A Happy New Year

I wish you a wonderful Happy New Year!

It was warm to be around fire with lots of smokes and be surrounded by crowds... Well, lots of amateur photographers, I would say...

Time To Say Goodbye To Dolls

Since 1998, Tagesan Fudoson (多気不動尊)/Tagesan Jihouin Fudoson (多気山持宝院不動尊) of Shingon school (真言宗) Buddhist temple has been holding a ritual ceremony around mid February for old dolls that the owners decided not to keep at home anymore. It is an annual ceremony during which the temple treats the dolls as human beings when dead - by cremating them.

This was my first time to photograph this event, my positioning was bad and the best shooting position was completely taken by a bunch of old dudes with fancy DSLRs with expensive lenses.

The ceremony started off with the Buddhist monks chanting. Then gasoline was used to start a fire. It took less than 10 minutes of that for more than 100 fancy dolls to turn in ashes...
 
By the way, the most exciting event organized by the temple is a fire walking ceremony every May. We are planning to attend it this year. Photos of last year's ceremony are below. Click photos to enlarge.

This is Our World Tuesday Week 26 entry.

Two Baldies

From the archive, the photo was taken in Nikko city.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Happy New Year!

We went to Rinnohji temple (輪王寺) in Nikko city (日光市)...



Happy New Year!!!

Me No Hot, No Pain!

Another self-torturing performance freaked us out at the Tagesan Fudoson (多気山不動尊) fire festival.

Young monk appeared in public with a handful of bamboo branches in his hand, then approached the big metal bowl filled with boiling water. After reciting a sutra, he revealed his upper body. We just held our breath and waited for his next move to come...

He broke the silence by frantically spraying boiling water on himself. We were just speechless at this show of extravagant discipline. Bamboo branches shuttled between the pot and his body more than 10 times until his body was (most likely) cooked.

When it was done, he was overwhelmed by the standing ovation.

Fire Walking at Tagesan Fudoson

Buddhist monks walking on fire is an eye-catching event we love to see. Today I went to Tagesan Fudoson (多気山不動尊) by Mt. Tage (多気山) in Utsunomiya city. It's a Shingon school (真言宗) Buddhist temple that is said to be established in A.D. 822 by Sonchin (尊鎮), one of the disciples of Monk Sho-do (勝道上人). Hayagriva/Bato Kannon (馬頭観音) used to be worshipped there until A.D. 1355 but Utsunomiya Castle Lord, Kintsuna Utsunomiya (宇都宮公綱), transferred Acala/Fudo Myo-oh (不動明王) to the temple. Due to this Buddhist guardian, this temple is called "Fudoson (= a temple worshipping Fudo Myo-oh".

Last year we went to see a fire-performance done by Buddhist monks at Kobugahara Mt. Kongo Zuihoji temple (古峯原金剛山瑞峯寺) in Kanuma city (鹿沼市) and posted an article in our another blog, Budget Trouble. Practically what I saw today at Tagesan Fudoson is very similar to that event performed at Zuihoji temple.

This is an entry for Show Me Japan Vol 1, Issue 25. If you want to see nice photos taken in Japan, don't forget to visit!!!

Daruma Doll On Fire

Photographed at Futaarayama Shrine (二荒山神社) during Otariya (冬渡祭) festival. In my old post, I already described why Daruma dolls are put into the fire.　

    This is a B&W version of Daruma dolls on fire. Click on the photo to enlarge.

This is a Ruby Tuesday entry.

In Flames

Baby Daruma doll leaning on Papa Daruma in flames at Futaarayama Shrine.


Here is why we burn Daruma dolls

Daruma doll is a Japanese doll that represents the founder (or transmitter) of Zen school of Buddhism, Bodhidharma. Bodhidharma is depicted as wearing red cloth while performing zen - he sits down with his eyes closed.

In Japan we have a custom to buy a Daruma doll when you are planning to accomplish something. When you make a wish, you paint the left eye of the doll. When your mission is completed, you paint the remaining eye of Daruma.

Then you are supposed to bring your daruma with both eyes “opened” back to either temple or shrine where you purchased it for an annual ritual ceremony called “Daruma Kuyo”. Monks perform a ritual ceremony to express gratitude and daruma dolls are put in a fire after the ceremony.

If you are curious about our local ceremony during which Daruma dolls are burned, please visit our post on Budget Trouble blog.

This is a Black and White Weekend and Scenic Sunday entry.