The pandemic went into its third year and the situation seems to be the stage of the transient period of entirely new lifestyle. Commuting hell is coming back to me, but there are lots of things which will never go back before pandemic started. One relevant thing is avoiding mass crowds in any circumstance and the symbolic example is our annual religious practice such as the first visit of the year to shrines and temples. In this newsletter I will write about a bit of my personal experience regarding my religious practice change by pandemic.
We Japanese are said to be the only religious on special occasions such as at the birth, the wedding and the end of life. The majority of Japanese people don’t go to temple or shines every weekend like Christian people go to church. But visiting shrines and temples at New Year’s Day and pray for the achievement of one’s wishes is something very special and this thought brings people to visit shrines and temples. That’s why you see mass crowds flocking to major shrines and temples all over Japan as soon as the clock has passed the midnight.
I make it a rule to stay up until the New Year comes and go to bed, get up early enough to catch up the first sunrise of the year. Then I use to go to Kawasaki Daishi for Gomakitou ceremony. Gomakitou accompany the typical solemn religious ceremony supported by deep philosophical meaning and the esoteric Buddhist doctrine of Shingon. For the details of the ceremony, please refer to the following site.
For Ogoma Kito, the rite of burning, is conducted in the main hall packed with hundreds of people in a small space. New Year 2022 collided with the 6th wave of Covid-19 and I gave up visiting there as usual due the infection risk. Psychologically, it has been very frustrating not being able to visit, but finally, I visited last weekend after waiting more than five months.
It makes a huge difference when to visit there. Before the pandemic at New Year’s Day the queue started long before the entrance and it took at least one hours to reach the gate, and after the gate it took nearly two hours to finish all Gomakitou. But this time the temple was nearly empty even though it was Sunday. I have never seen such a quiet Kawasaki Daishi before, it was truly an advantage of delaying the visit. Finally, I am very much relieved that my routine is done.
There is not the only purpose of visiting Kawasaki Daishi for praying, but there is another purpose of filling my stomach by special Japanese sweets. It is called Kuzumochi『久寿餅』which stands for sweets which we pray for the eternal happiness. Mochi normally means “rice cake” but this sweet is completely different from the original meaning. In late Edo Period, local people started to call those made of fermented wheat flour also Kuzumochi. There are two kinds of kuzumochi and often they are confused. Those of eastern Japan made of fermenting wheat flour, starch and those in western Japan made by Hon-Kuzu.
Kuzumochi is served with black sugar syrup and soybean flour on top. It has a light and elegant taste and indescribable soft texture. The only disadvantage of it is you should eat on the same day of the production to enjoy since freshness is most important. In my family, we must buy at the very specific shop called “Sumiyoshi” which is located next to the main gate of Kawasaki Daishi and it has 100 years of history.
Kawasaki Daishi is located in the south of Haneda International Airport across Tama River. It takes 30 minutes from Shiinagawa and Haneda by Keihin Kyuko Line.
It is not as big and busy as Asakusa, but Kawasaki Daishi has an atmosphere and you can feel the beat of Japan.