Changing of the Gods-Mt Tsukuba`s Onzawari Ceremony

At 877 meters it is not very high or majestic.But for those of us who live on the vast(by Japanese standards, of course!)plain to its south, the slightly crushed M figure of Mt Tsukuba is like a trusty old friend, always reassuring us of where we are and helping us get our bearings when we are lost. Its forested slopes put Japan`s seasons on display while on the flatlands below the greenery has been disappearing at a frightening pace and snow accumulation become almost a most rare occurence.
For the Japanese, Mt Tsukuba has also been a sacred mountain, since time immemorial. Its peaks are where the ancestral Gods of the Japan, Izanagi and Izanami, are enshrined.
The mountain has attracted many holy men over the years and during the Edo Period(1600-1867) a temple was built half-way up its southern slope to protect Edo castle from the unlucky North-Eastern quadrant, and this temple, then Chuzen-Ji, was generously endowed and supported by Japans long-ruling clan,The Tokugawa.
In 1868 Japan underwent revolutionary reforms and the Emperor was restored(again?) to supreme power(in name only, most say). The Meiji goverment also carried out a probably ill-advised(though not as ill advised as some other policies set in those days!) policy of separating Buddhism(a foreign import) from the pure , native belief which came to be called Shinto.
Thus Chuzen-Ji is now Mt Tsukuba Shrine, popular as a place to pray for marital happiness.
The priests of this shrine, together with the assistance of local residents continue to perform the most important of the mountains ancient rituals- Onzagawari(御座替り）which can also be pronounced Ozagawari. This ceremony takes place twice a year, on April and November 1.
The ceremony at first appears to be a typical Japanese Mountain God festival in which the deities are brought down to the fields in spring to bring abundant harvests, and are then escorted back up to their mountain abodes for the winter.
Mt Tsukuba`s spring and autumn rituals seem at first glance to be of this pattern, but there is a twist. Since the ancestral couple are enshrined on its peaks and the shrine half-way up the mountain is dedicated to family harmony, instead of focusing on agriculture the Onzagawari emphasizes love and protection of children.
Yesterday, despite vicious winds, a small omikoshi(portable shrine9 carried the child god up the mountain, where it is cool and high above the sweltering lowlands and the parent gods were carried down to the center of the mountain.
The positions of the parents and child will switch back again in autumn.
The ceremony began early in the morning and continued till late afternoon as carriers bore the omikoshis up and down the mountain(they used the cable car for some of the way!), battling the ferocious and unrelenting gusts.
Maybe the most special thing that a visitor can do on these ceremony days is to cross the sacred bridge(a red, wooden,covered bridge of rare design) which is only open on the first day of April and November.
I know that most of you missed it yesterday, but maybe I will see there in autumn.

Avi Landau