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    • Navigate >
      • Eat & Drink in Tajimi (TOP) >
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          • Food - Wild Yam a treat for the New Year
          • Food - Eel à la tajimienne
          • Drink - Sake in Tajimi
          • Drink - Sake. "Excellently Dry"
          • Food: Cook a local snack - Gohei mochi
          • Food: The History of the Gohei mochi
      • Plan your trip to Tajimi and Gifu
      • See >
        • Places
        • Historical figures
      • Mino Ware >
        • Famous kilns in Tajimi - a pottery town in Gifu prefecture, Japan
        • Mino ware ceramics and pottery Shopping
        • Pottery and ceramics galleries in Tajimi, Japan
        • Courses, equipment and stores for Potters
      • Experience >
        • Pottery Workshops in Tajimi, Japan
        • Pottery painting & Tile Art experiences in Tajimi
        • Fruit Picking in Tajimi
      • Eat & Drink in Tajimi >
        • Restaurants
        • Cafes & Confectionaries
        • Unagappa Sweets
        • Tajimi Yakisoba
      • Souvernirs
      • Currency Converter
      • Getting around
      • Lodging
    • Event Calendar
  • News index
  • Essays
    • Pottery Retreats - A Creative Escape
    • Tajimi partners with local businesses to improve services for foreign tourists
    • The tea Ceremony in Tajimi: Pottery, People, and Places (Part 01)
    • The tea Ceremony in Tajimi: Pottery, People, and Places (Part 02)
    • To Tajimi and back: foreign visitors' impressions of our city
    • Walking in Tajimi >
      • 01 Walking in Takata - Onada
      • 02 Walking in Tajimi - The Immovable Wisdom King
      • 03 Walking in Tajimi - Suigetsu Kiln
      • 04 Walking in Tajimi - North of Toki
      • 05 Modern day Nagase St. - flash backs from the past
      • 06 Around Oribe Street
      • 07 The Tajimi Ginza Arcade Area
      • 08 Ichinokura - The Pottery Town (Part 01)
      • 09 Ichinokura - The Pottery Town (Part 02)
    • Cycling in Tajimi
    • Ceramics >
      • Makigama Fair in Tajimi
      • Ceramics Festival Mino 24
      • The Story of Mino Ware >
        • The roots of the Mino ware renaissance
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 1)
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 02)
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 03)
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 04)
        • Beyond Mino Ware (Part 05)
      • The ascending kiln
      • Kobe Kiln: Tradition-meets-innovation
      • A polar bear's pottery performance
      • Shiro Tenmoku (01): The first reproduction in 500 years
      • Shiro Tenmoku (02): The first reproduction in 500 years
      • Finland Meets Tajimi
      • Ceramic treats in Tajimi - a Mini Tour
      • Learning pottery at the Ho-Ca workshop
      • Master Potter Hidetake Ando
      • Brave New Pottery - 3rd Ceramics
      • English Guided Tours 2019
      • Ikuhiko Shibata - Not Your Ordinary Potter
      • Kasahara - the Tile Kingdom
      • The Mosaic Princess Tile Enthusiasts
      • Striking Gold in Mino 2021
      • Toso - the Legacy of a Mysterious Master Potter
      • A Muromachi Style Kiln Firing
    • Life in Tajimi >
      • Tono-ben: Great Ice-breaker phrases for the traveler >
        • Tono-ben Karta - a card game
        • Tono-ben; Everybody Loves Fumi-chan
        • Learn Tono-ben (Karuta cards)
      • From Tokyo to Tajimi: My Life in a Seemingly Ordinary Rural Town (Part 1)
      • From Tokyo to Tajimi (Part 2): About a future where people live wherever they want
      • From Tokyo to Tajimi (Part 3): Now is the time to see the countryside
      • The Festival - Oh, What a Night!
      • The Life of an American Japanese
      • Festivals in Tajimi
      • 2018 in Tajimi - Visually
      • Film - A day in Tajimi
      • Virtual Travel - The day when Our World Shrank
      • Blessings in a calamitous year (part 01)
      • Blessings in a calamitous year (part 02)
      • Flower Viewing Beyond the Crowds
      • Manga: The Kappa Scene
      • Shidekobushi - the rare Magnolias of the Tono region
    • History >
      • A Failed Coup d'etat - And the Death of a Tajimi Samurai
  • エッセイ
    • 多治見​滞在中の過ごし方
    • 薪窯フェア
    • 国際陶磁器フェスティバル美濃 ’24
    • 外国人観光客へのサービスを充実させる取り組み
    • 焼物の町 多治見で茶道のあれこれ (Part 01)
    • 焼物の町 多治見で茶道のあれこれ (PART 2)
    • ​多治見に訪れた人たち、そしてその後
    • 焼物の町、多治見まち歩き 小名田/高田 ​パート1
    • 多治見ウォーキング >
      • 焼物の町、多治見まち歩き 小名田/高田 ​パート2 不動明王の滝
      • 焼物の町、多治見まち歩き 高田/小名田 ​パート3 水月窯
      • 多治見歴史探索ウォーキング - 土岐川の北側
      • ながせ通りウォーキング 昔の姿に思いを馳せながら
      • おりべストリート周辺 - パート1
      • 多治見 銀座通り
      • 市之倉町 多治見の小さな陶器の町(パート1))
      • 市之倉町 多治見の小さな陶器の町(パート2)
    • 陶器・タイル >
      • シロクマの焼き物パフォーマンス
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 1)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 02)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 03)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 04)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 05)
      • 美濃焼ルネッサンスのルーツ
      • 白天目 500年ぶりの再現 PART1
      • 白天目 500年ぶりの再現 PART2
      • 登り窯
      • 焼き物の楽しみ方
      • 幸兵衛窯:伝統と革新の出会い
      • 多治見で作陶
      • 安藤日出武
      • タイルキングダム - 笠原町
      • 陶磁器の本拠地でグランプリを目指せ!
      • 柴田育彦 ボーダーレスな陶芸家
      • 新しい陶磁器産業の形
      • モザイクタイルプリンセス
      • フィンランドと多治見の出会い
      • 陶祖 - 謎めいた名工が遺したもの
      • 青山双渓氏、「白天目」の再現に挑んだ窯
    • 食べる・飲む >
      • 多治見で乾杯!
      • 五平餅を食べられるお店と作り方
      • ウナギ・ア・ラ・タジミエンヌ
      • 超辛口の日本酒への情熱
      • 多治見のお正月の自然薯料理
    • 東京から多治見へ - PART 1
    • 東京から多治見へ - PART 2
    • 東京から多治見へ - PART 3
    • 厄年の御祈祷 (part 01)
    • 厄年の御祈祷 (part 02)
    • 夏祭り - なんて素敵な夜!
    • 人込みを避けてお花見を満喫しよう
    • 多治見のお祭り
    • シデコブシ 東濃地方の珍しい木蓮の花
    • ビジュアルで2018年の多治見を振り返ろう
    • 多治見の楽しい方言 東濃弁
    • バーチャル・トラベル
    • ビデオ - A DAY IN 多治見
    • 失敗に終わったクーデター
    • 2019年 多治見るこみち イングリッシュ・ガイドツアー
    • アメリカン・ジャパニーズとしての暮らし
    • やくならマグカップも:カッパが登場するシーン
    • 東濃弁でカルタ遊び
    • みんな大好きふみちゃん
    • 多治見でサイクリング
  • Access
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blessings in a CALAMITOUS year

part one - unexpected shrine duties

Picture
A young resident arrives to participate in the mysterious Shinto ceremony.

Ignorance is not always bliss

By Hans Karlsson
According to the traditional Japanese Zodiac this is going to be a terrible year for me, and next year will be my end. To be honest, I had totally forgotten about this until the other day, when I was called to help at an event at our local Shinto shrine here in Tajimi. Shinto is the native religion in Japan and is largely about our connection to nature and the spirits who dwell there, including our forefathers. Our shrine sits high up on the side of a mountain, embedded in greenery, and normally there is not a soul there except a herd of wild boars that pays an occasional nightly visit. 
​
Picture
​We villagers gather regularly to sweep the grounds clean from fallen leaves, and that was basically what I expected this time as well, but I was in for a big surprise. It was a freezing cold day. I was the first to arrive at the village chief's house, which I was rather pleased about. If you don't arrive at least ten minutes before a meeting around here people tend to view you as rather loose about time. 
​
​In a little while, three more men had arrived and we started to climb the long, steep stairs up the mountain. When we arrived to the holy place, huffing and puffing from the steep climb, there was no cleaning going on. Instead, the entrance to the small, wooden shrine had been opened, revealing a small hall inside. This was a first for me. What was going on here? Obviously some sort of ceremony was going to take place in here. I felt rather embarrassed by ignorance and decided to hold back my questions to avoid making a fool out of myself. Everyone seemed to expect that I knew what was happening.

Picture
A fire was started and we gathered around it, enjoying the warmth reaching in to our cold limbs. The ground was full of holes they had dug in their hunt for worms and other underground dwellers, such as the jinenjo potatoe (read more about this delicacy here). I wondered off for a while into a fantasy about the oinking animals busily turning the earth, hunting for goodies in the dark. Most likely this place had also seen tanuki (Japanese racoons) and a fox or two, both who appear in the folklore as beings with supernatural powers.

After a while we entered the small hall inside the shrine and began ​preparations - I still had no idea for what - by bringing out tatami mats and putting them in rows on the floor. Next, we brought out small, wooden collapsible chairs from a big box at the back of the room and lined them up facing the mats, so that one could place ones feet on the tatami mat when seated on a chair. Who was coming? Someone important? I was getting seriously curious at this point but kept quite to avoid letting everybody realise I had had no idea what we were preparing for.

All of a sudden there was music outside, and when I looked out two drummers had arrived, and there was a speaker filling the air with the sound of bamboo flutes, of the kind you hear at festivals. What seemed like guests started to arrive. "How many are coming?" I asked one of the other men in our little support crew. "There will be thirteen people sitting on this side," he replied, pulling out another collapsible chair from the large box, "and another thirteen on the other side." The man chattered exitedly as he hurried about the hall, busily putting it in order for whatever was about to happen.
Picture
One of the first participants arrive to the mysterious ceremony.
​The floor was ice cold, and the slippers that was lent to me (of course I had not brought my own, which I was supposed to have, apparently) were so small that only half my feet fit inside. The souls of my feet hurt where the edge of slipper underneath dug into them. Now various food items were brought out, and sake - Japanese rice wine.

​"Here, this needs to be placed on the highest shelf of the altar" my talkative friend told me and put two large horse radishes in my hands. He pointed to an exit on the side of the hall, and as I entered with my vegetables I discovered a narrow hallway. At the back of the hallway there was a miniature shrine with shelves in front of it. "That must be the dwelling place for the deity here," I thought, as I climbed the stairs and tried to place the horse radishes on the top shelf in a position as elegant and spiritually correct as I could. A small, old man wearing a huge down jacket and carrying a big fish almost bumped into me as I hurried back for more decorations. 

Picture
The home of our local deity
​People who claim to have mystic insights will often persist in enlightening you about your true self, what your future will be like, how you can avoid misfortune and be successful among other things. I must admit that I am skeptic about such supernatural powers, which is one reason I enjoy life in Japan so much. The Japanese, from the perspective of a hard core religious fundamentalist, has a messy world view. Their spiritual tradition is a rather confusing but interesting mix of a variety of religions, philosophies, superstition and folk lore. I rather like this attitude, as nobody tries to impose a dogma on you, and it was certainly evident this day at the shrine.

​Here I was, an ignorant foreigner with little idea about the god (goddess?) in that little miniature shrine, and even less understanding of the proper protocol to follow in the  preparations for whatever ceremony was going to take place. Nobody seemed to care. It would turn out to be an event with quite a happy ending for me, which I will tell you about in the second instalment of this article. By the time I am finished, you will also understand why this is supposed to be such a lousy year for me, and if you are going to be better off or not.

At least if you don't mind contemplating what the wisdom of the East may have to tell you.
Read Part 2

Back to story index

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© 2017 Tajimi Tourism Association
  • Home
  • About Tajimi
    • Tajimi Tourism Association
    • Free E-books
    • Navigate >
      • Eat & Drink in Tajimi (TOP) >
        • Restaurant Finder
        • Local food and Drink >
          • Food - Wild Yam a treat for the New Year
          • Food - Eel à la tajimienne
          • Drink - Sake in Tajimi
          • Drink - Sake. "Excellently Dry"
          • Food: Cook a local snack - Gohei mochi
          • Food: The History of the Gohei mochi
      • Plan your trip to Tajimi and Gifu
      • See >
        • Places
        • Historical figures
      • Mino Ware >
        • Famous kilns in Tajimi - a pottery town in Gifu prefecture, Japan
        • Mino ware ceramics and pottery Shopping
        • Pottery and ceramics galleries in Tajimi, Japan
        • Courses, equipment and stores for Potters
      • Experience >
        • Pottery Workshops in Tajimi, Japan
        • Pottery painting & Tile Art experiences in Tajimi
        • Fruit Picking in Tajimi
      • Eat & Drink in Tajimi >
        • Restaurants
        • Cafes & Confectionaries
        • Unagappa Sweets
        • Tajimi Yakisoba
      • Souvernirs
      • Currency Converter
      • Getting around
      • Lodging
    • Event Calendar
  • News index
  • Essays
    • Pottery Retreats - A Creative Escape
    • Tajimi partners with local businesses to improve services for foreign tourists
    • The tea Ceremony in Tajimi: Pottery, People, and Places (Part 01)
    • The tea Ceremony in Tajimi: Pottery, People, and Places (Part 02)
    • To Tajimi and back: foreign visitors' impressions of our city
    • Walking in Tajimi >
      • 01 Walking in Takata - Onada
      • 02 Walking in Tajimi - The Immovable Wisdom King
      • 03 Walking in Tajimi - Suigetsu Kiln
      • 04 Walking in Tajimi - North of Toki
      • 05 Modern day Nagase St. - flash backs from the past
      • 06 Around Oribe Street
      • 07 The Tajimi Ginza Arcade Area
      • 08 Ichinokura - The Pottery Town (Part 01)
      • 09 Ichinokura - The Pottery Town (Part 02)
    • Cycling in Tajimi
    • Ceramics >
      • Makigama Fair in Tajimi
      • Ceramics Festival Mino 24
      • The Story of Mino Ware >
        • The roots of the Mino ware renaissance
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 1)
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 02)
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 03)
        • The Story of Mino Ware (Part 04)
        • Beyond Mino Ware (Part 05)
      • The ascending kiln
      • Kobe Kiln: Tradition-meets-innovation
      • A polar bear's pottery performance
      • Shiro Tenmoku (01): The first reproduction in 500 years
      • Shiro Tenmoku (02): The first reproduction in 500 years
      • Finland Meets Tajimi
      • Ceramic treats in Tajimi - a Mini Tour
      • Learning pottery at the Ho-Ca workshop
      • Master Potter Hidetake Ando
      • Brave New Pottery - 3rd Ceramics
      • English Guided Tours 2019
      • Ikuhiko Shibata - Not Your Ordinary Potter
      • Kasahara - the Tile Kingdom
      • The Mosaic Princess Tile Enthusiasts
      • Striking Gold in Mino 2021
      • Toso - the Legacy of a Mysterious Master Potter
      • A Muromachi Style Kiln Firing
    • Life in Tajimi >
      • Tono-ben: Great Ice-breaker phrases for the traveler >
        • Tono-ben Karta - a card game
        • Tono-ben; Everybody Loves Fumi-chan
        • Learn Tono-ben (Karuta cards)
      • From Tokyo to Tajimi: My Life in a Seemingly Ordinary Rural Town (Part 1)
      • From Tokyo to Tajimi (Part 2): About a future where people live wherever they want
      • From Tokyo to Tajimi (Part 3): Now is the time to see the countryside
      • The Festival - Oh, What a Night!
      • The Life of an American Japanese
      • Festivals in Tajimi
      • 2018 in Tajimi - Visually
      • Film - A day in Tajimi
      • Virtual Travel - The day when Our World Shrank
      • Blessings in a calamitous year (part 01)
      • Blessings in a calamitous year (part 02)
      • Flower Viewing Beyond the Crowds
      • Manga: The Kappa Scene
      • Shidekobushi - the rare Magnolias of the Tono region
    • History >
      • A Failed Coup d'etat - And the Death of a Tajimi Samurai
  • エッセイ
    • 多治見​滞在中の過ごし方
    • 薪窯フェア
    • 国際陶磁器フェスティバル美濃 ’24
    • 外国人観光客へのサービスを充実させる取り組み
    • 焼物の町 多治見で茶道のあれこれ (Part 01)
    • 焼物の町 多治見で茶道のあれこれ (PART 2)
    • ​多治見に訪れた人たち、そしてその後
    • 焼物の町、多治見まち歩き 小名田/高田 ​パート1
    • 多治見ウォーキング >
      • 焼物の町、多治見まち歩き 小名田/高田 ​パート2 不動明王の滝
      • 焼物の町、多治見まち歩き 高田/小名田 ​パート3 水月窯
      • 多治見歴史探索ウォーキング - 土岐川の北側
      • ながせ通りウォーキング 昔の姿に思いを馳せながら
      • おりべストリート周辺 - パート1
      • 多治見 銀座通り
      • 市之倉町 多治見の小さな陶器の町(パート1))
      • 市之倉町 多治見の小さな陶器の町(パート2)
    • 陶器・タイル >
      • シロクマの焼き物パフォーマンス
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 1)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 02)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 03)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 04)
      • 美濃焼物語 (Part 05)
      • 美濃焼ルネッサンスのルーツ
      • 白天目 500年ぶりの再現 PART1
      • 白天目 500年ぶりの再現 PART2
      • 登り窯
      • 焼き物の楽しみ方
      • 幸兵衛窯:伝統と革新の出会い
      • 多治見で作陶
      • 安藤日出武
      • タイルキングダム - 笠原町
      • 陶磁器の本拠地でグランプリを目指せ!
      • 柴田育彦 ボーダーレスな陶芸家
      • 新しい陶磁器産業の形
      • モザイクタイルプリンセス
      • フィンランドと多治見の出会い
      • 陶祖 - 謎めいた名工が遺したもの
      • 青山双渓氏、「白天目」の再現に挑んだ窯
    • 食べる・飲む >
      • 多治見で乾杯!
      • 五平餅を食べられるお店と作り方
      • ウナギ・ア・ラ・タジミエンヌ
      • 超辛口の日本酒への情熱
      • 多治見のお正月の自然薯料理
    • 東京から多治見へ - PART 1
    • 東京から多治見へ - PART 2
    • 東京から多治見へ - PART 3
    • 厄年の御祈祷 (part 01)
    • 厄年の御祈祷 (part 02)
    • 夏祭り - なんて素敵な夜!
    • 人込みを避けてお花見を満喫しよう
    • 多治見のお祭り
    • シデコブシ 東濃地方の珍しい木蓮の花
    • ビジュアルで2018年の多治見を振り返ろう
    • 多治見の楽しい方言 東濃弁
    • バーチャル・トラベル
    • ビデオ - A DAY IN 多治見
    • 失敗に終わったクーデター
    • 2019年 多治見るこみち イングリッシュ・ガイドツアー
    • アメリカン・ジャパニーズとしての暮らし
    • やくならマグカップも:カッパが登場するシーン
    • 東濃弁でカルタ遊び
    • みんな大好きふみちゃん
    • 多治見でサイクリング
  • Access
  • Contact