~Kamogawa Godosai Festival 2011~「ぎゅっとやらっせーよ」

The phrase in the title is a gem from the Boshu dialect...if you convert it into standard Japanese, it means something like「力いっぱいやってください」...apparently most commonly used when everyone gets together for a drink, but it can be used to refer to anything FUN!

It doesn't look heavy at all...until you think about just how many people are actually supporting its weight with looks of intense pain (and joy?) on their faces.

The second Saturday and Sunday of September is always the 鴨川合同祭, or Kamogawa Godosai Festival. I happened to? join the festivities two years ago for work, and after that time I was totally HOOKED and since then I look forward to the festival as much as I look forward to my birthday and Christmas. Crazy!!!

Anyway, I'll attempt to explain how the festival works. I didn't take very many photos this year (I was having WAY too much fun), so photos from previous years will be mixed in here and there. Anyway...onto the fun!

Most people look like they're gonna pass out, but the guy with a lavender towel wrapped around his head looks so HAPPY!

The festival is technically a really local thing. Generally only people who have lived in that area all their lives, and their parents, and their parents before them, etc. really get to join the festival. Like I mentioned before, I got a taste of the festival during work, and once one of my coworkers heard how much I loved it, they invited me to join on my own...this was my third year joining the festival, and it was amazing this year too!!!

Dashi floats gathered in front of Awa-Kamogawa Station.

These are the 山車 (dashi) floats. Generally the children are in charge of them, pulling them around town as 4-5 kids ride inside the dashi and play the taiko drums while 1-2 people play the matsuri flute alongside them. These are fun to watch (the kids always look like they're having so much fun!!!) but this isn't what I'm all about.

Poor people on the right side of the mikoshi are getting horribly crushed...

This is my love! The 御神輿, or mikoshi...commonly translated as "portable shrine." Sounds weird if you've never heard of it before, but I guess it really is that. Basically during the course of the festival, the god of the shrine resides inside this temporary habitat as the mikoshi bearers parade it around town, often heaving it up/down/around to "wake up" the god. Anyway, at the Kamogawa Godosai Festival, I help carry the mikoshi from Hie Shrine, one of the 5 mikoshi that participate in this festival.


Here's the "process" of carrying the mikoshi - from what I've observed while carrying the mikoshi, and from info I pieced together after asking others:

1. Someone calls the mikoshi bearers to standby, and everyone takes their places around the mikoshi.
2. Someone will sing kiyari, which are call-and-response songs handed down within each shrine. I've only really listened to the kiyari in Kamogawa as well as in Amatsu (another area of Kamogawa) - while I can't decipher exactly what they're singing about, the songs do sound pretty similar - the responses were a bit different.
3. During the first kiyari, eventually there will be a cue in the lyrics of the song that tells everyone to lift up and begin carrying the mikoshi. Start to slowly proceed towards the next resting point.
4. In addition to the people carrying the shrine, there are people who walk along with the shrine to make sure it doesn't run into anything (really necessary for narrow streets!) and will push the mikoshi back into place if needed.
5. While proceeding to the next point, there will be various cues in the song lyrics...generally there are two vocal call and responses, and on the third "call and response," the carriers clap their free hand on the poles...and on the actual cue, everyone will heaving the mikoshi up and down. Hie Shrine is pushed UP, towards the sky. I know at least two of the other mikoshi I saw are heaved DOWN - to symbolize like the ocean...those mikoshi were reaaally hardcore because the carriers were doing some crazy squats that looked painful.
6. Step #5 can be repeated however many times between the departure point and the next place. Once reaching the next resting point, the shrine will be heaved up and down again, and then immediately everyone will raise the mikoshi above their heads. This is reaaaaally painful because you can only really rely on your arm strength for this part. Then, they'll toss the mikoshi around in that position as well!
7. Generally after raising the shrine up all the way once, they will bring in a stand to rest the mikoshi on and everyone will take break. But if it's a special "showdown" point, (when you run into other mikoshi, etc.) you might continue heaving the mikoshi up and down until both sides or satisfied (or one side gives up)...!!!
8. Breaks are generally taken in front of local businesses, who supply the carriers with drinks (READ: endless endless ALCOHOL!) and food.
9. Back to step #1, and REPEAT!

I cannot stress enough how painful this part is. Not only are you carrying something extremely heavy with just your arms, you have to stay in this position for 3-5 minutes at a time...and sometimes they repeat this part over and over again. My arms always go numb towards the end of this part...

Other advice for carrying the mikoshi:

• When carrying the mikoshi, make sure that your shoulder is glued to the pole, because when they start jostling it, it'll HURT a lot more if you don't.
• Stick to the outside!!! On rare occasions, accidents do happen. This year, I saw a man get crushed under the mikoshi when I guess the people carrying it couldn't handle the weight anymore. This guy was in the middle, and he got stuck. Somehow, he got up right away and started carrying the mikoshi again.

And then some other random photos:

From last year, since I don't actually have any pictures of me carrying the mikoshi this year.

Bringing out the king of the festival.

This is the 水交團 ("Suikodan"), which is not a mikoshi - it's something called a 担ぎ屋台 (katsugi-yatai). The Suikodan's hometurf is the Kaisuka District - an area filled with fishermen, and the people here are SERIOUSLY hardcore about the festival!

The Suikodan at night.

 Some facts about the Suikodan: it is so awesome and so dangerous that women have been barred from carrying it. It weighs a ton - literally. And on top of that, 5-6 grown men playing the taiko drums ride in the Suikodan as it's getting carried around (pictured below).

Anyway, because the Suikodan isn't a mikoshi, and therefore does not have a god in it, they are REALLY rough with it. Like, instead of setting it down, they literally just all DROP it, and the people carrying it have to know the timing to let go AND to get out of the way ASAP unless they want to get horribly crushed. I wish I'd taken a video of it! It's really amazing/terrifying to see. I once saw one of the taiko drummers fall out as they dropped it...but apparently the drumming cannot stop at all costs, so I think someone else just leapt over and starting playing in his stead without anyone actually checking to see if he was okay (perhaps because it's so common to see someone fall out?).

The end of the first day.

On the first day of the festival, all of the dashi and mikoshi gather together in a single place - it's one of the highlights of the festival, since you can see all of them at once. And it's amazing to see that many people gathered in one place in Kamogawa...anyway, this is really the end of the night, when the mikoshi have been stored in the 御旅所/御仮屋, or "temporary resting place" until the next day, when the mikoshi will be paraded around town again until late at night when they all return to their respective shrines.

And last but not least, some personal photos:

With a couple of my best girlfriends from Kamogawa. I added this photo in because I am a huge narcissist and I want to show off my festival outfit.

Team Hie~! These are all people I worked with at Kamogawa City Hall...really miss everyone!

Anyway, I'll be joining another festival in Kamogawa at the very beginning of October, until I have to put away my festival outfit again until next year (assuming I am still here...).  Slightly off topic, but I was highly amused by how my friend referred to my festival outfit as my "colorful ninja clothes." Which, now that I think about it, they kinda really do look like ninja clothes.

In any case...many more adventures coming up, so stay tuned!