At the start of the year I found myself continuing the eighty-eight temple pilgrimage of Shikoku. It was a unique time to see the temples as it had just snowed in Tokushima-ken.

On January 1st, 2010 we made the choice to go to Ikeda-cho in Tokushima-ken. We were going to take a cable car up 3,000 feet to Upenji (the Temple of Hovering Clouds, the 66th temple of the eighty-eight temple pilgrimage).

While the traditional Japanese New Year is often thought to be Setsubun in February, the Japanese do observe the “Western” New Year as well. At this time many people visit temples to pray and purchase good luck charms for the new year.

On this particular day we stumbled upon a goma ritual being performed by the priests of Upenji. The goma ritual has its roots in the pre-Hindu Vedic agnihotr and is a sort of fire blessing ceremony in which various movements, mudras, offerings, and prayers are made.

In this particular goma they had built a large fire structure. The main priest completed the ritual, a younger priest beat on a drum, and five assistants (one female and four male) recited the Heart Sutra.

I have a clear fascination with fire rituals and as I am an official student of Shingon Buddhism I adore anything Shingon (this particular temple is part of the Omuro-ha Shingon Mission). The moment we walked over the hill and I saw the flames I knew what it was for and I became instantly delighted.

We were also there to pray and get the temple’s stamp in our nokyo-cho (stamp book), but I just could not tear myself away from the beautiful ceremony.

The fire embers rose up to mix with the falling snow and as the ritual went on it became apparent that something more than a simple goma ritual was being prepared for!

They carefully tore down the fire structure, moving the burnt wood into a large rectangle within a log frame. They used long bamboo rods to beat the burning wood into the grown, giving rise to quite a few loud “pop”s as the wood exploded from a mixture of the heat and pressure.

They laid various branches in a path on one end and then the head priest walked around the fire performing prayers and mudras (hand movements).

Finally, the head priest stood before the burning pieces of wood, said a few words, and then he began to walk across the fire. Quickly following him were the other priests before they opened it up to anyone who was interested. The first non-clergy was a small girl.

The process was quite simple. You went over to a table and paid for a small stick that had symbolic paper attached to it. You took off your shoes and walked across the freezing snow to the fire pit. The clergy tapped your back and said prayers and then off you went– walking across fire.

At the end you stepped off onto the branches that had been laid out as a second priest tapped your back once more. You then walked over to buckets of warm water where you washed the soot from your feet.

Naturally, for me anyway, I informed my husband I was going to do it. He looked at me with a bit of disbelief before decided he also wanted to give it a try. I took a moment to explain to our seven year old son what his father and I would be doing and he told me he wanted to do it as well!

And so, my husband walked across with our older son and I walked across with our younger son strapped to me in his baby carrier.

The start of my 2010 was quite incredible. We began it by rising up 3,000 feet and then walking on fire.

What did you do to start of 2010?

Comments |

2 Comments until now

On March 5th, 2010 Monika Said:

Oh my gods that was amazing! Oh how I wish I was there with you to partake in the incredible rituals you seem to
stumble across! Love and Hugs to you and your family

Like or Dislike: 0  0

Maz Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 5:12 pm

I am trying to put together some sort of list of local activities so I have a nice calendar. It would have been fun to have you along!

Like or Dislike: 0  0

Register / Log In / Log out