Kanda Myojin Hatsumode

Earlier this year the big Kanda Myojin between Ochanomizu and Akihabara station celebrated the usual hatsumode rituals with an appearance of the two gods, Ebisu and Daikokuten. I took these photos as I passed through the shrine and also took the opportunity to take some photos of the newest ema plaques to have gone up since my last visit! Some people really put a lot of effort into their ema! Of course all of these are destined for the big ritual pyre at the end of the year. You can read more about Ebisu and Daikokuten in this blog post from last year.

Ebisu and Daikokuten – Kanda Myojin

At a festival in Kanda Myojin near the famous Akihabara district in central Tokyo I saw these two dressed up Gods from the Japanese mythological pantheon, Ebisu and Daikokuten. They are both members of the most commonly appearing Japanese God “band”, the Seven Gods of Fortune (七福神 Shichifukujin). Ebisu is the slightly crippled and deaf God of fishermen, workingmen and luck, and is usually shown holding a large fish and a rod in his distinctive hat. Daikokuten is the god of Darkness and also associated with luck and the household, especially the kitchen. He is usually shown holding his magic hammer which can tap out anything wished for. When not standing at shrines in central Tokyo he is usually seen sitting on two bales of rice, so full that mice gather around to catch what falls out of them.

It is not very common to see the Gods acted out like this at shrines and temples in Japan so I took the opportunity to catch these two fellows when they showed up. You can see other posts about Kanda Myojin and the festivals there here.

More Misogigamankai at Kanda Shrine

More photos from the Endurance/purification ceremony at Tokyo’s Kanda Shrine (Kanda Myojin) the other day. Although I am usually all for immersing myself in my adopted culture this is one habit that I will refrain from. Most of the participants where shaking as they stood waiting for their turn and even the leader of the group, who spent over half an hour standing in the ice water while keeping an eye on the bathers must have been suffering greatly. The funniest incident of the day was at the end, after the one hour long ordeal when the obligatory group photos was to be taken. Everyone lined up smartly, with the new 20 year olds at the front, and as usual the news media photographers where fiddling with their equipment. It didn’t take many seconds for one of the girls to shout “just get on with it!” to the photographers. Much laughter both in the crowd and among the participants! I can understand her as by that point I was almost frozen solid myself, despite many layers of warm dry clothes.

Misogigamankai – Purification at Kanda Shrine

Each year on the 11th of January a ceremony called the Misogigamankai (寒中禊がまん会) takes place in some shrines in the colder parts of Japan. It is a shinto ceremony to purify the minds and bodies of the people brave enough to take part who becomes representatives of their country during the ceremony. The purification ceremony is meant to ward of natural disasters and to show the endurance of the people and the land together. In Tokyo one of the very few shrines to have this ceremony is the Kanda Myojin in Tokyo’s Sotokanda district, just between Akihabara and Ochanomizu stations. This year about 48 men and women from 19 to 54 took part in the ceremony which was one hour long in the clear, bitingly cold and windy Tokyo winter.

The participants start by gathering in front of the shrine where they chant purification prayers together with the priest, as opposed to normally where you just listen to the priest. Wearing as little clothes as possible they then run one lap around the shrine while chanting before gathering in front of the cold spring water where a tent has been set up to keep them out of the sun. There they sing before lining up and take turn plunging themselves into the cold water, which by the way has large chunks of ice in it. All participants do two rounds into the water and some opt for a third. The whole ceremony is over after an hour and I can only imagine the pain they must feel!

There were dozens of photographers, lots of media and many people gathered so it was really difficult to get good photos of the event but I did my best with the little space I had between the onlookers and the ceremony. I will post more photos and information about the ceremony later this week!