Hiburi Kamakura (Fire Festival) and Jyuhyo-o (Snow Monsters)

February 14 - Hiburi Kamakura

Hiburi - the brandishing of burning straw rice bags. Celebrants brandishing the burning straw rice bags grip the end of about a one-meter long rope attached to the bag. The rice bags are set on fire by the burning firewood in the kamakura (or in firepits). People pray for the sound health and well-being of their family while the bag is burning. Kamakura - a cylindrical hollow of about 1.5 meters high that is made of snow. In simple terms, a Japanese style igloo that you pray in (or set prayer candles in) instead of live in. Firewood (or a candle) is put inside the kamakura and burned. In farmer villages, many koshogatsu (new year's celebration) events were held up to 1930 or 1931. The brandishing of burning straw rice bags has continued, but only around the Kakunodate area.

grins...
Can you guess where this is going? hehehehe

Kamakura lining a Samurai driveway.

And this is me, brandishing my burning straw rice bag. grins My take on the praying for sound health etc. is that if you can successfully swing a burning straw rice bag around your head without catching yourself on fire, you ought to have good health for the next year... or at least maybe any sickness you might come down with won't seem so bad in comparison with catching on fire. But that's just me. grins





Here are the lovely ladies I went out with. :) Girls night out and what a night! (me, Mizuho and her 6 yr. old adorable daughter Ha-chan, Emi, and Brooke)

A fun night of good company and new friends (Brooke I've known since October), good food and amazake (a hot sweet rice drink), the new adrenaline-rush experience of swinging a burning object around my head - TWICE (the 2nd time at the advice of a new friend we met there - gaijin (foreigner). He said keeping the straw rope was a must, and I'm glad I did. My straw rope is hanging on my door now. grins), beautiful kamakura and winter fireworks, and soaked freezing feet. :)

Happy Valentine's Day to ME! hehehehe

grins Way better than candy. ;)

February 19 - Jyuhyo-o (pronounced with a short 'jyu' and a long 'hyO'... like "Ho there!") :)

This past weekend I went up to the Nordaas's (for those of you who don't know, Amy's wonderful parents) in Takanosu. I met the new English teacher, Erika, 19 and from Canada, and had a great time getting to know her. Sunday morning (their church is at 3pm) a group of 8 of us drove to Moriyoshi Yama (mountain), took a 15-20 min Gondola ride to the top, and walked around in the mist and fog (and sometimes snow) looking at, taking pictures of, and playing around and under and on the amazing Snow Monsters - jyuhyoo.

Driving to the mountain between walls of snow.

Gondola heading back down.

Approaching the top... enveloped in fog.

The group. :) Haiyamisu Sensei, Fumiko, Atsuko's husband who's name I can never remember, Atsuko, Erika, Bonita, and Arnie (and me).

Exploring. grins

The Snow Monsters.

The hole really was deeper than I was tall. haha

Peeping Atsuko. :)

View on the way down!

Amazing, eh?!