First Afternoon and Evening (最初の午後と最初の夕方, さいしょのごごとさいしょのゆうがた, Saisho no gogo to saisho no yuugata)

The New Year's series of posts before this one: the basics of Japanese New Year's and some of its traditions here, New Year's Eve and Countdown here and New Year's sunrise, traditional meal and visit to Meiji Jingū here.


Our next Hatsumōde stop is at Hie Shrine (日枝神社, ひえじんじゃ).  Hie Shrine is in Nagata in the Chiyoda Ward of Tokyo.  It is actually very close to where I stayed during my time here as a study abroad student, but oddly enough I never visited the shrine during my time there and this would be my first visit.  


Hie Shrine has it's beginnings in the early Kamakura period (1185-1333) on the current site of the Emperor's Palace.  (I will be getting more into the history of Edo Castle and the Emperor's Palace in my next post, so if this is of interest then be on the lookout for it.)  A man named Edo had built a Hie Shrine here to house the guardian deity of his property.  The deity in Hie Shrines is Ōyamakui-no-kami, which is the God of Mt. Hie in Shiga Prefecture; it is more commonly known as Hie-no-kami. [1]  Shiga Prefecture can be found on the 4th map of my Maps of Japan post.  Ōyamakui-no-kami is the master of the great mountain and look over the growth of everything, especially business. [2]  Hie Shrine's next development would come in 1478 when Ota Dokan built Edo Castle in the same spot and built Sanno-Hie Shrine to house the guardian deity for the castle.  When Iyeasu Tokugawa took over Edo Castle to rule over Edo and Japan as Shogun, he also gave patronage to the shrine and made it a protector of the city of Edo.  Now the guardian deity of the Shogun,  it greatly increased the importance of Hie Shrine and its following from the local people. [3]


Hidetada Tokugawa, 2nd Shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate moved the shrine in 1607 to near the present day National Theater instead of inside the castle grounds, because citizens of Edo could only visit the shrine two days of the year while it was in the castle grounds.  However this didn't last long as the shrine burned down in a fire along with most of the city in 1657.  When it was rebuilt in 1659, the shrine was moved to its current location.  These shrines buildings were designated as national treasures until they were unfortunately also lost to fire, this time to the air raids of World War II.  The present shrine was rebuilt in 1958 with donations from worshipers of the shrine. [4]


While Hie Shrine is not the most famous of shrines for Hatsumōde, my girlfriend suggested we go because of their wide variety of New Year's Ema for sale.  I have talked previously about ema and collecting them, when I talked about my trip to Enoshima and buying the ema here.  Before the ema, I'll show the shrine experience up to that point.  

The torii leading up to Hie Shrine.  The shrine is on top of the hill in the area, so there are a lot of steps to the top.

The main building of Hie Shrine decorated for New Year's.

Looking back at the entrance of the inner gate.

The statues of two monkeys line the main gate to the shrine.  The monkey is the messenger for  the shrine's god.  These messengers are called masaru (monkey is saru in Japanese) and a play off this word of masaru is ma ga saru, meaning to take a charm to ward off evil.  Monkeys are also considered good luck for childbirth, child rearing and marriage happiness due to their perceived affection towards children. [5]

We actually didn't make our wishes or pray at this shrine as the line was very long (over an hour wait) and there were no back ways in like Meiji Jingū.  We were also running out of time in the day and still had things to do.  However, we did participate and watch several of the New Year's festivities at the shrine.

Shrines often serve a special sake for the New Year's celebration.  This sake is amazake, and is a sweet sake served at shrines for the New Year's holiday.  It was really cheap and certainly worth every yen, as it was delicious.   

Speaking of sake, here is the sake offerings given to Hie Shrine.  This is what the sake offerings usually look like, with a full cask given.  This is actually a very common sight at shrines.

We also watched this ceremony at the shrine.  The shrine maiden takes the protection charms that the worshipers have bought from the shrine and then prays to the gods for extra protection from them.

After seeing the typical New Year celebrations from the shrine, we set out to do what we planned on doing at the shrine.  First, we set out to buy the New Year's Ema.  

Hie Shrine has so many ema that they put out a big bulletin board with all of the ema and a number below them so people can look first and then give the number to the counter when they are ready to buy them.

A closer view of the smaller ema.

As you can see, almost all of the ema have rabbits on them.  That's because this is the year of the rabbit (usagi in Japanese, うさぎ).  Japan still puts importance in the Chinese Zodiac and it's animals.  The rotation for the Zodiac is:


2010: Tiger (寅, とら, Tora)
2011: Rabbit (卯, う, U)
2012: Dragon (辰, たつ, Tatsu)
2013: Snake (巳, み, Mi)
2014: Horse (午, うま, Uma)
2015: Sheep (羊, ひつじ, Hitsuji)
2016: Monkey (申, さる, Saru)
2017: Rooster (酉, とり, Tori)
2018: Dog (戌, いぬ, Inu)
2019: Boar (Pig in Chinese) (亥, い, I)
2020: Rat (子, ね, Ne)
2021: Ox (丑, うし, Ushi)


Here are the ema I picked up from Hie Shrine:

The last thing to do at Hie Shrine was to get the New Year's Goshuin.

Our last stop of the day was to our local neighborhood shrine of Yoyogi Hachiman for Hatsumōde.  I talked about my local shrine before during the neighborhood Awa Odori Festival.  Even though the New Year festivities were much smaller at this shrine, being the neighborhood shrine made the event as special as any of the other shrines we visited during the day.

The shrine lit by New Year's lanterns.

While it might seem like this was really late in the day, we arrived there early evening.  Japan's sunrise and sunset are both very early and with no Daylight's Savings Time like in the US, it gets dark here pretty early during the winter.

A closer picture of the lanterns set up at the entrance.

This ring of bound grasses is used at shrines for the new year to clean the body of bad luck or bad things accumulated throughout the previous year.

The main hall decorated for New Year's.  The bells on the rope are rung by the worshipers to let the gods at the shrine know the people are there before making their wish and prayers for the New Year.

After making our wishes and prayers for the New Year, we went to get the New Year's Goshuin from the shrine.

After getting the Goshuin, we returned home ending our festivities for New Year's Day.  There was so much to do, and I was glad to be able to experience all of the amazing things that the New Year's holiday has to offer in Japan.  I look forward to the holiday next year and participating in the same things again, and maybe trying some new traditions for New Year's too.




References:


1. "Brief History of Hie Jinja," Hie Jinja.
http://www.hiejinja.net/jinja/english/history.html.


2. Terue Kawai, "Shrines - Bastions for the Japanese Heart and Soul Down Through the Ages," Marunouchi.com. 
http://www.marunouchi.com/e/interview/marunouchi2011_11_01.html.


3. "Brief History," Hie Jinja.


4. Terue Kawai, "Shrines - Bastions for the Japanese Heart and Soul," Marunouchi.com.


5. Ibid.

Fun on Sacred Shores: An Enoshima Travel Guide

I have now been to Enoshima twice.  On September 19th, 2010 and July 16th, 2011.  My decision to go was based on the recommendation of a friend here, as I didn't know about the place before then.  In fact, Enoshima wasn't in either of the guide books that I own.  I wanted to try and make this a travel guide along with the usual travel adventure, as I've really enjoyed Enoshima both times I've went.  While there's plenty of more famous sites in Japan, if you happen to be spending a lot of time in Tokyo and want to do something a little different, then a trip to Enoshima could be just that.  As July 16th was the shorter trip, I will designate the events I saw during that trip.  Everything not marked you can assume happened on September 19th.

Enoshima is a little over an hour train ride from Tokyo.  The train drops you off at Katase-Enoshima on the main land side a few hundred meters from the bridge to the island.  The train station's facade is designed to resemble the mythical castle of Ryūgū-jō, which is the castle of the sea dragon god Ryūjin.  The building is equal parts interesting, pleasing and out of place with the rest of the architecture in the area.  However with the mythology behind it matching much of the mythology of the dragon in Enoshima's mythology it makes sense.

Katase-Enoshima Station

Further to the left from the first picture, where tickets can be purchased.

(July 16th, 2011):
Another option is while taking the Odakyū line from Shinjuku, get off at Fujisawa station and switch to the Enoden.  The Enoden is a quaint street-car / train line that goes from Fujisawa to Enoshima and Kamakura giving nice views of the shore and shore towns along the way.  At Shinjuku, you can get the Enoshima-Kamakura Free Pass that covers the round trip from Shinjuku to Fujisawa and unlimited use of the Enoden for 1,430 yen; a discount over paying everything separately even if you only take the Enoden once.  A better discount if planning to see Kamakura and Enoshima in the same day, which is what we did.  The Enoden is a little slower and its Enoshima station a little farther away, but the view and atmosphere are much better.

Enoshima as seen from the Enoden.

The view as the Enoden passes through the small towns along the way.

From the train station, it's just a walk over a long bridge crossing a river to the underpass that leads to the bridge to Enoshima.

There's a few of these signs along the way, so it's easy to find from the station.

Before going to the underpass and the bridge to the island, do yourself a favor and buy the Enoshima pass at the visitor center right next to the underpass entrance.  It costs 1,000 yen, but will save you a great deal more than that if you plan on doing everything.  Especially since we learned it provides discounts and savings on more than what we heard at the visitor center.  The pass covers admission to the caves, lighthouse, admission to the gardens and the use of the escalators on the island.  The cost of these separately already makes the pass a discount, but the pass also covers the admission to the Benten shrine which holds the famous sculpture of Enoshima (150 yen) and provides a 10% discount to some of the restaurants on the island, making it a really good deal to get.

Enoshima from the start of the bridge to the island.

These days, crossing into Enoshima is a far different endeavor than what it used to be if you remember from the previous entry.  A permanent bridge has been made to connect Enoshima to the main island, with space for walking and driving.  Cars are now able to get to the island and park on the modern yacht docks.  I was surprised to see the large amounts of people enjoying the beach under the bridge; grills, beach chairs and even hammocks tied between the girders sprawled out under the bridge.  While approaching the island, many images of the dragon famous in the lore tied to Enoshima line the bridge and along the island coast.

There are 2 of these dragon lanterns flanking the beginning of the walkway part of the bridge to Enoshima.

The bridge leads up to the main part of the island.  The outcropping of buildings hosting the seemingly endless supply of restaurants and souvenir (おみやげ, omiyage) shops effectively wall in the path to the torii.  This island being a spiritual one has the sacred gate marking the entrance to the whole island.

The main path into and around Enoshima island.

The first torii is a bronze one, last rebuilt in 1821 having nice wave decoration carved at the bottom of the torii. [1]

Past the first torii, a larger torii and interesting building stand before the climb up the island.  At this spot, you can look at the bustle from the path of shops where we just came from before making the climb up.  However, we wouldn't need to be climbing this time around as there are escalator stations placed around the island.  These escalators are in buildings just big enough to hold the escalator and the small ticket station at the bottom.  While an odd looking sight on an island filled with the traditional, it makes the trip around the island a lot easier.  At first, I was worried about missing something by taking the stairs, but the island only has the one main path and no escalator on the way down so we would have to take the stairs back down anyways.

In front of the second torii.

Through this building is the path for the stairway up the island.  Left of here is the escalator.

The restaurants, souvenir shops and crowds back at the beginning.

The first escalator drops us off at the beginning of the Enoshima Shrine (江ノ島神社, えのしまじんじゃ, Enoshima-Jinja).  Immediately to the right is a pond with a dragon statue in the middle.  The water is filled with coins resembling a wishing well, but this is one of the many variety of rituals that one might find at a Shinto shrine.  This ritual is for cleaning the spirit and involves taking a small coin, placing it in one of the small baskets that are left on the edge and washing it in the water and then tossing it into the pond.  Shrines in Japan have a large range of rituals that can be done in order to receive everything from good luck, fortune and wishes, to healing, cleansing, protection and more.

Here is the pond.  You can see all of the coins at the bottom.

Right next to the pond is the first shrine of Enoshima Shrine.  Enoshima Shrine actually contains 3 separate shrines scattered around the top of the island: Hetsunomiya, Nakatsunomiya and Okutsunomiya. [2]  According to legend, the 29th emperor, Kinmei (510-571) built a shrine in the caves below Enoshima and enshrined the 3 sea goddesses: Tagitsuhime, Ichikishimahime and Tagirihime to the island. [3]  However, this cave was often infiltrated by waves during storms, so in 853 the priest En-nin built the Nakatsunomiya shrine of Enoshima shrine to make a safer location for the enshrinement. [4]  While the original shrine, 2 more shrines have been built, now each enshrining one of the goddesses on the island.  The first shrine you come to is Hetsunomiya, the main shrine of Enoshima shrine and enshrining the goddess Tagitsuhime. [5]  This shrine was built in 1206 by the Buddhist monk Ryoshin, and rebuilt in 1276. [6]

The main shrine, Hetsunomiya.

Another view containing a purification ritual in front and people waiting to pray at the shrine.  

Right next to this shrine, is the hall that held what I wanted to see.  The Hoanden holds the images of Benten on Enoshima.  Since we didn't know about the discount with the Enoshima Pass at the time we both paid the 150 yen to go in.  The octagonal hall is actually very small, being no more than 10-15 feet in diameter, but what it holds more than makes up for its size.  Actually the rare image of Benten that I really wanted to see was to me, one of the least impressive things in the room.  I was more impressed with the older statue of Benzai-ten (Benten as well), the large bell with a dragon carved as the handle or the sculptures of the 15 servants to Benzai-ten.  The rarity of it being nude (which it normally isn't) must be the allure and going into the hall was worth it.  Unfortunately pictures weren't allowed inside, so I have nothing to show.

The Hoanden, which holds the images of Benten on the island.

The older Benten image was enshrined by Yoritomo Minamoto (1147-1199), who if you remember from the previous post was the first ruler of the Kamakura Shogunate.  While enshrining, his prayer was for victory over his rivals, the Fujiwara clan and upon achieving victory in 1189, starting the Kamakura Shogunate the goddess became known for granting the wishes of worshipers and became known as Enoshima Benten ever since. [7]

The newer and more famous Benten was made famous by Iyeasu Tokugawa (1542-1616) the unifier of Japan and the first Shogun of the Edo period.  In 1600 he visited the Benten and made it an official prayer area for the Tokugawas. [8]  During this period, the Benten became more well-known for providing help for music and the arts and eventually became open to the public which it had only been for the important and powerful before then. [9]

Back outside I looked at the various items the shrine had for sale.  There are always a variety of charms and amulets for protection, fortunes and other items involving rituals selling at the shrines.  I however always look for the shrine's ema.  Ema (絵馬, えま) are a wish block, which is a small piece of wood with a small painting on the front relating to some aspect of the shrine and a blank back.  On the back people write their wish and hang it in the shrine in order for it to come true.  

A spot to hang ema at Enoshima.  At this one, the trees surrounded by the ema are seen as sacred and that as lovers, being two trees together so the ema here are usually for relationship wishes.

I never actually buy them to write the wish, as I like to keep them as my souvenir from places.  They're always nice and also pretty cheap for souvenirs (usually 500 yen, but the one I got at Enoshima was 1,000 yen due to its large size).  Then when I come home I hang them up.  In my very first post, I posted a picture of the ema hanging up on my wall.

Enoshima's ema showing the island, along with the dragon, Benten and some of Benten's servants.

Next to the Hoanden is the small Yasaka Shrine.

Starting from here, if you look for vantage points back towards the main land along the path  you are rewarded with some nice views.

At this point, there's another escalator to take that brings you up to the top of the island and then the path leads around to the back of the island.  Next time, I'll cover the rest of the island and the rest of my trip and travel guide to Enoshima.

Continue to Part 2.

References:

1. "Enoshima Tourist Map," Fujisawa, Kanagawa: Fujisawa City Tourist Association, 2009.

2. Ibid.

3. "Enoshima Jinja Shrine," A New Guide to Kamakura.
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~qm9t-kndu/enoshima.htm.

4. Ibid.


5. "Enoshima Tourist Map," Fujisawa City Tourist Assocation.

6. Ibid.


7. "Enoshima Jinja Shrine," A New Guide to Kamakura.

8. Ibid.


9. "Enoshima Tourist Map," Fujisawa City Tourist Assocation.