Hail Ompah-Loompah Satan

Greetings Pilgrims;

It has been a very good weekend. I've been keeping myself busy, so I thought I would recount some of my adventures over the past weekend.

On Sunday I traveled to Toyohashi-jingu for a Oni-matsuri (Devil festival). It was a sunny day, yet a fell wind was blowing from the west. When I took of my jacket I got cold, but after putting it back on I started to sweat profusely. I didn't know what to expect from this public display of devil worship, but I came prepared to pay homage the Dark One himself.

The Japanese see all religious events as an excuse to sell carnival food. Its the same stalls I've seen all through my travels across Japan. I wouldn't be surprised if they were actually owned by the temples or something. The coolest thing I saw at the stalls was a yakitori stand with pre-cooked yakitori at the front, the grill in the middle and a small, nervous cocker-spaniel in a box at the back. What kind of meat do they use in yakitori anyway**?

The festivities were spread out throughout the day, but the main action was from 12:00 to 2:00. We got there half an hour early, so we decided to have a look around the temple. At one end of the complex were a bunch of teens dressed up in Edo-period garb whose job it was to yell in unison at the top of their lungs. I thought it was to ward of the approach of the Dark One, but according to my Japanese teacher Tomo, they were doing it in order to excite the crowd. Think of it as a warm-up act for the main festivities.

Before the start of the show we tried to get as close to the stage as possible. I was told that people would be throwing out bags of candy to the crowd. If you managed to catch one of these bags, you will have good health for the rest of the year. When the time came, the screaming teens ran towards the stage with priests and shrine maidens following after them, throwing candy and a whole lot of flour.

If I had known about the flour part, I wouldn't have worn black clothing.

I managed to grab some candy in the scramble, elbowing a kid in the face by 'accident' in my haste. Bad luck for him when he dies of cholera next month or something. Anyway, with the flour thrown it was time for the Toyohashi Oni to make his appearance. I had expected to pay homage to some obtuse and disgusting Japanese demon, but I was not expecting the full demonic majesty of....

'Ompah-Loompah Satan!'

The adorable little scamp was being played by a 9 year-old who had to dance for our amusement. The little kids in the crowd and the shrine maidens behind him were dancing along with him. When he came up to my part of the crowd, I yelled out at the top of my lungs 'Hail Satan' while throwing up the horns.

I'm pretty sure he had nightmares that night.

That day I saw a lot of shrine maidens, watched a ritual archery demonstration as well as got another bag of candy (I'm good for another year!) All in all, a good Sunday

-Blake

**Sure, it's supposed to be chicken. But that's what they _want_ you to believe!