I had some time to myself during Golden Week, a series of national holidays at the end of April and the beginning of May. I was at a loss on what to do during the five consecutive days of no work, so I was really happy to get a tip from one of my students. It just so happened that a particular festival was also being held at the exact same time in Fuchu, a city in the western part of Tokyo prefecture. The Kurayami Matsuri, or Darkness Festival in English, is a six-day event that was originally held at midnight as it was believed that ordinary humans should not see the holiness of the deities the festival celebrated.
I am a bit of a lazy person, and Fuchu's Okunitama Shrine is about a twenty-minute train ride from my apartment, so I chose to only go on the last day of the festival. If this last day is anything to go by, the people in Fuchu really like to go out with a bang. The festival really left an impression on me, especially as it was my very first festival in Japan.
Fuchu was known to my students as a place for horse racing, and not much else. I had a student that expressed surprise at my intention to go there by saying, "I didn't see you as the type to gamble." As such, I was a bit worried that I would accidentally find myself at a racing track on the way to Okunitama Shrine, but it turns out the shrine was an incredibly short walk from Fuchu Station. I found the shrine in about thirty seconds, its outermost concrete arch being visible from the station if you know what you're looking for. It also helped that there were a bunch of people in festival attire standing under it, taking photos.
I entered through this gate and followed the locals around. It turned out that this entrance to the shrine grounds led to the rear of the shrine itself. I stopped by a small viewing area where the participants of the festival were gathered. My understanding of Japanese was weaker then than it was now, so I had no idea if they were being briefed or if they were praying. I observed for a little while and snapped some photos off before heading off and exploring the rest of the grounds.
As I continued on, more and more people appeared as more and more stalls popped up. Before I knew it, I was waddling alongside the throng of festival attendees through the narrow walkways between the stalls of food and games. The food looked and smelled absolutely delicious, ranging from skewered beef to yakisoba (fried noodles) to skewered cucumbers. Children and adults alike tried their hand at various games like paper net fishing or pop gun shooting. I took a limited lap around the area to check out what the stalls had to offer before settling in at a position near the front of the main building.
I had settled in just in time as well, as the area I was in already had reserved seats filled, and only standing room remained. I got lucky and ended up near the front of the standing room as the initial procession came along with a loud fanfare of chimes and cheers. There was one group that spun in a circle as they moved toward the shrine, but most advanced in an orderly fashion. There was some lull after the large number of people entered the shrine before anything happened again.
When the festival continued, the shrine's main gates opened, and six massive drums with men standing on them were rolled out. The men standing above held lanterns, and they periodically held it over the area that someone else on the ground would strike with a baton. The drummers on the ground really put effort into their strikes, some of them coming at the drum skin with a running start. There was always a guttural yell before each strike, and the sound of the drums really made a grand, almost war-like atmosphere. It felt like I was in a scene out of a Lord of the Rings movie.
Following the drums out were mikoshi, or portable shrines, said to house the gods as they were carried by people to bless the town. There were eight of them, and from the announcer's booth it sounded as if they represented shrines from elsewhere in Tokyo. Each mikoshi was bounced up and down on the shoulders of dozens of men and women, and they seemed to have no control which direction the mikoshi would travel in. The holy palanquins constantly retraced its progress and moved back and forth and side to side, but they eventually did make it out to the streets.
I pushed my way through the crowds of people once again to follow the drums and mikoshi out into the actual city. Many people were already gathered outside lining the streets. The most densely populated area was a nearby intersection where two of the mikoshi were bounced around, vast numbers of people joining the dozens of carriers pushing around and jumping up and down around them. On the intersecting streets, three of the six giant drums idled, men still standing on top and people still whaling on them.
I watched the scene for a while. A drunk man tried to converse with me in slurred Japanese, but I responded to him with a blank stare. Having had my fill of the frenetic energy and the awkwardness of a drunkard trying to communicate with me, I left to explore the area some more.
Throughout the streets there were also various carts of seemingly random performances. Some had actors in masks, others had musicians playing classical Japanese music. Still others had percussion ensembles. I passed by loads of festival-goers and looped back into the shrine grounds. By now, the inside of the shrine had cleared a little, so I could see more of what the stalls had to offer. There was also a small noh performance inside, so there was definitely a lot going on at this festival. I lingered around a bit longer before getting tired of navigating through the large amount of people.
I think I left a little too early, having walked back to the train station at around eight p.m. I believe the festival continued until at least midnight, but I felt that I had experienced all that I could as a solo traveller. I get tired of large crowds easily, but the sights and sounds of the festival are definitely something to experience, so if you are around at the end April, the Kurayam Matsuri is something to see! As always, thanks for reading!