Guoping’s Blog

Last Saturday, I visited the Kumano Kodo in the rain; do you know the kumano kodo? Let me give you some brief introductions about the Kumano kodo.
Due to its historical importance, Kumano Kodo has recently been named a “World Heritage Site.�
According to my guidebook:

Kumano kodo is the general name for the ancient pilgrimage trails linking Kumano Sanzan, the three grand shrines of Kumano: Hongu-taisha, Nachi-taisha and Hayatama-taisha. There were many routes starting from Ise,Yoshino,Koya-san,Kyoto and others. Of which the two of the most popular trails were Kii-ji, the western route in the Kii Peninsula, and Ise-ji the eastern route in the Kii Peninsula.
Kumano kodo surivived development because of its steepslopes, and was revived into a pleasant hiking path. Walking on the moss covered stone path through thick forests, hikers can feel the atmosphere of the ancient pilgrimage; listen to the sound of crystal-clear streams, and view historical monuments and stone images of Buddha.—

I went to the Nisaka-toge（��峠）and the Uomachi（魚町） the fishery area in Kii-Nagashima district in Kihoku town. For centuries, the Nisaka-toge Pass Route is the gateway to Kishu. Province was Tsuzurato-toge Pass. However, since the time of the Kishu-han Fief of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Nisaka-toge Pass route lying to the east became the formal entry to the Province. At Uomachi, I visited the Nagashima Shrine. This shrine is dedicated to three gods, including Susanoo-no-Mikoto.

There is a camphor tree that is more than one thousand years olds. It’s about thirty meters tall, and more than ten meters around. It has been designated as a special protected species by the prefecture of the authorities. Shimenawa, made of twisted strands of rice straw, is hung around the tree. It is believed to have the special power to ward off evil spirits as well as disease.
From this region, there are five famous folk stories. They are The Tale about a Kappa and Jirozaemon , Takabosan, The Mambo and the Lord, Lips of a Mermaid, Syorai’s Family. Here is one of the five stories:

Syorai’s Family
The Somlin family had two brothers. The older one was named Syorai. He was a warm-hearted person who lived in extreme poverty. However, his younger brother was quite opposite. One time, in the middle of the night, a dirty looking man asked the brothers if they would put him up for the night. Although the younger brother firmly refused, Syorai accepted him willingly. But who do you think this traveler was? He turned out to be the god of well being, in return for this hospitality, the god gave him a lucky charm. Despite a series of plagues, only Syorai’s family was protected from disease. This story is the origin of a custom that is still practiced in this region. Even today many people still hang wooden charms above their doors that read, “We are descendants of Syorai.�
By Hajimu Ogura

The New Year has come, in Japan, this is one of the biggest festivals, and all family member will get together to celebrate it. And at the same time they cook delicious food for the family and call it osechi (御節). But what about my hometown? Do you known something about the Mongolians New Year? Let me give you a brief introduction to it.

For Mongolians the New Year begins with the Lunar New Year. And the Lunar New Year always is one month later than the Gregorian calendar (new style/the solar calendar). So in my hometown, for the Mongolians the New Year has not came yet. In this year, it will be on the 29th of this month. It is our custom to clean the room on the 23rd of December in Lunar Calendar. In other words, it does just one week before the Lunar New Year. In Japan they also have the same habit, and they call it oosoujio (大掃除). On that day, we will take all the day to clean the house; I was so tired but we like it. Because we have very delicious dinner waiting for us cooked by my mum. The dinner consists of mutton and amsu (in Mongolian), it is like rice porridge, we put the pieces of meat in it, and some cheese, peanuts, sometimes we also put some vegetables in it.

After the dinner, the very important thing for us to do is worship kitchen god. In other words it means we offer sacrifices to the fire gods. In the ancient times, Mongolians lived a nomadic life. The fire is so important for them. Without the fire, I think the Mongolian culture will not be spread generation by generation.

Put the fire bowl in the open air, and light the burnable materials that were put in the fire bowl. Put the meet, foods and a little alcohol on the fire. This means we made sacrifices to the fire god to bless and protect us. We will kowtow in turn; form the elder to the younger. After all of this, the adults will come back to home, and the fire bowl belongs to the children. We play games around the fire and fire the fireworks. Although it’s cold outside and so late, nobody wants to go back home. At last, the fire is burning out, and we hate to let go of the fire bowl.

I think this kind of happiness only belongs to the children, and when I grew up, I couldn’t find it again, only it is left deeply impressed on my memory.

What about in Japan? Can you give me some image about the New Year? Because I found the New Year is so silent here in Japan. And this is totally different with us.

In Japan in the beginning of the year, they are going to the shrine to pray for the whole year. They call this hastumoude (�詣).
For my hastumoude, I went to the tadotaisya（多度大社） in Kuwana (æ¡‘å??).

At the festival, the people ride the horse goes up a slight slope at a high speed. If it succeed, fortune of this year is good. People go to there to pray a good year. And the horse is one of the gods in there.