“Baitu” is a ceremony held in Ohshirakura Village during the Little New Year. Its name goes back to the language of Shugendo (Japanese mountain asceticism). It is a dynamic fire festival that does not appear to have been inherited by a small village. It is a celebration event to pray for a good harvest of the year. I have supported for about 20 years.
Preparations for the festival begin in autumn. Villagers cut out large, sturdy branches, which they found among the zelkova trees that grow wild in the mountains.
On the morning of January 14th, they set to stick the branches onto the base of the piled snow. It takes half a day. Agile men climb branches and build the framework of a huge hut. In years when they could not get large branches, the volume of the hut had become smaller.
Then, they hung the rice straw on the framework. When looking up at people working on a thin branch, they are just like Spider-Man. Once the roof top is covered with rice straw to block the snow, they set fire to a hearth. The fire dries the snow-wet branches and straws, and mats lie on the floor. Everything is ready in the late afternoon.
The ceremony starts around 7:00 pm. People joins little by little. In years when a huge hut was built, about 70-80 people were inside at one time. In the hearth, dried squid, which attends to the celebration of the Little New Year, is grilled, and villagers serve pork miso soup, rice cakes, mandarin oranges, sweet mild sake, and rice-producing sake as the local specialties. If you eat dried squid grilled by the fire in the ceremonies of the Little New Year, it is said that you will not catch a cold for a year. Snow is under the mat and on the walls, and the outside temperature is below freezing, but the power of the bonfire keeps the warm inside.
The highlight of the banquet, which lasts until nearly 9:00, is Tenjin-Bayashi, sung by the villagers. It is magnificent, and you must go back in time. When the banquet is over, the participants leave the hut. The villagers set fire to the hut, which took half a day to build. It burst into flames in no time, brightening up the dark village. They will have a bountiful harvest in that year when the flame burns straight.
According to the landscape of snow and the background of the snowy country, fire looks brighter and stronger, giving a sign of spring and hope beyond the deepening snow.
Although it is a heavy snowfall area, there were years when “Baitu” was suspended since the snowfall was too heavy or the snow did not accumulate during the 25 years since I had visited Baitu. The COVID-19 pandemic was more severe than those years. In the Little New Year of 2023, when the pandemic showed signs of ending, Baitu was not held. Due to the injury of the head of the villager, it became difficult to cut out the zelkova trees. In place of the head, I made arrangements. But the motivation of the eight-family elderly village was declining due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I wish to restart it early and want to support it.
Setting-up
Banquet
Fire Ceremony
Next morning after the festival
Click here for your impressions
reference
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