A Japanese Local Community Event With A Small Shrine in 2016

The annual Spring Festival at a tiny local shrine which I have introduced previously on the 26th in this blog was just held yesterday. Many people got together at the shrine, from not only within Hachioji city but also various places in Tokyo and they had a nice time.

The shrine is located on top of a small mountain near Mt. Takao, which is well known as a sightseeing spot in Tokyo. So the shrine was surrounded by beautiful greeneries and wild spring flowers as you can see in the photos.

Although it was not necessary many people brought food or drinks/liquors to share with just like a pot-luck party, and if you donate something to this festival, you get a small bottle of sacred Sake from the shrine in return as shown in the upper center photo. In addition, Shinto priests of the shrine prepared a hot pot and provided to those visiting the festival.

People also enjoyed performances at the festival. There were a shrine maiden's dance and several music bands playing. The music weren't traditional Japanese music, in fact they were all foreign music. People gathering there are open-minded and they don't insist on Japanese materials only.

As you can see in the lower photos music bands were playing foreign music and there were people from foreign countries enjoying the music. It might be rare to see local community's activities at a Shinto shrine can be culturally mixed. It would be an interesting feature of this shrine that is open to international communities. The lower right hand side photo shows one of the Shinto priests dancing to South American music. There was even a foreign Shinto priest. That would be the reason why many people are gathed for this tiny shrine's activities.

A Japanese Local Community Event With A Small Shrine: What Does It Look Like?

In Japan, Shinto shrines and temples are everywhere, and we can find them in almost every few blocks. Their events are actually more like traditional customs rather than religious activities. People hold seasonal events and festivals at shrines and temples, in a sense these shrines and temples often work as a community center for local people.

Traditional seasonal events/festivals with major big shrines and temples are usually famous and many tourists visit to see these events. However, originally seasonal events/festivals were just local community activities, and we can still find the original style at some tiny local shrines and temples.

What do these old-fashioned local community events look like? There are many styles, but I'd like to introduce an example from West Tokyo area today.

The photos above are showing annual Spring Festival of a very small local shrine in Hachioji City, Tokyo. The shrine is tiny and there is no resident priest. However once in a while local people and priests get together there and enjoy community activities such as seasonal festivals.

Even though I said these are seasonal festival photos they probably look very different from famous festivals which always have many tourists. There are no stalls selling food and drinks. Since it is a very small local event, people don't invite stalls, just bring food and drinks there and priests provide some hot pot. It is an 'at-home' event like a 'Spring Party'.

During the festival, some people voluntarily provide performances such as singing songs or playing musical instruments. Last minute volunteers for these performances are also welcomed. It would be a good opportunity for the local professional performers to join the circle of music or dance. 

If you are living in West Tokyo area, and interested in joining this kind of local 'at-home' event, this Spring Festival will be held on April 29th (from 11:00am-3:00pm) this year, so please feel free to join!
The location is Asakawa Kompira Shrine, (address) 1429-285 Hatsuzawa-machi, Hachioji City, Tokyo.
The detailed map is below. 

A Photo Of After Sakura: It Is Called 'Hazakura'

As I wrote many topics about Sakura in my posts, Japanese pay a lot of attention to Sakura even before it blooms and after the flower falls. Therefore there are many words related to "Sakura (cherry blossoms)" in Japanese language. “Hazakura” is one of the words which means Sakura-With-Leaves (Cherry-Blossoms-Trees-With-Leaves).

Since most Sakura flowers bloom without leaves in early spring, right after the flowers scatters the young leaves come out, and "Hazakura" is the word describing the status of tree. Sakura trees with young fresh green leaves as shown in the photo above. The term includes the meaning of "after flowers", and it is often used when people want to express "It is too late for going to Hanami" or "Hanami (Seasonal Flowers Viewing) party season ended".

For example, people use it in a conversation such as 
“Hey, I just came back from my business trip. Why don’t we go to Yozakura(Night-View-Of-Sakura) seeing tonight at Ueno Park?” 
“Oh, I don't think it's possible. I saw it already became Hazakura this morning”
"Really!? I missed Hanami drinking this year!!"

What Kind Of Sakura Is Going To Be In Full Bloom Next?

If you missed the timing of full blooming Someiyoshino, the major kind of Sakura (cherry blossoms) in Tokyo area, please don't worry! Even after Someiyoshino has fallen, we can still enjoy Sakura and Hanami (seasonal flowers viewing)!

If you go to the north part of Japan, Someiyoshino is going to bloom now since Japanese islands spread vertically south to north. People can travel with the same kind of Sakura blooming gradually from south to north. 

Or even if you stay in one area, still you can enjoy various kinds of Sakura blooming between March and April. One of the common late blooming type is called "Yae-Zakura", which is a double-petals. It is going to bloom now. The Japanese name means "Eight-layered Sakura" and as you can see in the photo above, it really has much more than double petals and eight times or more pieces of petals!

Night View or Daytime View? Which Sakura do you prefer?

Now the major kind of cherry blossoms, Someiyoshino, started falling in Tokyo area, "Hanami(seasonal flower viewing)" season passed its peak. People would be going to lose the festive feelings now. Since Hanami literally means seasonal flower viewing as I mentioned previously, it's okay to go Hanami for other flowers, for example, to go to see Azalea, which is going to bloom now. However, even though people do Hanami for other flowers, still Hanami for cherry blossoms is special for Japanese people among all flowers.

Probably the biggest reason would be because it has been the most beloved flower since old times. Also the season of Someiyoshino matches the start of a school year and a fiscal year. Thus Sakura (cherry blossoms) can bring excitement and a sense of a fresh start to Japanese people. People celebrate their kids entering a school under cherry blossoms and company people would have their welcome party for their new recruitments under cherry blossoms.

During cherry blossoms Hanami season, we can find food & drink stalls in many Popular Hanami spots such as big parks and riversides, and they look just like local festivals. Some Japanese love to go to these "festival-like Hanami spots" especially at night to have a party with a night view of Sakura as shown in the top row of the photos. At the same time some other Japanese love to go to quiet Hanami spots without stalls and they just want to enjoy taking a walk or having a picnic with lunch boxes under the trees as in the bottom row of the photos.

Thus depending on your preference, good Hanami spots are different. Well, Night time "Festival-like Hanami", and daytime "Picnic-like Hanami" or "Hanami walk", which kind of Hanami would you like the most?