Nihon - Day 12

Day 12 - Doll Burning Ceremony

I headed out on a cold and windy day and took the subway to Ueno Park. The stop was not far away from the park at all.

Walking around the massive park, I took many photos and found Kiyomizu Kannon-do admist all the temples and shrines that call the park home. The monks were busy in preperation for the ceremony to be conducted later that day, but it was still early so i headed to the Ueno Park Zoo.

The zoo entrance has a machine to purchase your ticket from. Awsome! Just put your money in Y1000 and press the button relating to the ticket you want to purchase. Then the lady at the gate stamps your ticket as you enter. EASY!
As soon as you enter the zoo there is displays holding maps of the zoo in many different languages. I grabbed an english one.
The giant pandas weren't available but I did see some gorgeous little red pandas instead. Some of the cages seemed a little disproportioned.

I wandered out of the zoo and back to the park. I had a quick look at a brilliant water feature before I realised the time and headed back to Kiyomizu Kannon-do.

I got there shortley after the ceremony had started and the monks were sitting around the table chanting and blessing the dolls. Two other men prepared the vessel the dolls would be burnt in. After about 20 minutes or so the monks then got up and led a procession to a table in front of the vessel. The monk in the middle lit some incense and prayed to the goddess Senju Kannon (of mercy). the dolls were placed in the vessel and a rag on a stick was douced in kerosine and placed inside with the dolls. The rag was then lit and the flames soon grew. The other monks lit incense and offered their own prays then moved off from the table. As the flames ingulfed the dolls more people came to the table and gave the two men their dolls to be placed in the flames, then grabbed a pinch of the incense and lifted in to their forheads before placing it in the already burning incense lit by the monks. They then moved out of the area to let more people in.

It was actually a moving ceremony and I hope those people offering their dolls for fertility get waht they are praying for.

For dinner I was going to try Yakatori but decided to buy something at the Family mart and sit in my room instead. All that smoke made me very tired. I bought a lovely pasta chicken and chilli dish that the man heated for me and two beers, only cost me Y602. Sweet!