Kashima Castle Grounds

Recently, I discovered the location of Kashima Castle. It is a short distance from Kashima Shrine. In fact, festival parade routes still follows traveling from the castle grounds to the shrine. The castle stood on a steep hill overlooking much of Kashima, including the river and the First Torii gate. The castle was built in 1181, by Yoritomo Minamoto, the Soutsuibushi (a kind of military ruler). It stood until 1591, when Kiyohide Kashima and his son (owner of the castle and ruler of Kashima) were murdered by Yoshinobu Satake of Hitachi Ota. Thus bringing an end to the history of Kashima Castle. Where the castle once stood is now a very scenic park. It still holds the beautiful vistas, and on the grounds are dozens of cherry trees. I look forward to returning in the spring time to view the blooming of the cherry blossoms. There are some markers on the grounds to show where some locations once were, like the inner citadel once stood. The Kashima Castle grounds adds more to the depth of this city, I am slowly learning the history of this beautiful land.

Tombs of the Tengu Party

Yesterday I set out to go exploring. A couple weeks back, while going over a map I found a location with an interesting name: Tombs of the Tengu Party. Tengu are a kind of demon, sort of. They mostly have red skin, humanoid, and either have bird faces or very long noses. They live on mountains and are considered fairly dangerous. So, quite the evocative name to just pop up.

The map didn't show a direct route but while riding the train to work I spotted a cemetery poking out of the hillside of a small forested mountain. With a bit of a more clear direction I set out to find a way to that hillside cemetery. The journey to the forested mountain was difficult, few paved roads lead to this part of the mountain, I eventually find a path that brings me to the cemetery. The cemetery was built straight into the mountain, some of the stairs carved right out of the dirt and clay. And the surprising thing was, after climbing these earthen stairs, the graves on top were some of the most well tended.

About half way up, I found it, the Tombs of the Tengu Party. Turns out the Tengu Party was a political party from the late Edo period. They were part of the Sonno Joi Movement (revere the emperor, expel the foreigners). The Tengu Party raised an army at Mount Tsukuba and were killed by Shogunate forces. One sect of the Tengu Party made it to Kashima, where they were tracked down, 23 were arrested, decapitated and their bodies thrown into the Daijo-Beta horse dump. In the Meiji Era a monument stone was placed under a Chinese blackberry tree out of remembrance.

After finding the tombs I decide to hike up the mountain. The nature was beautiful but eventually the path was blocked with fallen trees and mudslides. I head back and circle around the mountain and find an old farm road up. From the top of the mountain the view is marvelous.

Setsubun: Scaring Up Some Good Luck

Last Sunday (February 3rd) was Setsubun. A traditional Japanese holiday. Where, to bring good luck and scare away oni (demons), you throw roasted beans around the home or at the local shrine. I went out to Kashima shrine to see how this tradition plays out. Friend from work, Lauren, joined me on this adventure.

When we arrived at the shrine a huge platform had been build with a massive crowd gathered around it. Everyone was excited and a jolly mood was buzzing around with everyone. Off in the distance three guys had dressed as comical oni with body suits and face paint, colored red, yellow and green. Several people closest to the stage were hefting up bags, boxes and containers. On the stage were mascots from around Kashima. The mascots for the Kashima Antlers (local FIFA soccer team), Bokuden Tsukahara legendary swordsman, and other cute figures. After a while the priests of the temple made their way on to the stage, then local politician, then celebrities of some caliber I couldn't recognize, finally a bunch of children. With everyone in place they all started chucking small packages of roasted beans into the audience. It was wild, like a holiday to celebrate catching foul balls at a baseball stadium.

We had arrived too late and were very far back into the crowd, and most of the city council types and local celebrities couldn't throw too far towards the eager folks. But the head priest was pitching them far and wide into the neglected late comers. I recognized him from the sword tournament and his athleticism showed this day. Despite the near misses, I never caught a single bean, but it was still a riotous good time. I was smiling and laughing the whole time!

A few days later I ran into my coworker, Ayane (who also lives in Kashima), and she and her family had also been there. She told me that part of what drew the large crowd was that the small baggies of roasted beans also had PRIZE TICKETS inside!!! Most prizes were small fare, like bags of chips or pop corn, but apparently some big prizes as well! I had a marvelous evening laughing and having a good time shoulder to shoulder with the people trying to catch a hand full of beans!

Studying Japanese

This is a brief post. December, before my break, I was able to finally find a place to study Japanese. The school was previously a sort of community college, but has further been open to the public. Classes are free, you only have to pay a small monthly fee to cover the cost of refreshments during  the mid-lesson break. Classes have really highlighted that I need to study daily! The efforts I have made to this point have been small potatoes, it's time to buckle down and get serious. I already know the steps I need to take, so it's only a matter of taking those steps.