ひな祭り★～★Doll's Festival

March 3rd is Hinamatsuri, also known as the Doll's Festival, or Girls' Day.

Dolls representing the imperial court in Heian-period dress ornament a tiered stand.

At one local nursery school, many of the lower-tier dolls were made by the children.

They sang a traditional song about Hinamatsuri and played games. One game was similar to "Fruit Basket Upset," but with the children calling out different colors corresponding to the paper crowns worn by "hime" (princesses) and "dairi" (emperors).

ABC 教室

２月１７日からＡＢＣ教室を教えています！

小学校６年生は中学校に進学すると、英語を読んだり書いたりする機会がどんと増えますが、小学校では会話が中心なので、練習しておきたいという声がありました。そこで「ＡＢＣ教室」。週に２回、１時間ずつ、１０回まで行う予定です。

Since February 17th I have been teaching an ABC class for sixth graders twice a week for an hour at a time. When they enter junior high, they will need to read and write English for classwork and homework, but elementary school English is taught with an emphasis on games and conversation. Several sixth graders have expressed an interest in practicing or learning how to read and write in English. There will be 10 classes in all.

伊方の節分 Setsubun in Ikata

Last Thursday, February 3rd, Ikata celebrated Setsubun.

Literally, "Setsubun" refers to the separation between seasons. It takes place on the day before the first day of spring, summer, fall, and winter according to the lunar calendar. However, in modern Japan, the spring Setsubun is by far the most popular.

To purify or exorcise one's home from any evil spirits that may have wandered in, people throw beans (usually roasted soybeans) out the door while shouting Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi! This means, "out with the demons, in with luck!" Sometimes a family member or friend will wear a scary mask to represent the oni, or demons, and everyone throws beans at that person instead.

This is particularly exciting at Ikata's nursery schools. The teachers arrange for a visit from some pretty lifelike oni, and the children vacillate between trying to run away and hide from them, and bravely dashing out to throw beans at them. The children also make their own oni masks as crafts.

Updates! 更新

Check out the updated 2010 Trip Diary page (the tab is at the top of this homepage) for translations of reports written by last year's Ikata student delegation.

昨年の派遣団に書かれた報告書を英語に訳し、２０１０年 Trip Diary というページに載せました。見るためには、このホームページの上にある水色のタブをクリックしてください。

お伊勢踊り奉納 The O-Isei Odori: A Ritual Dance

On January 14th and 15th, in the neighborhood of Misaki's Hachiman Shrine, a small group of men came together to perform a ritual dance called O-Isei Odori. Why? According to traditional Japanese belief, depending on whether you are male or female, certain years are unlucky for you. For women, these are 19 and 33 (with 33 being the most well-known), and for men, they are 25, 42, and 61 (with 42 being the most well-known). Different neighborhoods deal with the problem of unlucky years, called yakudoshi, in different ways.

For believers in yakudoshi who live in the neighborhood of the Hachiman Shrine in Misaki, this dance and its hymn--sung and accompanied by the taiko drum-- serve to expunge a year's worth of bad luck for 42 year-old men.

While it is uncertain exactly how many years this O-Isei ritual has been performed, it is believed to have been in practice since the middle of the Edo period (1603-1868), making it at least 300 years old.

成人の日 Coming of Age Day

This year on Monday, January 10th, a crowd of young people filled the large multipurpose hall at Ikata's Lifelong Learning Center. They had at least one thing in common: between April 2009 and March 31st, 2010, they all had or will have their 20th birthday.

The second Monday of every January is designated as "Coming of Age Day," when new 20 year-olds are invited to assemble at the local municipal office, where, in Ikata's case, Mayor Yamashita and other officials gave speeches about the importance of becoming an adult.

(As opposed to 21 in America, in Japan, 20 is the legal age of "majority.")

Congratulations, new adults!

You can read more about Coming of Age Day on Wikipedia.

Happy New Year!

皆さん、あけましておめでとうございます！

今年もよろしくお願い申し上げます。