Log Riding Festival
I chose the Log Riding Festival(Onbashira) to write about. It takes place in Lake Suwa/Nabara/East of Tokyo/Japan and it is a very crowded and enjoyable festival. Although, lots of people get injured during the festival ,people don’t have hesitation of attending the festivals again and again. Basically, the festival is all about 6 men trying not to fall from the giant log going down the hill and other people cheering up.The festival is usually overcrowded because people like seeing that turmoil. The festival is extremely colourful and delightful.It takes place every six years. In addition,although it looks just for fun and new it is an ancient tradition. It lasts for two and a half months..The purpose and reason of this festival is to symbolically renew the Suwa Taisha or Suwa Grand Shrine(the oldest temple exists.It is over 1200 years old) The other name of the festival is “Onbashira” which you can find more resources by searching that word. The festival is one of Japan’s three most unique festivals.
It is a huge festival which over than 1.78 people attend.The festival happens once in every six years.However,locals sometimes say “once in seven years” because of the traditional Japanese custom of including the current year when counting a length of time.Suwa Taisha has four shrine buildings.For the festival,huge trees are cut from the forest.Each shrine building needs 4 pillars,one at each corner.So a 16 pillars are erected.The huge pillars are called “Onbashira”.The festival consists of two parts that take place over a two-month period: Yamadashi (pulling Onbashira trunks out of the mountains) and Satobiki (hauling the Onbashira trees to the shrine's grounds).
In the Yamadashi, which takes place at the beginning of April, 16 tree trunks are brought from the forest.”Yamadashi” literally means “coming out of the mountains”.They are cut from 200-year-old Japanese trees.cutting these trees with axes is called the Shinto ceremony.The logs are decorated in red and white which is the official and traditional colour of the festival,and ropes are attached. It takes 3 days for people to move the trunks a total of 10 kilometers.People who are hauling the trunks sing special songs In the Kiotoshi, a part of Yamadashi, people sit on the onbashira and slide down.This is the most exciting part of the festival where people risk their lives.Young men prove their bravery by riding the logs down the hill.Two ropes are wrapped around each onbashira and they are pulled into an upright position with young men sitting on them. The young men who remain at the top of the onbashira as it rises 16 meters above the ground,is successful. Satobiki" festival involves the symbolic placement of the new logs to support the foundation of the shrine buildings. The logs are raised by hand, with a ceremonial group of log bearers who ride the log as it is being raised and sing from the top of the log to announce the successful raising. This ceremony was performed as part of the opening ceremonies of the Nagano Olympics in 1998. After two festivals, there is an important event "Building of Hoden" which is not very well known. The end of this event marks the end of Onbashira.
To sum up,I would like to share my own ideas.I learnt a lot about festivals besides the wellknown ones like Thanksgiving or Christmas.While I was searching festivals around the world I saw few that makes you say “Woow”.There are lots of things to know and explore in the world and with this Homework I learnt more about celebrations and festivals.I think the Log Riding Festival (Onbashira) is a spectacular event.Over one and a half million people attend this which shows us that it is a very wellknown festival in Japan.It is a tradition that began 1.200 years ago which means there had been 200 Onbashira festivals since it had started.I think it is a very colourful,delightful, enjoyable,unique and wonderful festival that everybody should see.I highly recommend it.
KERİM SERTTURK 9A 171
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