Feet Burning N the Totaiji Temples O-Mizutori Fest

  Nara, Japan
Sunday, March 5, 2000

Todai Ji Temple 710AD

Todai Ji Temple 710AD (1)

Todai Ji Temple 710AD (2)

HeyHeyanda Big G'Day toya,

As I awoke to grey skies I thought it was time to move on and head back to Nara and find someone 'eprofessional' to look at my feet and tell me what I should do. I know I will hear those horrible words 'STOP WALKING!' but I guess I need to hear it from someone else before I really do.

Though I had done a good job of it the past few days!

After thanking the staff for their happiness and a great place to stay I headed out and began walking back to the ferry terminal. What happens when there are grey skies and you have your pack on, it begins to bucket down. After taking a few steps back to towards the hostel a car stopped and an elderly Japanese Man ushered me into the car asking me where I was going.

The Japanese people really are some of the most beautiful people on earth!

Once at the ferry terminal the guy purchased and paid for my ticket back to Takamatsu and sat with me chatting until the ferry arrived. One thing I have found strange since arriving in Japan is that I do believe I have met more older people that can speak English than the younger generations.

The return journey found me inside the ferry eating my huge bowl of Udon Noodles.

Once back in Takamatsu I found the train station and was soon back on the Shinkansen speeding my way back towards Ancient Nara City. After a few local train changes I was back at the Nara-Ken Seishonen Youth Hostel. The Hostel Staff were surprisingly happy to see me hobbling my way through the door and grabbed my pack and took it to a room.

I thought the hostel was full and thought nothing more of it.

After paying for a few nights and catching up on where I had been and why I was walking in a strange way I hobbled my way into the sitting room to read for awhile. Soon after the Happy Japanese owner came running in to tell me my friend had returned to see if I had arrived yet.

I told him I had no idea what he was talking about.
'Like the phone company' he kept saying.
I replied with my usual reply to anything I don't understand,
a simple..HUH..always does the job!

He was so excited and almost jumping around and just as he was about to run out the door in ran Anna from Sweden who had found my pack in her room. She had lost my email address and had guessed and followed my name to each hostel along the trail we had talking about following depending on where we were to meet up next. She even went to Awa Ikeda and we both began yelling excitingly about the train journey there and onwards.

But she didn't stay the night at the 'Men's Only 'The Big One' in Kochie she said with a laugh after I questioned her and explained what it was.

The man at Awa Ikeda had told her about my feet and the first place she thought of was Nara as we were both supposed to come here together after meeting up prior.
What a pity, Shodoshima would have been the perfect place to have met up again.
Bugger!

First thing was first...my feet!

She helped me hobble down the street and after finding a Chemist who was eager to help me we sat to try to explain the problem. He then asked me to take off my shoes. NNNOOOO! I said with a hand waving around my nose and then grabbing my throat pretending to chock to death. Laughing he went to get some spry and soon my boots were off, sprayed and put aside.

He then took one look at my feet and in a Japanese way said WOW!

After examining them he got some alcohol wipes and began wiping the huge holes in the skin webbing between my toes. WAHOOO! Didn't that hurt! WAHOOO! There goes the other foot! But that I was soon to find was baby pain compared to what was about to come. He then grabbed two little tubes and after taking the caps off both put the nosal of each one at the big splits in both my big toes and without a word squeezed both at the same time.

HOLIFARK!
Was what came out of my mouth within a hundredth of a second.

It took a few seconds for the burning sensation to even begin to die.
He was soon pointing the nosals at two more splits and after Anna had almost jumped on my shoulders to hold me down he squeezed both tubes again.

HOLIFARK!
Was what came out of my mouth for a second time within a hundredth of a second.

I grabbed the box and read the Japanese/English. It was called Arti-Skin (artificial skin) and as you can probably guess, it was a type of artificial skin that when applied burnt itself to your real skin to mend cuts as quickly as possible.

I then had to sit for a short time before he allowed me to leave. I also needed to buy several more tubes and some cream and spray for my feet and boots. I then took Anna for a short hobble around the city and we sat and threw food at the deer for them to eat from far away so they didn�ft come and knock us over requesting more.

After finding a beautiful little restaurant and sharing a nice meal and a few 'happy to see you beers' we headed to the beautiful Todaiji Temple to watch what is known as the O-Mizutori (the Water Drawing Festival) before heading home to catch up on what we had both been up to since we last parted ways.

Happy Happy Happy!

*****I won't explain the O-Mizutori Festival in my own words as I'll past in a description from the Nara Web-site at the bottom of this email. What I can say is that it really was breathtaking to watch and be part of. The crowd was full of Ohh's and Argh's etc.

Awesome!

Poor Anna had to half carry me home and then tend to my feet as the arti-skin had also split. Make sure you take care of your feet kids, they really are important especially when you are pakkinit around many countries!

HERE IT IS:

Shunie, March Ritual of Nigatsudo - Hall

The grounds around Todaiji Temple's Nigatsudo - Hall, which in winter are frequently sunk in still silence, with the coming of March spring suddenly to life again. Each evening at seven, huge torches are lit and carried one by one up a long flight of steps to appear out over the railing of the Hall's balcony. Below, worshippers swallow their breaths as they watch the torches, balls of flame, and forgetting themselves for a time, cry out at the beauty of the rising flames and falling, dancing sparks.

This is the start of the night time ceremonies of Nigatsudo's Shunie ritual, known commonly as O-Mizutori , the Water-Drawing Festival.

Todaiji Temple has a long history, and in the 4th year of Jisho (1180), in an attack led by Tairano Shigehira, and again in the 10th year of Eiroku (1567), in the Miyoshi-Matsunaga battle, not just once but twice, battle fire reduced the greater part of her compound to ashes. Yet the Shunie ritual alone, as the �gUndeviating Disciple was held even in these times when Todaiji's very existence was at stake. It has been passed along year by year for over 1200 years to this day without a single interruption.

In this sense, it can be considered a great treasure trove for reminding us of traditional Buddhist rituals in use from the times of the Nara Period. But that is not all. From its very purpose, to pray for the peace of the nation and the welfare of the people of each current age, we can also say that its rites are constantly alive in the hearts of the Japanese people of any given time.

Origin and Aims

The Shuni-e Ceremony at the Nigatsu-do was begun in 752 by Jitchu, the chief disciple of Roben who founded Todai-ji, the ceremony is formally a rite of repentance to Eleven-headed Kannon in which penitence for one's misdeeds is sought in front of an image of Eleven-headed Kannon.

According to the teachings of Buddhism, due to the Three Poisons - covetousness, anger and ignorance that are the true nature of humans we commit myriad offenses which accumulate as contaminants of the spirit; as a result, we become unable to see the truth and we also become ill.

Through the ceremony one can repent one's misdeeds and attain a pure mind and body, do away with the misfortune and woes that are the retribution for one's evil deeds, and obtain well-being. Although the Shuni-e is a rite of repentance, it is important to remember that when it was begun it was a ritual performed on behalf of the state. Natural disasters, epidemics and rebellions were all seen as illnesses of the state and the ritual was performed in order to cure such illnesses, to gain a fruitful harvest of the Five Crops, and to achieve peace under heaven, in other words to guarantee the welfare of the people.

Beers N Cheers toya....shane

Accommodation: & ; ;nbs p; Nara - Ken Seishonen Youth Hostel
72-7 Ikenoue Handa Hileaki - Chu
NARA JAPAN
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The soundtrack to this entry was DJ Seb Fontaine
The album was 'Prototype 4'
Awesome!