394th Anniversary of Ieyasu TOKUGAWA's Death – part two

This entry is our first submission to the monthly Japan Blog Matsuri. This month's topic is "how to". And what we'll try to do is to explain how to distinguish who's who during the Nikko Toshogu Grand Spring Festival procession.

You've seen the procession, you've stood there and watched the people go by. And you've listened to the garbled explanations provided in funny English over the loudspeakers. And while it all looked very pretty (and somewhat anti-climactic even), you still are not sure what it was all about.

This handy, step-by-step guide will show you how the procession looked like back in the 19th century and compare it with the procession we have today.

But, first things first:

We're friends with a very supportive Nikko local, who's the owner of a small and but well-known okonomi restaurant - Hinokuruma (火の車).

Shameless plug for Hinokuruma - go and eat there. The owner will treat you like one of her favorite long-lost children. Some English spoken, vegetarian choices available. And it's cheap.

Here's a map:

Anyway, thanks to her, we were lucky to get two precious seats at the very front row for the parade - Shinyotogyosai (神輿渡御祭) in the morning. Shinyotogyosai is the event's proper name, though it is also known as Hyakumonozoroe Sennin gyouretsu (百物揃千人行列).

When you buy a ticket (1200 yen), a booklet, an ema (絵馬) and a tourist information brochure come with it. One of the booklets explains the parade.

The print (版画) was made in 19th century (early Meiji Period), and it describes the parade for Ieyasu’s (TOKUGAWA of course, by now we're on first name basis) death anniversary.

If you start looking at all the details, you can see it differs from his 394th parade in 2010. But let's take a look at the similarities.

What you can see at very head of the procession is a big Sakaki tree used to purify the route.

And now:

Our favorite tour guide - Sarutahiko (aka Tengu) and a lion (which looks more like a dragon) are there.

And now:

A horse and guys with red "lightsabers":

And now:

Naginata team:

And now:

Samurai warriors:

And now:

Decorated hats:

And now:

Hats with Chinese zodiac animals

Masked team:

And now:

Dignitaries on horseback:

And now:

Banners:

And now:

Children dressed like monkeys collecting donated coins:

And guess what? Back in the olden days, they had actual monkeys doing it, too.

And now:

Sacred mirror:

And now:

Drum:

And now:

Procession members in colorful outfits:

And now:

Priest carrying sacred paper:

And now:

First mikoshi carrying Ieyasu’s divine spirit:

And now:

Second mikoshi carrying Hideyoshi TOYOTOMI's (豊臣秀吉) divine spirit:

And now:

Third mikoshi carrying Yoritomo MINAMOTO's (源頼朝) divine spirit. Ieyasu was a big admirer of Yoritomo.

And now:

This last image is the cover picture of the booklet. It looks like it was taken during the Showa Era, I guess, in the early 80s, or so.

There are no side ropes dividing the crowds from the procession. A crowd can be see on the top of the stone-wall by the path (right side under the cedar trees) - now it's a non-no to stand up there. No special paid seats were provided back then. And not so many photographers pushing their way up to the front. Not many foreigners, either.

To read more about the festival, please see Part One of this series.

And to see more photos of the festival and the procession, visit our photo blog - Tochigi Daily Photo - here and here and here.