Houji

Oct. 21

In Japan, there are what I call, funeral anniversaries - houji, that take place on significant years. I was invited to my cousins houji for their father, mother, and brother. It would take place at the family temple in Hamamatsu. I belong to an 'otera' family, a temple family with an ancestry of Buddhist priests extending back 500 years. My grandfather was a zen Buddhist priest, then my uncle, and now my cousin. My cousin would perform the ritual.
















Back area of the temple overlooking the graves. Muku, the temple dog, ever vigilante.

I looked forward to the sombre occasion, strangely enough, as it would be a traditional Japanese Buddhist experience and also an opportunity to visit the graves of my dead family members that included my grandmother and grandfather. It was a moving experience and I enjoyed the droning chants accompanied by the beating ritual instrument, which I failed to get the name of. Bad ethnomusicological moment. My cousin kept good time. Can one be a good buddhist priest if you have bad time? These and other more sobering thoughts run through my head as the ritual progressed.









Later we went out to the headstones and there was more chants and incense and prayers to the many dead. I spent a moment with my dead grandparents. After the ceremony, there is the feast. We went to a very shi shi restaurant and had the houji menu. There was polite conversation and beer. Thank goodness. I don't know if I broke protocol by having beer (the men were), but my Japanese family have probably accepted the fact that the Canadian cousin is a beer guzzler. I am Canadian.










Fine Japanese dining, overlooking a lake.

After the houji, I decide to wander around Hamamatsu since it is a beautiful day. I came across this small shrine in the downtown area. Now I have seen several small shires similar to this in large city areas. It is the sharp contrast of tradition juxtaposed again modernity. This is what makes Japan.