Norika turned out to be a lovely middle aged woman with good English and leather trousers. Immensely kind and helpful, she took us to a house where we were immediately invited in and sat down at a table with 8 or so guys eating a real banquet of sushi, lobster, stew, and a lot of alcohol. Our host, a compact and very self assured man, handed me a cup, and poured sake into it. I thanked him and took a sip, and every one looked at me. Big pause. I took another sip. Another pause. 'Do you like Sake?' they asked, concerned. Finally I caught on, and downed the rest in one large gulp. Everyone looked relieved. Clearly I had been too polite. The cup went to Dave, and he swallowed it all. The conversation moved on, and we ate a fine meal. They even gave us a cup of shochu, from a bottle that cost 30,000yen. That's about £150. It was really very nice. 'Drink it slowly' they said. They were really nice people, but unfortunately, as we've only been learning Japanese for 3months, we can't actually 'chat' much yet. We weigh heavy and damp on any conversation, like wet bread.
Then I went off and had a dip in the communal bath, before our host dressed me. I stood fully naked, with my back to him, as he passed a white cloth under my legs, and I held it in place as he twisted it to go between my bum cheeks, and wrapped it round my waist many times. I spun around as he coiled it around my tummy, occasionally stopping to place a knee against my hip and pull it very tight. My stomach was held very close like a corset, and I had a long loincloth stretching from my waist down to my calves.
I returned to the table, by which time most of the guys had got pretty legless. Lots of photos were taken, especially of us two: the two gaijin alone; the gaijin holding sake bottles; the gaijin with each guy in turn; the gaijin holding someone up high to make him look taller; the gaijin with the host's daughters; etc ,etc, etc. Here's one of the whole group:
The host is on my left; from what I could tell he was a rich and powerful man, though what he did I do not know. Dave is to his left, and then a very drunk old guy who decided he was our Japanese father.We all donned neat black slipper socks and old straw sandals, attached by rough strings that wrapped around our feet, collected our 8foot long wooden torches, and ran into the dark cold night...
Which wasn't actually that cold. I guess that's why we drank so much sake.
So we all stood outside the train station and posed with our unlit torches and shouted something at the people coming out of the station, before marching off to meet larger groups. We joined them to form a group of 50 or so, and gathered around a small fire, as more sake was passed round. Then we lit our torches and marched off to the temple. As we marched the leaders would shout 'OS-SAA!' and we would call back 'OS-SAA!'. It passed back and forth in time with our feet, pounding along at walking pace. Occasionally we would stop, and thrust our torches into the air as we shouted in unison 'SEYYYYYYY!'. It was like being in a local militia of spearmen in 16th century Japan, shouting to feel stronger and braver in the cold dark air. We saw other columns of men marching in the same direction in other streets; a mood of growing tension and excitement at the sight of competition. Eventually we reached the temple, and found huge bonfires to warm our cold bodies:
More sake went around. Got talking to a couple of guys who turned out to be journalists. Despite being in the middle of a fire festival, this was still Japan, so one of them gave me his business card. Rather short of pockets, I stuffed it down my cotton body wrap. Then we paraded around the temple with our torches, chanting and thrusting our flames into the air, before returning for more warmth and sake. There was a lot of sake...
Then off we went to the main event. There was a brief ritual where our torch bearer said some kind of greeting to the mayor of the nearby city (we met him earlier, and bowed lots, cos that's what everyone else was doing). They threw water on themselves from little cups, and then lit the torch and we all shouted lots (this bit was fun - see pic below). That's my host in the middle with one arm up, wearing a red bandana to show that he is in charge. The torch bearer had two guys to support his arms, because he had to hold it up in the air for about 2hours.
We marched into the main area through all the crowds, and surrounded a huge wooden column, angled up like a cannon. Just one in a row of 5 or 6 of these monsters. It was about 1.5m across, made of thick bamboo, and sprouting a mass of dry of leaves and branches. Men walked up the column to pour fire lighter on the leaves. After a peculiar slow dance with two masked men (all slow walking and briefly waved hands - but with none of the grace of Noh), they lit our cannon. (It's not really a cannon, but I like the word, so I shall use it). Huge flames came out. We weren't cold anymore:Then one by one the cannons began to move. Yes, MOVE. When it came to our turn, I saw how. We all took hold of a long wooden stick, and stuck it into the bamboo. With a loud 'SEYYY!' we lifted it up. So that's why we kept practising shouting and thrusting into the air...
Then we began to march off, parading what was essentially an immensely heavy burning tree around the temple. Occasionally we would stop and rest it on a huge bamboo cross carried by two hefty guys underneath the cannon. Other men waved leafy green branches, trying to stop the sparks landing on us. Not that it made much difference; everyone got a lot of tiny burns and singes on their skin. Again, so THAT'S why everyone drinks so much sake. One old guy told me that it was good for your health if the sparks fell on you. I am dubious.
This is basically what I saw:
And here's a picture of my favourite character of the night:
He had a neat little moustache, shaven/bald head, and a strong build for a man who must have been in his late 50s. He was like an old samurai general. At one point, he suddenly appeared and shouted at everyone. Immediately they stopped dead, and sheepishly blinked at the floor as he proceeded to harangue a large group of 50 drunk and testosterone-fuelled men. I think we were doing something wrong, but no idea what. He had absolute authority over them all; intensely practical and in his element, leading such a large group of men. An awesome individual.
All this time, men were beating drums and ringing bells without rest. A really charged atmosphere. Two guys started shouting and fighting, and had to be pulled apart. The man next to me got his stick in the wrong place, and it slipped forward and smacked me on the eyebrow. Again, the sake helped.I really wanted to walk up the cannons, but though I mentioned it to a few people they just laughed at me. It looked so exciting up there!
When we had finally made a circuit of the temple, our cannon had burned down about half way. We took it on our shoulders, and our torchbearer sprinted through under the fire and beneath the length of the cannon. Then we put it down and he ran over the top. It was doused in water, and the festival was over. Suddenly, it was cold and dark...
Luckily, my friends Heather and Brendan were around to take these pictures of the event. We stayed in our host's house over night, which was actually pretty excruciating. I hate being a burden on people, especially when out of pure social obligation, but Japanese hospitality demands the guest do absolutely nothing and the host provide their every need. They were hugely kind, but I actually WANTED to help out, wash up or whatever. They would have none of it. As we talked late at night, they asked us what we liked to eat at breakfast, and stupidly we started eulogising about the virutes of the English fry up. The next morning, we were presented with a piece of toast, and a fried egg. And jam. And chopsticks. They watched us expectantly. Deal with that one on a hangover.
