Shinto matsuri and hugs

Today, the students from our school joined in with a Shinto matsuri that was happening here in Kyoto. I don't have pictures, because while participating carrying a shrine and jumping and dancing with it along the way, I couldn't really have a camera with me. The men carried a large shrine and women carried a medium one and there was a small one for children. When carrying the shrine, there were more than enough people, so we would take turns by walking beside the person we would change with, putting our hand on the shrine poles ahead of them, then tapping them in the middle of the back. Then we would move into place as they moved out. It is hard work to do and lasts for a couple of hours, but trading off and taking breaks makes it do-able and a bond builds between all the people participating. By height we were assigned a particular area of the shrine to carry or walk beside because of the way the poles are held.

The groups kind of of parade through areas of town, but isn't much like a parade in the US. Every 15 minutes or so we would take about a 15 minute break. Snacks or rice with fish and juice or water or beer or sake was offered at the various stops. Today I tried sashimi, which is raw fish. It was one of the things that I hadn't decided if I would eat or not while here in Japan. I had been leaning toward not trying it and certainly hadn't gone out of my way to do so, but I'm glad there was an opportunity like this, as it was actually tasty.

When we were done and brought the portable shrines back to the large shrine, we all had a chance to dance and call out with the men's shrine if we wanted to participate in that. I did, but my shoulder is fairly bruised now, as are probably most everyone's.

At the end of the event, a lady that had been in my area of the pole carrying walked over to me and reached out and we shared a long wonderful hug. We hadn't spoken a word to each other to that point, just shared in the experience together, but we had bonded in a way that language doesn't matter. For a few minutes after that, I talked in my broken Japanese with a little English and she in her even more broken English and a lot of Japanese of just this and that, but I will never forget her. The bond we shared went beyond any words and touched both our hearts.

Also, I have had only one other hug since I've been to Japan, I was realizing yesterday, and that one was rather awkward with someone I don't know really well. I have been needing to hug and be hugged tremendously. A real friendship laden hug, where we had bonded with a special experience meant so much to me. I truly will never forget her, even if we never see each other again, that experience is burned in my heart and means a great deal to me.