What does "feeling of being in Japan" mean?
#61
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Thanks for the Memories !!!
Posts: 10,656
Although I have nothing to add about "feeling of being in Japan", I do want to say thanks to everyone who shares their experiences and knowledge about Japan, its people and their customs.
This is one of those threads that helps me get in the Japanese mindset.
Japan is at the top of my list of places to visit and right now I am in the research phase. The FT Japan forum has been a great resource. I feel as if I know some of you personally. At the least I do know some of your personalities quite well.
This is one of those threads that helps me get in the Japanese mindset.
Japan is at the top of my list of places to visit and right now I am in the research phase. The FT Japan forum has been a great resource. I feel as if I know some of you personally. At the least I do know some of your personalities quite well.
#62
Moderator: Luxury Hotels and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Palo Alto, California,USA
Posts: 17,836
#63
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Thanks for the Memories !!!
Posts: 10,656
#65
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Japan
Posts: 1,056
Went to this bizarre thing tonight with my kids. On the end of a long bamboo pole was a length of wire attached to a kerosene soaked ball of cloth that was then set alight. All the neighbourhood kids then stood along the edge of a ditch/creek and held these flaming balls over all the reeds and weeds, dipping them in and out of the grass and generally waving them around. It was so surreal. Despite living here for almost 11 years I'm still not anywhere near being able to say I know what's going on.
#66
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Thanks for the Memories !!!
Posts: 10,656
#68
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: London
Posts: 18,336
Went to this bizarre thing tonight with my kids. On the end of a long bamboo pole was a length of wire attached to a kerosene soaked ball of cloth that was then set alight. All the neighbourhood kids then stood along the edge of a ditch/creek and held these flaming balls over all the reeds and weeds, dipping them in and out of the grass and generally waving them around. It was so surreal. Despite living here for almost 11 years I'm still not anywhere near being able to say I know what's going on.
"Now the name Sanemori is an illustrious one, that of a famous warrior of old times belonging to the Genji clan. There is a legend that while he was fighting with an enemy on horseback his own steed slipped and fell in a rice-field, and he was consequently overpowered and slain by his antagonist. He became a rice-devouring insect, which is still respectfully called, by the peasantry of Izumo, Sanemori-San. They light fires, on certain summer nights, in the rice-fields, to attract the insect, and beat gongs and sound bamboo flutes, chanting the while, 'O-Sanemori, augustly deign to come hither!' A kannushi performs a religious rite, and a straw figure representing a horse and rider is then either burned or thrown into a neighbouring river or canal. By this ceremony it is believed that the fields are cleared of the insect."
Does sound like a traditional 'rite' to clear insects and protect the rice crop got 'hijacked' in order to encompass this Senemori-San legend in Izumo. But the underlying actions (without the straw horse) seems to be what you've described.
I wonder if killing insects at the creek stops them from breeding.
#69
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: NYC
Programs: UA/HH/Marriott Gold
Posts: 2,464
Given the timing, I suspect that's more of a mukae-bi to welcome back the spirits for O-bon, rather than a bug killing technique.
A quote from the Daily Yomiuri that I found online:
As the first day of Bon approached, you'd find small bundles of straw at the florist's shops and supermarkets. On the first day of Bon, the dead are said to find their way back to their families by the light of burning straw (mukaebi or "welcoming fire"). On the last day, straw is burned again (okuribi or "send-off fire") for the dead returning to their own realm.
A quote from the Daily Yomiuri that I found online:
As the first day of Bon approached, you'd find small bundles of straw at the florist's shops and supermarkets. On the first day of Bon, the dead are said to find their way back to their families by the light of burning straw (mukaebi or "welcoming fire"). On the last day, straw is burned again (okuribi or "send-off fire") for the dead returning to their own realm.
#70
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: London
Posts: 18,336
I've just learnt that there are bug killing festivals across Japan (they're usually called mushi-okuri) - but as you implied, the timing is probably wrong, most of them take place a month or so earlier.
#71
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Ani Ichibanya
Programs: WWMFD
Posts: 6,292