MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- Just north of Nagoya, Japan, there is a small dreary village named Komaki.
Within one of its quiet streets, amid homes and small local businesses, is the 1,500-year-old Tagata Shinto fertility shrine.
Once a year on March 15, the small town bursts to life with the sounds of people laughing, singing and chanting, making their way to the shrine during the ancient Hounen Matsuri, or abundant year festival.
People from all over the world come to the small village to enjoy the harvest festival, which celebrates fertility and the renewal of life.
This year, the Information, Tours and Travel office here offered a trip to the festival site and gave station members the opportunity to join the crowd of people celebrating at the shrine.
“It’s a special festival that (many) American people haven‘t seen before, so we thought it would be a great opportunity for base people to see this special traditional Japanese festival,” said Takayuki Takeda, an ITT tour guide here. “This was an opportunity for (the station members) to see something different and something fun.”
Takeda said while there are many festivals in Japan, which pray for fertility and a good harvest, the Hounen Matsuri is unique in how it’s celebrated.
According to the Tagata Shinto shrine official history, a powerful feudal lord lived in Komaki during the Yamato period between the 3rd and 5th century.
The lord had a daughter named Tamahime, who was betrothed to a young prince and warrior named Takeinadane.
The legend says Takeinadane was called to fight in a distant battle where he was killed, leaving Tamahime behind.
Locals say the Tagata shrine stands on the site where Tamahime once lived.
She is enshrined there as Tamahime-no-mikoto and worshiped as the principal deity.
During the festival, to celebrate the two lover’s reunion and ask for a bountiful harvest, festival goers observe a procession, which carries a large cedar-carved phallus to the site of the Tagata shrine where the powerful Tamahime-no-mikoto awaits her lover.
The procession starts a mile away from the Tagata at a Kumano shrine, which is dedicated to the home of the Shinto gods.
A priest, acting as herald, purifies the path of the procession by scattering salt on either side of the road to ward off evil spirits.
Following the parade, musicians playing ancient court music are followed by women clothed in traditional Japanese dress who are in turn followed by men displaying banners high in the air.
Bearers carrying a small wooden statue of Takeinadene-no-mikoto follow towards the end of the procession.
The arrival at the shrine of the cedar-carved phallus signals the end of the parade.
Although the phallic theme is present thoroughout the festival, many of the local people understand the worship is not of the phallus but of what it represents as a symbol of renewal and regeneration.
People from all over Japan come to the festival with prayers of thanks for a successful birth and prayers asking for a blessed conception.
“I brought my daughter-in-law here this year so she could pray for a birth,” said Hiromi Kiyomizu, a visitor from a city north of the festival site. “She married my son last year, and I thought bringing her here would be a great experience for her, and it might help.”
People from all over Japan could be seen bowing their heads in supplication alongside Kiyomizu’s daughter-in-law offering their prayers to Tamahime-no-mikoto.
Other people could be seen raising their young children in the air toward the shrine in thanks for their children’s birth.
For those who stood on the side of the procession experiencing the festival for the first time, it remained a memorable experience.
“It was a strange experience, but definitely something worth seeing,” said Michael Hogan, an ITT festival spectator. “I had a great time, and I look forward to coming back next year.”
Editor’s note: References used for this article include the Web sites http://farstrider.net/Japan/Festivas/HounenMatsuri/and http://www.yamasa.org/japan/english/destinations/aichi/tagata_jinja.html.