Our friend, Maiko, provided us with a map of the parade route and told us where the parade would stop for almost 1 hour. It was pretty crowded at the intersection, but Kyle towered over everybody. A majority of the audience were elderly, hence the shorter average height than normal. I was not as lucky as Kyle-- there was usually a few heads about my height blocking my view.
So what is a Shrine Festival?
Well, I'm still not 100% sure, but here's what I've figured out based on the internet and watching the parade.
The Hokkaido Shrine contains 3 kami (Shinto deities) and the Emperor Meiji. Possibly the Emperor Meiji is now a kami because the Hokkaido Shrine's website lists there as being 4 gods in the shrine, including the "God of the Emperor Meiji". The other three kami were enshrined in 1869 and brought to Hokkaido (by an order of Emperor Meiji) when Hokkaido was first being settled by the Japanese. These kami I think were supposed to help in the "reclamation" of Hokkaido. According to the Hokkaido Shrine's website, the other three kami are
1. Okunitama: the god of the land of Hokkaido, and from which all things can be produced in nature.
2. Onamuchi (or Okuninushi): the god of developing the land
3. Sukunahikona: the god of healing, who works with Onamuchi to reclaim the land.
with
4. Emperor Meiji
During the Shrine Festival, these 4 gods are taken out of the Hokkaido Shrine, placed in portable shrines, and taken through the city and the "gods see the prosperity of the town".
Here is the very first thing that arrived in the parade. We first thought it was a portable shrine, but later learned otherwise. This... whatever it is... was carried down the street by a group of men taking little jumping steps and chanting together. It was pretty cool. Yes, their traditional outfits do not include pants.
After the chanting men arrived, many more people paraded past, all in traditional clothes of one kind or another. I saw many traditional outfits from hundreds of years of Japanese history.
There were some horse-drawn carts too. But I couldn't see them because my view was blocked.
At the end, the 4 portable shrines arrived. Many of the participants of the parade put down their carts, swords, banners, etc. and joined the crowd around the shrines. What followed is a great mystery to me. I couldn't see what was happening, but someone was chanting into a microphone and the crowd would bow their heads in prayer at different intervals. Besides the microphone, it was very very quiet and after a while, Kyle and I realized that we were the only foreigners around. So after 10 minutes or so, we left our confusion behind and went shopping.
That's all for now,
Bre (and Kyle)
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