We could not be dissuaded. It is definitely not the type of thing we usually would go to, but we were told that this festival was not to be missed and we weren't disappointed.
Fertility festivals are a long standing tradition in Japan, and full of ceremony and superstition meant to bring many bountiful crops and bouncing babies to the farming communities. Now, it seems to be more of an excuse to gather and eat and Eat and EAT and be festive. The Japanese birth rate is on the decline though, and the government is urging people to procreate, so I think perhaps there is some real hope in the old traditions.
There was a "Men's Temple" and "Women's Temple" with corresponding statuary. People were waiting in line for hours to touch the statues for good luck and offer money. Although kids weren't allowed on our tour from the base, there were little Japanese kids running all over, and playing on statues shaped like male genitalia. It was funny and weird-the Japanese just don't have the same puritanical taboo's that we have.
Then came the parade. There were men carrying a giant phallus, laughing and chanting. They stopped at various points along the way and spun the phallus around, pushing their way into the crowd. More people followed carrying branches meant to look like cherry blossoms that were tied with little strips of cloth. The crowd tore at the branches-apparently obtaining a cloth strip is also good luck. A man in the front of the crowd spotted us gai-jin and gave Dave and I each a strip.
Finally, the phallus-bearers gathered on a balcony above the waiting crowd. There were piles of "mochi" gathered around them which are a soft rice paste cake. They started hurling the mochi into the crowd. -Oh yeah, it's also "good luck" to get trampled to death while a two pound rice dough ball comes whizzing at your head.
We did eat lots of good food though! Tempura, okonomiyaki, yakitori, strange little dried fruits and the best fresh potato chips I have ever had.
The whole thing was bizarre, delicious, fun and as foreign as it gets-altogether the best parts of living in Japan.
That's what the clerk in the tour office warned us when we asked to buy tickets for the Nagoya Fertility Festival tour. She then brought out photo albums with pictures from last year's tour just so we would know what we were getting ourselves into. We could not be dissuaded. It is definitely not the type of thing we usually would go to, but we were told that this festival was not to be missed and we weren't disappointed.
Fertility festivals are a long standing tradition in Japan, and full of ceremony and superstition meant to bring many bountiful crops and bouncing babies to the farming communities. Now, it seems to be more of an excuse to gather and eat and Eat and EAT and be festive. The Japanese birth rate is on the decline though, and the government is urging people to procreate, so I think perhaps there is some real hope in the old traditions.
There was a "Men's Temple" and "Women's Temple" with corresponding statuary. People were waiting in line for hours to touch the statues for good luck and offer money. Although kids weren't allowed on our tour from the base, there were little Japanese kids running all over, and playing on statues shaped like male genitalia. It was funny and weird-the Japanese just don't have the same puritanical taboo's that we have.
Then came the parade. There were men carrying a giant phallus, laughing and chanting. They stopped at various points along the way and spun the phallus around, pushing their way into the crowd. More people followed carrying branches meant to look like cherry blossoms that were tied with little strips of cloth. The crowd tore at the branches-apparently obtaining a cloth strip is also good luck. A man in the front of the crowd spotted us gai-jin and gave Dave and I each a strip.
Finally, the phallus-bearers gathered on a balcony above the waiting crowd. There were piles of "mochi" gathered around them which are a soft rice paste cake. They started hurling the mochi into the crowd. -Oh yeah, it's also "good luck" to get trampled to death while a two pound rice dough ball comes whizzing at your head.
We did eat lots of good food though! Tempura, okonomiyaki, yakitori, strange little dried fruits and the best fresh potato chips I have ever had.
The whole thing was bizarre, delicious, fun and as foreign as it gets-altogether the best parts of living in Japan.
Wow. That is wild. I had heard that a good way to gain insight into the minds of the Japanese is to attend their festivals. Sounds like you two had a blast! Was there a cherry blossom festival close to where you guys live?
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