The festival season has started! It seems that every week, there some kind of festival going on and you know, I’m not complaining (which is rather rare). On the 27th May, I actively participated in one of the festivals and became a miko (a shrine maiden, a shaman in the past). Man, was it a cool experience!
It all started when one of my friends that is also an exchange student here asked me to join her in the “miko odori” (dance), because you get to wear traditional clothing as well as a free photo in it. And after my kimono experience when I felt like a Japanese princess, I just had to say yes. Even though the clothes are completely different, it’s all about variety, right.
After that we went to a dance practice in the shrine (have I mentioned it was all taking place at a shrine? Well, now you know) and we quickly realised that one session two weeks before the event would not be enough. Luckily, there’s a YouTube video with the whole dance one can use for practice (click). At the same time, the dance itself wasn’t that difficult. There were three different songs and each had a set of perhaps 10-15 steps that would be repeated over and over again. The problem was remembering which leg is first, how many steps you take and so on.
Then, the big day came. It was a Saturday, which for normal people meant sleeping in and then getting all excited about the event, but for me it meant going to my shift and then taking a class at school. Yes, even though it was Saturday. Don’t ask, it’s quite traumatic.
But, we made it in time for the gathering and started getting ready. I needed all the help I could get to put on the very complicated attire consisting of white kimono shirt and a red skirt. So many strings you have to tie in a specific way. But I got it on and it was great! Some people might find traditional Japanese clothing rather restricting, but for whatever reason, I find it quite comfortable, perhaps because of my breathing technique. The shoes though! Don’t they have different sizes? (side note: the socks had buttons!) So I got my photo, got my dinner (at 3:30pm, which is a bit early even for me) and now it was just time to wait. So let’s skip a little bit forward to the real festival, shall we?
At around 6, the official part started. We were led into the shrine where the priests did some kind of ritual and said things in Japanese that I didn’t really understand, but I suppose all that was to get a blessing. The cool thing though, was how they made fire with wood. You know, the way you’d see in a cartoon where they put a stick into a wooden circle and turn it. In no time, it started smoking and soon fire awoke! First time seeing it in real life, I’d had no idea it really works. After that, we were to perform our dance. I was more excited than nervous, maybe because I thought that I could get easily lost in the crowd of the miko-san (yet I was the only non-Asian person actively participating, which at first made me feel a bit self-conscious, but I guess I love the spotlight and being different, so ehh, I’m a person of paradoxes).
We danced, this time in two large circles, one in the other. This was the moment, the songs got stuck in my head and they’ve been randomly popping out in my mind since then. After our performance, two professional miko had a dance and then we saw kagura, traditional theatre. It was also really fascinating. As we were watching, one of the priests came up to us and asked us if we don’t want to take a picture inside the shrine (where you can’t really even go usually, so obviously we agreed). Maybe he noticed us because I was the different one? We’ll never know…
Then, the great finale! We were to repeat the same dances, but now, it was dark, it was warm, it felt like summer and the atmosphere was truly great. This time we danced in four separate circles, who knows why, and at the very end, we were to dance our first dance one more time, but this time with lanterns. They turned of the lights and it was truly magical. All I could see was the Gokoku shrine in its glory and about 70 lanterns floating in the air.
These are the moments that make me realize that life might be worth it after all. There are so many incredible moments. All you have to do is be accept them. Who would’ve thought that in my year abroad I would be dancing in a miko attire, asking for blessings for my Japanese “hometown”, with a lantern in my hand at night. It makes you feel alive, you know.
PS: Sooo, it seems that the miko odori is also for young women to get a blessing to get married, so… umm, yeah, I hope my grandparents are satisfied… lol.
