On Tuesday, David and I embarked to Nara (about an hour away by train) to go see a shinto ritual called "Omizutori." Literally this means "to give water" but for some strange reason, the ritual involves parading these massive fireballs up and through the shrine. The only thing that was ever remotely related to water was the fact that it was pouring rain (yet again). This ritual has some significance of which I am not quite educated about. All I know is the end of the ritual weeks are supposed to mark the real start of spring! Now that is something worth praying for.
David and I climbing the poorly designed stairs/river.
A view of Nara at night from the temple.
In the temple, after the big fire ritual, the "in-the-know" people go up and watch the monks chant and light some more things on fire. Of course this is all done through a wooden screen and then a white translucent screen, so nobody can get any good pictures.
Every shinto shrine has a bell you ring before praying, usually it is a heavy rope you pull to jingle the bell, but this one was Technicolor!
Hopefully I will go back before March 14th (when it ends) when it is not raining. Hopefully I will make it back to Nara sometime during the day to go frolic with the very friendly deer they have. For now, I am awaiting Spring break on the 13th! I will be heading to Okinawa for some scuba diving and then to Hiroshima for some hiking and historical reflection. More to come.
P.S. Here is a link to a song by Akira playing his UFO steel drum thingamabob.
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