Key #35: Fire & Water

An annual Buddhist event taking place during the first half of March for the last 1250 years or so… Since its starting date roughly corresponds to the beginning of the second month of the lunar calendar, the structure, erected for the purpose of hosting that event, is called “Nigatsu-do” (literally, “The Hall of the Second Month”). The Hall is part of Todaiji ("Great Eatern Temple") built around the year 740 in Nara, the then capital of Japan, to emphasize the might and prosperity of the Empire. The event lasts two full weeks, which makes it one of the longest (as well as the oldest) Buddhist happenings in Japan - and fully justifies dubbing it a “festival”. At first glance, the story behind Omizutori Festival is pretty straightforward, and yet… there is somewhat more to it than meets the eye.

More than well-established, the festival is also extremely popular. It attracts really big crowds each and every day for the whole two weeks, many people coming multiple times, some even returning within the next several years. What exactly do they come to see? Those expecting the name of the festival to provide the answer will be disappointed. The portmanteau “Omizutori” consists of two actual words and a honorific: “mizu” is Japanese for "water", “toru” - for “to take”. So, the literal translation of the festival title is “Taking/Drawing Water.” The honorific “o” modifies this translation by rendering it a cultural aspect: “o-mizu” is, so-to-say, “highly-respected water” or “water of high status” - and that implies some special powers. That is indeed the case: while water in question is drawn from a seemingly regular well located right next to the Hall, it's supposed to flow only once a year - and, more important, have restorative powers. The only problem with that perfectly logical explanation is that the process itself is hardly exciting enough (or at all!) to attract any spectators (let alone, big crowds). In fact, it happens in the small hours of the night (closer to 3.30 am) when literally nobody is around but a monk with a bucket. In other words, the name of the, arguably, most famous festival in Japan has literally nothing to do with its fame!

The performance starts after the sunset (so its starting time varies each day by a a couple of minutes) and lasts between 10 and 45 minutes, depending on the day. However, visitors are advised to arrive 30 minutes or so in advance - to have a chance to actually see something. What they do see for most of the time is on the picture above - or below

It happens in March in Japan - so, oftentimes they see it through a silvery wall of falling water. Last but not least, Japanese people tend to refrain from using umbrellas in a crowd - and they get really agitated if foreigners do it in front of them (in fact, that's one of extremely few situations that might provoke an unfriendly remark directed at a poor, unsuspecting tourist).

The immediate reason for bearing up is best expressed through a quote: “giant torches ranging in length from six to eight meters are carried up to Nigatsudo's balcony and held over the crowd. The burning embers that shower down from the balcony are thought to bestow the onlookers with a safe year”. It's less than a thousand words, so…

It's worth adding that the torches are carried not only to but also around the balcony, thus turning into a “traveling flame”. That - rather than just a vague prospect of safety, prosperity and such (not every Japanese, let alone most foreigners, shares those beliefs) - is likely to attract people, draw them back and make them persevere. The innate magic of fire - the most aggressive and immediate of the Five Elements - that alternately overwhelms and hypnotizes people is what must be responsible for Omizutori's never abating popularity spanning well over a millennium. Fire, among the other elements, being an important symbol of paganism, that popularity creates another alleged contradiction: while Buddhism is much more a set of personal beliefs rather than a rigid religion, it's still somewhat closer to religions than to paganism - and plenty of Japanese people do embrace Buddhism wholeheartedly. Yet, pagan symbols seem to easily bypass the defenses of consciousness and go straight for the unconscious core that has defined the human species from time immemorial. A chance to reconnect to that core is Omizutori's gift to everybody who happens to be in the right place at the right time - and one of the most powerful Japanese wonders on offer.