Religious Shrines, Lanterns and Shrek

That lanterns were lit. Why were the lanterns lit? These are the first two thoughts that came to mind after exiting the train station this evening. When I returned from my five day road trip to the mountain and back I discovered that dozens, maybe a few hundred, Japanese lanterns (all of them red and white looking like candy canes with birth defects) hung above the city of Kashihara. I figured that they had not been removed yet after the city’s Obon festival which I had missed because I was busting my ass on Fuji. The Japanese are usually exceptionally proficient when it comes to building up and taking things (seriously, construction sites don’t last long here. I’ve seen an entire building go up in about a week and a half) down which should have been a tip off that these lanterns were for something coming up and not something that had passed. With Obon nearly a week in the past I started to wonder if these lanterns would become a permanent fixture of the city. This would be fine by me. They were a nice addition to the walk home through the old wooden buildings and narrow streets. Today the lanterns had been lit. Both left and right were rows of brightly laminated red and white orbs glowing against the black. Had Obon just arrived to Kashihara? I’d read that certain parts of the country celebrate Obon at different times but surely this area, only an hour away from Kyoto, would have had their culmination festivities at the same time, yes? This city must have attracted a lot of deceased relatives, I tells ya, because there was enough lit lanterns out here to guide back home every player in the NFL or everyone who’s ever bedded Lindsey Lohan. A month ago I realized that my city had two rail networks passing through it (the Kintetsu and the JR) and that heading up to the Tenri school by JR as opposed to Kintetsu as I had been doing was actually quicker and cheaper. The JR station here in Kashihara works on the honor system. There is nobody manning a ticket booth, only a machine, and no knee crushing gates slam into you when you walk though without having placed your ticket in to the slot. The walk back home from this station is more enjoyable and peaceful. You are not bombarded with neon from the pachinko parlors and restaurants, less crowds and no offkey singers in station tunnels. Here I walk by very old wooden homes, a temple and some small gardens following one of the city canals home. At night there are few streetlights and you can pretend while walking around those ancient sites that you are in another time period of Japanese history. Until the train clanging snaps you out of your imagination. Today I walked under the lantern glow passing the temple. The temple is usually closed at this time of night but today was brightly lit up, the stone garden racked and the shrine there was now open (the box is always closed). Before it had been placed oranges, some energy bars and a few cans of beer. Interesting combo there unknown enshrined deity. I stepped inside the temple (actually, the more I think of it this is probably a shrine) gates and saw a few people sitting at a table. In front of them was a donation box. Maybe it was Open Shrine Night in Kashihara. I continued walking and turned the corner as I always do only today I nearly crashed into a family of four. What the? Clusters of people stood and walked up the road and booths had been along the street. Officers were using their lightsabers to direct traffic. The road back home was now very crowded with people and merchants. Okay, if this was Obon what did the carnival style games offering toys, glowing devices and water guns have to do with it? Did the departed ancestors of the people of Kashihara need a circus to send them off. I chose to not return home just yet to find out what was going on. I walked in the opposite direction with the crowd. Children and adults alike were dressed up in bright kimonos. Kids carried Pokemon winnings from the game booths or snacked on candy apples. The less I believed this had to do with Obon the more shrines I passed. Along the road people had opened up their homes and shops and outside were displayed small wooden shrines each with many gifts for the gods. People would stop at each shrine and then move onwards. Okay, if this was Obon what is with the tubes of goldfish, kids kneeling before them trying to catch them all, so to speak. And what about the candy apples? What did this have to do with the souls of the dead? Old carnival games like tossing the ball through the miniscule hole were set up and booth upon booth offered up Japanese toys that would make my daughter drool. Candy coated strawberries, French fries, cotton candy and donuts…all of this screamed carnival but then there were the shrines and the lanterns. What was this all about? I hoped the end of the road would have some answers but there I found only more confusion. In a parking lot had been set up a large jumping castle and a rubber oversized slide. Kids were swinging off playground rings and there was a beer garden. Most confusing of all was a small tent. Inside this small tent were life-sized recreations of the cast of Shrek made out of paper-mache. Shrek, Fiona, Donkey, Pinocchio and Puss and Boots were misrepresented grotesquely by this clumpy formation of paper, paint and gunk. I noticed Puss’ feet had been amputated. I guess we could call him Puss Without Boots…ha ah aha ha ah a! You know, nothing says sending the souls of your loved ones back to the land of the dead like a giant green ogre and a cat without feet. Though I still don’t know for certain as online searches have brought up nothing in regards to city festivals, I believe now that this has nothing to do with Obon and is just some type of celebration unique to the city. You know, Cornwallites, like Cornfest. Why not party it up, I say? The ancestors have just returned home and your free to do as you please. I’d be walking around the apartment wearing only the sports section if I were in these people’s wooden Japanese sandals. Lots of beautiful women out tonight. Man! I walked back home through the people. The owners of the games and food booths barked out their wares. I paused a few times to watch people try their luck at the games. Gigantic stuffed Pikachus under the glow of a lantern look really, really evil! As the party petered out near the train tracks a few gatherers stood a few blocks away from my apartment under the last of the lanterns. Here a wooden arch had been set up with big white lamps. People were laughing and pointing at a window in front of them. Suddenly a trumpeting anthem began to play. I had no idea what it was talking about but the words “Out” and “Safe” were used. When the crowed cleared enough for me to see the window as well it all made sense. Inside were three full sized mannequin replicas of popular Japanese baseball players. They were rotating on a disc. Around them was set up a baseball field and on the walls of the room were photos of many ball players. There was even a working scoreboard. This brought joy to the Japanese people who gathered, cameras flashing, eyes wide, but to me it was just plain freaky. The mannequin eyes were hollow but looked like they were gazing into you. The spinning of the fake players in slow turnings to the music was like something out of a Lynch film. Sitting here at my computer I am having spooky visions of throwing open the curtains and seeing one of them standing there in the window. Lightening strikes, he raises his bat and starts to hammer his way in. Only visions, though. Wait, was that a knock at the door?