These past few weekends I have ventured to the mountains of Akita for some great powder skiing, kamakura, and to see the legendary (and scary) Namahage.
The Namahage is a traditional ceremony that is unique to the Akita and Oga pennisula area. Each year on New Year's Eve a ritual takes place in which young single men journey into the mountains where they are blessed and return as a Namahage, dressed in an outfit consisting of a straw waistband and coat, and a terrifying mask. The Namahage then go from house to house where they perform the traditional folklore. Roaring in a ferocious tone they march with their wooden knife and wooden pale in search of lazy and disobedient children, who if found, will be dragged to the mountains.
The Namahage travel in pairs when they visit houses in the community and there is always a person who accompanies the Namahage that initially checks the house to make sure that the home is able to receive the Namahage. As long as the home is ready to accept the Namahage, the Namahage proceed to the house. In the folklore tradition the Namahage proceed to enter the home.
When entering a home the Namahage slam open the sliding doors, at this point all children are terrifyied and hiding, and are greeted by the head of the house who offers the Namahage food and sake. As the Namahage sit and speak with the owner of the house, they ask whether or not everyone has been working hard and acting as they should. The head of the family assures them that this is the case and that everyone has worked hard. The Namahage don't believe the head of the family and look in their notebook in which everything that happens in the village is written, they then notice the members of the family who are not present, and begin to question further, at times the Namahage may search the house roaring in their terrifying voices as they chase away any bad spirits and look for any lazy children. The head of the family promises the Namahage that everyone will try much harder this year and pleads with them not to take anyone to the mountains. The Namahage state that they believe in the sincerity of the request and will allow them to have a good year, and before leaving the house give the family a blessing for good heath, a rich crop, and large catch in the New Year. The Namahage also teach the household head how to call them with three claps in the case that their children begin to misbehave. This encourages the children to continue working and studying hard as well as gives everyone a reminder to work hard in the upcoming year.
The festival I attended is known as the Sedo Matsuri, it draws a close to the Namahage ritual. It is located in Oga where we went to a mountain temple where we were able to see the young men dressed in the straw coat and waistband be blessed by the temple priest before putting the terrifying masks on and becoming the Namahage. After putting the masks on the Namahage proceeded up the stair steps into the mountains where they would soon descend and dance around the fire as well as display the various masks from the different areas of Akita. After the Namahage performed the folklore on stage and marched through the crowd, the festival draws to a close as they pass out mochi, a type of rice cake, to the crowd. The festival location also has the Namahage museum where the various masks can be seen as well as more information about the festival and tradition. Visitors can watch performances of the Namahage in a traditionally built house, where a narrator explains the story before the Namahage enter the house and banter with the narrator about the family and who has been working hard. Visitors to the museum can also try the costume themselves. I tried my best to look viciously fearsome, but people still took a few pictures.
Below are some pictures of the festival. The first is my attempt at becoming a vicious Namahage.
I also recently had the chance to go skiing with some local Akita friends that I met at a soba making event last month. While enjoying the soba we made paired with other local dishes we came to the topic of skiing. As many of you know my enthusiasm for the subject is not limited and I was excited to hear that several of the members of the group had competed nationally in the sport. Soon after hearing that I had not brought my skis or boots with me, the group immediately grabbed a pair of boots from a nearby house, and set to planning a ski date.
This past weekend Yuno and I took off to the mountains with our generous friends who let us join their ski club for the day. Not only was it a great day of skiing, there was fresh light powder to be skied! We even rode up the chair with two guys who had studied at the University of Utah and skied Alta! It was the first time I've met someone that had visited my home state. The day was filled with story filled lift-rides, powder shots, frozen faces, and most of all smiling faces.
After skiing we headed to a nearby Onnsen, hot spring, to relax and clean up before heading home.
Below are some pictures of a famous onnsen in the area. The first picture also has a kamakura which is the traditional styled snow home of Akita.
Akita prefecture is famous for its sake throughout Japan. As the area has especially clean water the excellent conditions for harvesting rice also make for the best sake. A few weekends ago I was able to visit a local sake brewery and see how Akita's famous sake is brewed. Yuno and her friends introduced me to the sake brewery master who took us on a tour of the facility. Unlike wine, sake brewing takes a short amount of time, and generally can only be done in the cold months of winter. Sake is made from a special type of rice that is grown specifically for the purpose of sake brewing and is harvested in the fall. The process involves meticulous detail and everyday the sake master must calculate the appropriate temperatures to brew the sake as well as when to filter the sake, one day or degree can make or break an entire batch. Below I have posted some pictures of the process.
I also recently volunteered at a local elementary school. Where we all played some games together before participating in a mochi-tsuki. Mochi-tsuki is a traditional method of making mochi. Polished rice which has been soaked overnight is cooked, it is then placed in an usu, a large mortar made of wood or stone, and then pounded with a large wooden mallet called a kine. Two people work together, as one person is needed to knead and move the rice back into the center of the bowl between the blows of the heavy wooden mallet. As one can imagine the job of lifting the heavy mallet may be tiring, but the one on the heavy end of the ki-ne gets the difficult job as the rice is literally steaming hot and the heavy mallet is not easy on the hands. As the two making the mochi work in unison, those around may cheer the mochi makers on shouting よいしょ (Yoisho). After the mochi is made toppings may be put on such as sweet red beans, kinako, or it may also be eaten as it is and is quite tasty.
Yuno and I helped out a few of the kids with the process!
Stay warm this winter! And if you have a lot of snow you can always work on your kamakura building skills :)
ジェフより
