Sarah's christening in Japan
Today we visited the Takeda Shingen shrine in Kofu, the most famous
shrine in Kofu-shi,
the capital of Yamanashi-ken, our home state in Japan. A few hundred years ago Taked
Shingen was the ruler of Yamanashi-ken and it when it was called Kai-Koku (the country of
Kai). Takeda Shingen was a famous warrior and would have taken over all of Japan had
it if he had had a pistol. Oda Nobunaga had his army equiped with pistols and this
helped him win the battle over Takeda. That explains why this shrine is the most
famous in Yamanashi-ken, and that is why we brought our two week old daughter here to have
her blessed by the keepers of the shrine. We paid about seventy-five dollars to have
a ritual performed by the keepers (KANUSHI) of the shrine, a man and woman. We went
inside of this building where you see people praying and ringing bells attached to the
long white ropes. Here is a run-down of the ritual we experienced inside:
There is an alter inside that covers an inner door to where God is supposed to reside. The white-colored circle in the center of the alter is a mirror that is supposed to represent the eye of God. Sarah, Sarah's grandmother, mother, and father (me) waited while the KANUSHI (caretaker) of the shrine prepared a service. The first part would be drums.
The drums were enough to get Sarah to open one eye at least.
Next it was time for the KANUSHI to come and bless us.
The stick, or wand, with strips of white paper attached to the end represents the spirit of God. You often see these strips attached over doorways during holidays in Japan.
In special cases, like ours, the KANUSHI of the local shrine uses the wand to bless people on special occasions: a month-old baby (ours is only two weeks, we came a little early), the business leaders of the community on new years eve, the opening of a building project, etc.
Next the KANUSHI prays for Sarah and her family.
Next the father (me) gets a branch from a sacred tree to place on the alter before praying with Sarah's mother and grandmother. There is a white strip of paper attached to this to signify the presence of God. We pray together at the alter, and that is basically the end of the ceremony, except for gifts that the KANUSHI gives us to remember our experience. Finally, Sarah's mother and father are given a small saucer of rice wine (SAKE) to toast the baby's health.
Lastly, we had our pictures taken!