Chino's prayer

A woman at Sayuri's workplace told us about a shrine located on the edge of the village that is visited by women who wish to have children. If an unmarried woman visits the shrine, does that mean she has a better chance of getting some? Chino wanted to give it a try. It had already gotten dark but we went anyway.

The cover of trees blocked out the moon and stars as we followed the narrow dirt path that led to the shrine. It was quiet, dark and altogether creepy. I kept expecting something to jump out from behind a rock or peek out from behind the trees. Chino got on her hands and knees, crawled through the three stone arches, and stepped up to the stone idol. She put her arms around the idol, rubbed her body against it, and swirled her hands all around the top. In the daytime the shrine probably has a sacred air about it, but in the middle of the night with no one around, she looked like some kind of pervert.

Yup, it's a giant wiener.

Sayuri

Sayuri moved back to her little village of Kunimi to live with her family. It's a couple hours north from here, and I haven't seen her in such a long time so a few weeks ago we made the trip up for a visit.

To put it bluntly, Sayuri is kind of ditzy. But that's kind of why I like her so much. Yuka, Chino and I were on our way up to Kunimi when we got a phone call from Sayuri saying that she was actually on her way down to Beppu, because her contact got lodged in back of her eye. Huh? I thought that was just an urban legend. It had slipped behind her eye the previous night, but she was tired and just went to bed (probably not the best idea, but oh well). It hadn't slipped back down by the time she woke up in the morning, so she had to go to an eye doctor to see if they could get it out. Unfortunately Japanese hospitals are closed on Sundays, and after calling around the only place that would see her was down here in Beppu.

The doctor told her that checking behind her eye for the contact might hurt a little, and she could grip the armrests of the chair if she needed to. Not a good sign. Then he lifted up her eyelid, shoved a cotton swab behind her eyeball, and swept it back and forth for ten seconds. Sayuri described it as the longest ten seconds of her life. The contact didn't come out, so the doctor suspected that there wasn't anything behind there, but if she felt she could take a little more he would push a little farther behind her eyeball to really dig deep. That's when she said, "Doctor, that's not funny." and left to meet us.

I've never heard of a contact getting so far lodged behind an eyeball that you couldn't see it. And if it did, I bet it'd hurt so bad you'd know it was there. Instead of going to the doctor to get a cotton swab jabbed behind her eyeball, searching around her pillow for a dried up contact would have been a much more painless and likely method of finding it.

Anyhow after Sayuri called to say that her doctor visit was finished, we worked out plans to drive separately and meet in Kunimi. Chino, Yuka and I continued on our way to Kunimi, but for some reason Sayuri had her mother drop her off at Chino's house. She called to say she was chilling in the living room with Chino's father, wondering where we were. So we turned around, picked her up, and finally made our way to Kunimi without any other stops.
Her workplace is a three-story house that serves as a gallery for traditional folding-screens made of silk. I figured they'd be expensive but my mouth dropped when she said they cost thousands of dollars each.


We could see pretty far from the third floor balcony. The village of Kunimi is surrounded by hilly countryside and it was nice for a visit, but it's too small for me to actually consider living there.
We grabbed the chimes (you ring them for luck) and jumped around like Chinese acrobats until Sayuri came to scold us. The thumps were reverberating throughout the house.

The Shrine in Saganoseki

You're supposed to visit 3 shrines within the first 3 days of the year, but I only went to two. My second shrine visit was about a 2-hour drive south in a small fishing town called Saganoseki.

The god of this particular shrine grants wishes if you promise not to eat octopus for an agreed upon amount of time. This may sound easy to a person who thinks chewing on octopus tentacles is completely revolting (like me), but for the Japanese this is quite a difficult challenge. A couple years ago a friend gave up eating octopus for an entire year in exchange for a husband. She found a husband shortly thereafter, so our other friends wanted to try praying there, too.

Before walking under the arch-gate of a shrine, you have to purify your hands and mouth with water. This one had water flowing from a spiky metal dragon head.

I've never heard anything about it, but I'm pretty sure kicking someone in the butt on shrine grounds is just asking for bad luck.

Pray, Yoshiko, pray.

I didn't ask, but I'm pretty sure Chino prayed for a husband. The big smile Yoko has on her face is the same one she gets when thinking about cakes. Is that what she prayed for?

Happy New Year!

I spent New Year's Eve in the Japanese way - no countdowns, no parties, no noise and no big hubbub. I went to my ex's place (we started hanging out again last month) where we watched TV for a while, then headed to a nearby shrine at about 2am when we figured the crowds had died down.
Yusuhara Shrine is just a short drive up the mountain in the outskirts of Oita City. I pass by the turnoff almost everyday on my way to work but I've never actually been there. I absolutely loved it. We parked in a field and climbed up the stone steps to the first gate (the upper photo). From there several paths led through the woods to the main shrine - most of them were pretty creepy at 2am, so we stuck to the one lined by lanterns that led straight up to the main entrance.

When I visit a new shrine I like to buy a protection charm from the priestesses selling them in the inner courtyard, but I passed on by when I saw the cheapest ones were 800 yen. I guess they must have had a tough year if charms cost double what I'm used to paying.


Usually you throw some money into the offertory box, ring the bell, clap your hands and make a wish for the coming year. But this one had a cool drum! I threw some money into the tray and gave a couple resonant thumps that echoed throughout the mountains.

Then like I do every year, I threw some money into another box and picked an omikuji. The dictionary says an omikuji is a "written oracle". It's a bound piece of paper that has all kinds of fortunes written on it and it determines your luck for the coming year. You can get them at any shrine, but the one you pull on your first shrine visit of the year is the most important. Some people like to swirl their hands around in the hundreds of omikuji fishing for the right one, but I figure the first one you touch is the one that's meant for you. I got a Daikichi! It's the best possible one you can get. Last year I got one that foretold a complete absence of luck, so I tied it to a nearby pine tree which helps to nullify the fortune.

If you pull a Daikichi you're supposed to keep it close to you. I've got mine in my wallet. Next year I have to go back to the same shrine where I got it from so the priests can burn it and release the fortune to let it go back to wherever it is that fortunes comes from. There are 13 specific categories on mine and the two I like best are:

Wishes: will come true as you hope for.
The person you are waiting for: will come for you.

I look forward to the coming year!