Update

So I’ve been pretty busy lately trying to get some research done before I leave (especially because I think my host wants me to give a talk on what I did here even though I have repeatedly told him that it would be a very short talk), and with various activities in town and travel.

Last Friday we had the dance festival in town, which wasn’t much of a festival. I mean there were a lot of people and it was nice, but there wasn’t really food, games or other things that I now associate with Japanese festivals. Basically, these women who were all dressed in identical yukatas (the obi color differed sometimes) gave everyone a fan and urged you down the street to a park which had lanterns and was done up for the occasion. The fan had a number on it (mine was 285) and I was a little confused at this point. Anyway, they played this song and the women started to dance in wide circles around a central stand. The dance only had about 8 moves and they encouraged everyone to join in. After an hour, everyone broke for free tea, some speeches and chitchat. Then the women did a more involved version of the dance for a little bit before going back to the simplified steps and encouraging people to join in again. After a while, the dancing stopped and they had a lottery (which included some nice prizes including a ryokan stay). Sadly, I did not win anything, but I was very proud of the fact that I understood most of the numbers (though it took me a few minutes to remember that sen is 1000). The whole thing was very low key and pleasant. I participated in the dance for 20 minutes or so before chatting with another American for a while (I have actually seen a few white people around now that it is high season here).

The girl, whose name I can’t remember, was really nice but a bit of an idiot. She apparently got some money from her school (she had just graduated college and I think it was her school that gave her money) to study bunraku, the elaborate (and awesome) puppet theater developed in Japan. Bunraku is centered in Osaka where there is a national theater for the art form (also several stories of this art form are about life in Osaka). I saw a short performance of bunraku in Kyoto and totally loved it. So much so that I looked into trying to go to a performance in Osaka. Unfortunately, I could not figure out how to get tickets (I only found out AFTER I went to Osaka, darn it), but I did know that there was a summer performance going on in Osaka. So when I asked this girl if she was going to see the show (shows actually, because they have 3 going on at a time), she said that it had just left Osaka. I gave her a weird look but figured she knew what she was talking about. During my travels this weekend I saw a flier for bunraku in Osaka stating that the performance would end on AUGUST 6. Soon after, I also figured out how to get online tickets (there were still some available for all 3 shows). I lamented the fact that I could not back to Osaka to see this, and generally thought that the girl was an idiot. How do you come to a country to study something and don’t even have the right dates? Oh well.

On Saturday, I caught the train down to Kii Katsuura so that I could see the Nachi waterfall and the adjoining grand shrine. This was the second of the three grand shrines of the Kumano region (the Hayatama shrine in Shingu being the other I have seen so far). I am hoping to make it out to Hongu to complete the trifecta, but it will have to be the last weekend I am in Shirahama and…well, we’ll see how it goes. I think I should be able to make it.

I arrived at Kii Katsuura unsure of which bus to catch up to the waterfall. Luckily I asked a guy at the bus station, who didn’t speak any English but was super nice and looked out for me after that (he came up to me later to tell me I could buy a ticket when the woman started manning the both, then he made it clear by pointing which bus was the one I wanted). I was nervous about finding the right bus and the right stop since I know there wouldn’t be any English, but managed fine as always.

Nachi was very nice, though hot (as it is everywhere these days). The waterfall is the tallest in Japan I believe, being about 133 m high. It does not seem very wide, though it is hard to tell from the base of the waterfall. There is a small shrine right at the base, but that is not the grand shrine. For that, you have to hike a considerable way straight up (more stairs, just like the Kamakura shrine in Shingu). I had hoped to avoid a lot of upward climbing because it was so hot, but what can you do? (Later my host told me that he had seen the waterfall, but had never hiked up to the shrine. Which seems rather pointless if you ask me. The waterfall is beautiful, no doubt, but some of the more enjoyable views are from the shrine and it is the shrine that makes the area more than just a pretty place).

Anyway, I got up there; though I was disgusting by the time I made it. I stopped to have an ice cream (which tasted fantastic because I was so hot) and while I was eating it, I had marvelous views of the waterfall, the surrounding mountains and forests as well as the valley. Definitely worth the hike. The shrine was nice and next to the shrine was a Buddhist temple. The people at the temple where especially friendly, urging everyone to come in and look around. And the guy who stamped my book spoke a little English and joked around with me a bit. Left me with a really warm feeling of the place. Then I went down to find daimon-zaka. Daimon-zaka is part of the ancient pilgrimage between all the grand shrines and a few other holy sites in the Kumano region. I guess it was a popular pilgrimage at one point (imperial family members made the trip and there is a famous quote about the path being so crowded, it was like a line of ants). My understanding is that people believed that the Gods dwelled in the Kumano region and that these particular Gods accepted everyone, regardless of gender or background, as long as they made a sincere pilgrimage. Not surprisingly, this made them very popular. Daimon-zaka is a remnant of that ancient trail, so I walked down it a bit. It was really lovely – lined with trees so that it was cooler than other areas with a nice breeze. But it was pretty vertical. It was no walk in the park to make this pilgrimage, I got a sense of that walking back up Daimon zaka to catch the bus back to Kii katsuura (and I later learned that I could have picked the bus up at the base of the trail. Sigh). Anyway, I have a lot of respect for the people who made (and still make) that pilgrimage. And I can see why it would be a deeply religious experience.

After that, I had a headache from being overheated and not eating enough (I drank a lot of water but only realized later that I hadn’t eaten very much). So I grabbed some yakisoba at a restaurant while I waited for the train back. Overall, a great experience although 10 degrees cooler would have been so much nicer.

I went to the open-air onsen on Sunday and ate out in town, but I think I will talk about those later (I really need to do a separate post on onsen…).