Kenka Matsuri in the rain and Nikkō with my school.

Iizaka Kenka Matsuri

The weekend of 12 October the Iizaka Kenka Matsuri took place. Iizaka is an onsen (hot spring) town 20 minutes outside Fukushima City. For only 370 yen you can travel from the city to this small town.

Source: https://fukushima-guide.jp/event/iizaka-kenka-matsuri/

The Kenka Matsuri is also called the ‘Fighting Festival’. It is one of the three biggest fighting festivals in Japan and is more than 300 years old. A distinctive characteristic of the festival is the mikoshi (portable fighting shrines), with which people from Iizaka parade through the streets to the beat of taiko drums. Iizaka consists of six areas. Each year these areas compete against each other so that the winner may receive the favour and blessings of the gods after the fight.

The morning session included international students, ALTs and residents of Iizaka that carried a mikoshi around the city while they wore happi (traditional Japanese overcoats) and could take part in this cultural experience.

For the morning part of the festival I unfortunately had to stay home and study, because I am still studying for my honours part-time. I was very glad that I didn’t take part, because it started to rain and everyone was soaking wet after the morning’s mikoshi carrying.

At about 17:00 I took the train to Iizaka. (It is about an hour and a half from my city to Fukushima City.) When I arrived, I had to change trains to Iizaka where David and Cormac picked me up from the station.

The actual Kenka Matsuri only started at 19:30, so we had about an hour before we had to go to the temple to meet the other ALTs.

Angela, David’s wife, also joined us shortly after my arrival. David decided to take us to a public foot bath where we could relax before the evening’s festivities. It was lovely to catch up with them again after two weeks!

There are food stalls and entertainment until the fight starts.

The mikoshi are carried to the Hachiman Temple on a hillside in Iizaka. Here the mikoshi fight against each other. The mikoshi that remains standing after the fight is announced as the winner. It is a spectacle to behold, because the mikoshi break or catch fire due to the lanterns they carry.

We were a group of about 30 ALTs that went to watch the evening festival in the town. In my opinion the festival was one of the most enjoyable I have attended to date.

Nikkō with the school

Nikkō is a small city in Japan’s Tochigi Prefecture, in the mountains just north of Tokyo. In Nikkō you will find Toshogu, the famous shrine that was built in 1617 in memory of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the leader of the Endo Era.

On 21 October I had the opportunity to go to Nikkō along with my school and the first year (grade 10) students to view the shrines. Nikkō is a famous tourist attraction and believe me, there were many tourists who flocked there to take a photo or two. It rained that day and we therefore thought that it wouldn’t be that busy – goodness, were we wrong!

After we viewed all the shrines we went for lunch. Like typical teachers we all disappeared to our own eating spot and left the children in the hands of the tour guides. The nice thing about Japan is the discipline of the children. There was not a single moment that we had to worry that someone might stray from the road.

After lunch Ando-sensei, Sakuma-sensei and I went back to the shrines again to go pray at the Shinto Shrine. Ando-sensei and I prayed for good love and Sakuma-sensei prayed for good health and luck.

Ando-sensei and me.

At the entrance to the shrine there is a circle weaved from straw. This specific object is there for happiness. We had to walk through the circle in a figure eight (or infinity sign) and clap twice – it is said that you will then have happiness for the year. Ando-sensei and I walked through together, and Sakuma-sensei walked through on his own. It is said that when a man and woman walk through they are a couple and will then have happiness in their relationship: None of us wanted to create that impression with any student!

Sakuma-sensei and I at the entrance and the circle object.

We stopped at the stalls to buy souvenirs, and I also found post cards and key holders.