Summer Rites at Kaba-San shrine

Historically the inhabitants of the Japanese Isles have been susceptible
to sickness and epidemic during the summer months. The rainy season of June
always brought the danger of flooding, and when the rains stop there are almost two months of relentless heat and humidity.
A perfect formula for the incubation and spread of dangerous bacteria.
In modern times the governmemt initiated programs of universal vaccination and innoculation which have made regular summer
pestilence a thing of the past.The Ministry of Construction has also been spending more than 100 years pouring concrete,
leaving almost no natural rivers,and thus greatly reducing the chance of flooding.
The ancient Japanese court had no recourse to modern medicine. It did however
concieve of a national plan to protect the nation from sickness and disaster.
This came to fruition with the implementation of 2 official
purification ceremonies or O-Harae. One in summer and one in Winter, with each
ceremony giving six months worth of protection. The ceremonies were held at shrines throught the realm and have continued for more than 1200 years.

A feature of the summer rite(nagoshi no harae)was the use of a magical ring
of woven reeds or straw. Those to be purified would pass throught the upright rings,usually 3 times.
The belief in the efficacy of these CHINOWA stemmed from a story in Japanese mythology in which the
mischivious yet heroic God Susanoo no Mikoto adviced a man who had helped him to
weave a ring of reeds in order to protect himself from an imminent epidemic.
The man survived and the powers of such rings established.You can see these rings worn by sumo wrestlers and I guess the sumo ring itself is
a CHINOWA.
Today I went to MT Kaba to observe this years CHINOWA KUGURI
ceremony. It began with conch blowing and then sword drawing.Both of which have
strong excorsistic powers in Japan. The worshippers then
passed through the ring 3 times before entering the main hall for further
purification by the priest. The ring itself was made of what looked like palm fronds, highly evocative of southern islands.

I will need all the extra power I can get as the TenGooz forge on with recording and rehearsals.
By the way,Kaba-San Shrine is said to have the skull of a Tengu as one of its relics. There were certainly plenty of Tengu masks.
I felt right at home.

Avi Landau