Casting light?

Just near Kashima city in Saga Prefecture, Japan, there is a very beautiful, very large shrine complex named Yutoku. It is probably the biggest Inari Shinto shrine in Saga, and very important. In fact, one of the three major Inari shrines in Japan. About one and a half kilometres from Yutoku is Fumyooji, a very old Buddhist temple of the Ohbaku sect, built around 1670. It nestles well hidden in a large, natural forest garden.The garden is also the site for a set of elaborate grave markers indicating the buried remains of the Nabeshima family, leaders of the original local han (old administrative region). The importance of this family, and their nearby graves, is probably the reason for the continued existence of this temple.
Yutoku Inari shrine in Saga Prefecture. One of the three major Inari Shrines in Japan (the guardians of Inari shrines are foxes).

Priestesses clean the shrine surrounds in readiness for the lantern festival.

In November every year the monks attached to the temple, the priests of Yutoku shrine and the local people organise a bamboo lantern festival. This year I was fortunate enough to see it. I would say it was one of the most beautiful things that I have seen in Japan, or any other places that I have been. It rendered me quite speechless, and prompted many thoughts and possible explanations about contemporary Japanese culture, which I shall raise again later.

The lanterns are made of freshly harvested bamboo about 150 mm in diameter, cut across between the ribs, alternately at 45 degrees and then straight to provide a flat surface to stand on. The angled cuts form a reflector out of the fresh, light coloured inside of the bamboo. The internal membrane at the rib provides a ledge on which is placed the light source, a tea candle which will burn for about five hours.

The roadway and the footpath between Yutoku shrine and Fumyooji temple are illuminated for the whole kilometre and a half with these lanterns, arranged in groups of three or five, each cluster throwing enough light to clearly mark the journey. The gardens and paved areas around Yutoku shrine, the start of the walk, are  also decorated with these lanterns, but  althogh they make a beautiful scene, it is as nothing compared to what awaits you on arriving at the temple, at the end of the footpath.

Lanterns made from freshly cut bamboo, and tea candles.

The old, and now quite dilapidated main temple building is situated well back into the surrounding forest, and accessed via a very rough stone pathway over a beautiful curved stone bridge traversing a small lake, through several stands of very tall bamboo. The gate to the temple grounds is also very old. A standard Buddhist temple gate, not large, and quite plain.The stone pathway, the lake, several small shrines belonging to the temple and the forest beside the pathway are illuminated with hundreds of these same bamboo lanterns. Inside the gateway there is a large, open courtyard, divided in half by the stone path that extends through the gate, and finishes at the steep stone steps up to the temple entrance. It is in this courtyard that the real spectacle begins to unfold.

The open courtyard, the temple entrance, and the forest beside and behing the main temple building are illuminated by many thousands of bamboo lanterns and candles, lighting the pathways and steps to allow access. It is extremely dark this deep in the forest, and it would be impossible to move about without this illumination, as it is the only light source. The trees, the outbuildings, and human figures moving quietly about in this lantern light set an atmosphere of eeriness and ghostliness, enhanced by the age of the temple structures. In the chilly autumn evening air, it is quite spooky.

Bamboo lanterns and tea candles light the courtyard of Fumyooji temple, providing a beautiful and eery spectacle.

Below, the head monk lights a candle from the altar.

The open areas of the courtyard are decorated with many more candles, arranged in flower shapes to resemble a garden of light. The high bamboo lanterns in the background represent the forest trees, and have tea candles placed in notches all the way up their length.

As is customary in Japan, there is an official opening required, which thankfully is very brief. There are a few quick speeches by local dignitaries, and then the head monk  makes a short prayer in the temple, lights a candle from the main oil lamp at the altar, and then proceeds into the courtyard, where he ceremoniously lights the first lantern.  Various priests and dignitaries take turns lighting lanterns, and then the local people and visitors join in, quickly  lighting the rest.

A huge sea of candlelight rapidly develops, incredibly beautiful, and very spectacular. It is so moving everybody  just stands quietly in awe, taking in the dignified magnitude of it all. It is not a religious or spiritual feeling, as far as I can tell, but just a feeling of being overwhelmed by the simple beauty of it. And all this is witnessed by just a few hundred local people, and a handful of visitors. Ordinary men, women and especially children, who as you can imagine, take great joy in lighting the lanterns.
Tall lanterns representing forest trees and tea candles representing flowers, and a cluster of standing lanterns.

After spending an hour or so looking at this, and almost fruitlessly trying to photograph it, not being able to really represent it with any degree of justice, I made my way back along the lantern trail to Yutoku shrine, where it had all started. It was about 8.30 pm when we got back to the Yutoku carpark, to be welcomed by local people who had set up small hospitality tents, and were freely offering hot meat and vegetable soup to everybody. There were men busy pounding cooked sticky rice into paste to make omochi, a sticky rice ball that is eaten in a sweet red bean soup. Japanese people love it as an energy producing enjoyable snack. And the process of making it is somewhat ceremonial, involving an organised group, again reinforcing the village culture.

Pounding sticky rice to make omochi, or sticky rice balls to eat in red bean soup.

The rewards of this very enjoyable (and totally free) evening prompted many chains of thought about Japan, and Japanese people and their culture, for days afterwards. I know that some of these thoughts require the drawing of a long bow, and perhaps some over-stretching of the imagination. One of the things that I am interested in about Japan is how relatively crime free this society is, and how tolerant its citizens are towards each other.  It is often explained  as the logical product of a group culture, which Japan most certainly is. Group rights constantly outweigh individual rights, which is the opposite to what I am used to as a westerner. But is this enough to explain the respect that people here have for each other, and for private and common property?

Small lantern-lit shrine in Temple garden.

I have been having thoughts as to what part festivals and events like this local lantern festival, and the many, many other small, yet quite beautiful and charming local events and festivals play in the shaping of the Japanese psyche. These events usually take place around religious sites, yet as is well documented, modern Japanese people are not very religious at all, in any normal spiritual sense of religion. The site is far less important than the act of getting together, and shrines and temples provide both the space, and landmark locations that are easy to find for assemblies and gatherings.

But it is really the significance of the beauty, and the easy and welcome participation of all in the act of producing that beauty that interests me. Could you really find any pleasure in an act of vandalism, or could you see any artistic value in paint-can grafitti, both of which seem to plague western society that I lived in, after participating in the production of an event as beautiful and moving as this Fumyooji lantern festival?

And given that there are many thousands of festivals and events of this nature, which not only provide great spectacle, but offer equal participation in a real and enjoyable event, alongside your peers, then can this offer some explanation as to why Japanese people are so comfortable with and respectful of each other, and why Japenese society is relatively trouble free?

RK

Comments

[adrian oxbrow]

Fascinating Ray,

Now I better understand your more recent absences over on DPR, this site is wonderfully conceived, and designed. I am truly amazed how much work you have already done. I hope to visit here regularly to catch up. Cheers, and a great way to start this New Year. Cheers, Adrian

[Ray Kinnane]

Thanks, Adrian. Due to my slow progress, it has taken most of my time. And a lot of its quality is down to Typepad, the hosting site. Please keep visiting, and commenting, and keep in touch.

Ray Kinnane

[Bill Turner]

Ray,
Thanks for your post on DPReview. I've bookmarked this site and will visit frequently.

[Ray Kinnane]

Thanks Bill. Just need a very long holiday from there. It will be good to see you here, and catch up.

Ray Kinnane

[S. Paul Davis]

Ray . .

As you may remember, I spent a lot of time in Japan during the early and mid-70's. This 4-year period is one of the fondest memories I have. Your new website brings back these memories for me. Thank you for that. I'm very glad that you have decided to showcase your excellent photographic and cultural talents with this exhibition. Please keep it going !!!

Best Regards,

Paul
Vancouver, WA

[Ray Kinnane]

Thanks Paul. I do remember your love of Japan, and things Japanese. I feel the same way about it. Please keep visiting. I'll be glad to see you here, and have a chat.

Ray Kinnane