So about a week ago, the father of one of the men who is also living in our house passed away. As he was a member of the church, a traditional Tenrikyo funeral service was held for him. I was lucky enough to be able to document some of it, because apparently you’re not supposed to take pictures at funerals and such.
This is a picture of Otoosan pointing the way…Not really. This was actually just a test picture to make sure that my flash was turned off, but I thought it was funny, so I decided to keep it.
They totally changed the church for this whole thing. In actuality, the church looks nothing like this…For example, those cushions, those huge baskets, and that big blue and white curtain are usually not there.
…Neither is this. This is a picture of the shrine thing that was exclusively for the guy who died. During the actual ceremony, people make offerings of incense and tree branches (not sure why) to the shrine itself.
This is the bottom of the shrine a bit closer up. I thought it was really pretty, so I wanted a closer picture. :D
And all of these are offerings of food and stuff which relatives of the deceased make. By the end of the funeral, there was a TON of food. It was ridiculous. I had no idea where it was all going, but it was shipped off somewhere.
These are baskets of flowers that lined the walls of the church. I definitely can’t read that Kanji, but I’m thinking that they might be the names of people who gave them…Or something. They look like name Kanji.
Funerals are a lot of work. My Okaasan was busy doing stuff (with the help of me and other church members, of course) pretty much for 2 days straight. It was crazy how much there was to do, like somehow get food for all the funeral goers and such.
And this is a picture of the nighttime ceremony actually in progress. I didn’t get a whole ton of pictures, because I was really shy and didn’t want to take that many. I was scared that people would give me glares and I would feel utterly and ridiculously rude. But I did get something.
…So the quality of most of these is going to be somewhat crap, but there you go. My camera was acting up at this point for some reason, I’m not sure why. So in some of these it looks like the people were moving SUPER fast. They weren’t though. Heh.
And this is a picture of the back of my Otoosan’s head. Lol. You can sort of see a bit of the fancy hat that Tenrikyo priests wear most of the time. The outfits actually get fancier than this, but sadly I didn’t get any pictures of those.
This here is actually a picture of the next day; there was definitely a lot of cleaning up as well. The mochi itself is soft and fairly easy to cut, and then you need to boil it so it’s even softer and gushier, and then you eat it with this sugary powder stuff or soy sauce. It’s so ridiculously good, it’s like one of my favorite foods here. :P
And here they are again.
So as I said, there’s tons of work involved with these sorts of things, such as cleaning up. It took FOREVER.
Well, that concludes the funeral pics. I actually was able to see them bring out the body as well, which was my first time ever seeing a dead body. Um. I cried. It was scary, but it was kind of calming in a way as well.
These next pics are of the next day when I went to my school’s art festival thing. You see, the art and culture clubs were all showing off their work at this auditorium in Obama city, and it was really interesting to watch. The following are mostly pics and videos of the chorus and brass band clubs. They’re both pretty good, I think. :D
I think this might be a pic of third-year chorus club members. The third year is the last year of high school here, so these are the “seniors,” haha.
This was one of the sunnier and happier numbers, haha. They sometimes incorporated gestures and a tiny bit of sign language into their singing, which made it interesting both to watch and to listen to, heh.
This is a girl from the brass band club…Even though her instrument isn’t brass. Lol. But whatever. She had her little solo thing going on, so I took a picture. Sometimes there were members who had their own solos, and they got their own applause, which I thought must be a serious ego booster. Haha.
The winds section of the band.
…..Yeeeeaaaahhhhhhh, they changed clothes near the end of their performance. Maybe to look more relaxed and groovy? Jeans and t-shirts? I don’t know. :P
I actually don’t really know what this is. But at the end of the performance, a few members of the senior class of my school held up this poster of a butterfly comprised entirely of Kanji. It was REALLY cool-looking.
This is one of the many paintings that were on display by the Fine Art club. This was my absolute favorite, so I took a picture of it :P And now it’s my desktop wallpaper on my computer. I just really like the way the artist painted her face, I love her expression and how her eyes look kinda like blank television screens.
This here is a picture of a street near the place where the arts festival was held. That awning looking thing across the street is the entrance to Kaminaka train station. I had to go there to get home.
This here is a girl that I met at the festival. She’s one of my friends’ (I didn’t get a picture of her, haha) friends who lives in a town called Takahama. Takahama is actually really far away; I’m really not sure why my friend goes to Mikata High School, haha. She makes like, a 2-hour commute back and forth every day to school. It’s crazy. :P
That’s it for the festival footage; these next few are….drumroll, please…KENDO PICS!! :DDDD Yes, finally, I can show you guys some proof that I really AM part of Kendo club, haha! So these pictures are of the time when I went with the Kendo club to a different, slightly prettier gym at a youth hostel to practice. Funnily enough, this place is the same place where my last AFS Fukui orientation was held; you know, the one in the last post with the gorgeous lake right next to it. Yeah, that place has an AMAZING gym, haha!
So, the Kendo club had to actually stay for two nights at this youth hostel; but I only went for a day, so I didn’t. I got there early in the morning on Sunday (it was all weekend, Friday through Sunday), and I find the Kendo girls still lounging about in their beds listening to their iPods, haha!
This is the girl who pretty much single-handedly taught me everything I know about Kendo. Her name is Haruka, and she’s for sure one of my best friends here. :D We bond over Avril Lavigne and such things. She’s super cool.
…And this is Kana. Hahaha!! :D She would sometimes try to join in our conversation, but ended up just falling asleep instead. She actually didn’t know that I took this picture…But she doesn’t need to know that…:P
This is Megu, another Kendo girl. This photo was actually taken at a different time in a different place, but it's Kendo-related, so I just decided to throw it in here. Shhh...XD
OHHHHHHH SNAP. Yes, this is me. In my fancy Kendo wear. The robe underneath all the armor is actually mine. Yes, mine. Like it belongs to me. No, I didn’t buy it. It was a present. A freakin’ present. From the whole Kendo club. I was so. Psyched. It’s got my name on it in Katakana and everything.
Also, I have no clue why this picture is right-side-up and the others that are vertical aren't...curse you Blogger, and your trickery...D:<
This is just a picture looking outside one of the gym doors. The scenery at this place is so pretty, I never get tired of it. :D The two girls sitting there are Haruka (left) and Mayumi, a girl who doesn't actually do Kendo but helps out with the club stuff.
To do Kendo, one needs to do a lot of prep work. Like funerals. Except you get a bit more exercise when you do Kendo, lol…The kid in the middle holding his face and thinking “I wanna go home, I wanna go home…” is definitely our captain. Haha. His name is Noriasu-kun, and he’s kind of hilarious.
This here is a picture of two parts of Kendo armor. The men mask goes on your head (as you might have guessed) over the red bandanna-looking thing sitting next to it, and the kotei gloves go…on your hands. Lol. Sitting next to it all is a shinai, or the bamboo sword that Kendo players use to beat the daylights out of eachother. :)
And here are two fully-suited up Kendo players doing the little ritual thing that you’re supposed to do before you actually fight. The whole thing may be in one of the videos, but I can’t be completely sure…
Just another picture of them practicing. I can’t tell who is who by looks alone, but I’ve come to be able to pick out some of them by the little flap thing around their waists. The little flap thing, see, has their Kanji name on it, and I know some of the Kanji, so sometimes I’m able to tell who is who.
An epic battle…Lol. Not really. I tried so hard to get some good action shots, but for some reason, AGAIN, my camera didn’t want to work with me.
More epic battling. And camera failing.
Um…yeah. This is me. In full Kendo armor. Hehe. If you can see my face at all behind the mask, you know that I have absolutely no idea what expression to make; I was considering smiling, but then I decided that I really should look fierce and battle-like instead, so the result turned out to be a pained-looking grimace. :3
Me again. I’m actually pretty proud of this one; I think I’m actually doing the proper standing position…:D …Kendo is difficult. Lol. It really is. Just being able to stand and hold the sword properly is a feat in itself.
Haha, Haruka and Kana during “yasumi jikan”, or rest time. There were actually two practices in the gym that day, with lunch and another hour-break in between them. During the break we just lounged about, listened to eachother’s iPods, and played with my camera, haha.
These are two more of my Kendo friends, Nao and Miyuki; I’m actually not sure who that iPod belongs to, as pink seems a little bit too girly for Nao (she’s the one holding the iPod).
…And here she is, haha. She’s really cool, and she prides herself on being able to say in English, “I am a cucumber”. So we’ll be sitting there, and she’ll look at me and shout, “I AM A CUCUMBER!!” At which point I have to burst into giggles, which she seems to find funny, haha.
Miyuki and Haruka, and…Kana’s foot. Lol. Miyuki’s parents actually give me rides home a lot, which is pretty cool. Her family is super nice; she and her older brother are both really big on Kendo.
So about two weeks after this particular practice, the Kendo team actually went to a tournament in the capital city of Fukui. This is like, their state competition, it’s a huge championship where all the high schools in Fukui prefecture get together and compete in all sports. I was able to go on Sunday, when the whole thing was finishing up, and here is the footage that I was able to get (I didn’t get a ton because sitting behind a camera trying to film something and watch it at the same time kinda…Doesn’t work. Haha.)
...Oh wait. I don't have any footage because freakin Blogger won't let me put up videos. Grrrrr...
Anyway, the outcome of the tournament was that our team lost. And it was honestly one of the most depressing things I’d ever seen. For the third-year students on the team, this was their last championship; if they’d won, they could have continued to another championship in Okinawa. But alas, t’was not meant to be. When the tournament ended, the entire team, still in armor and all sweaty and nasty, gathered in a tight circle at the edge of the gym and cried. They full on CRIED. No, they didn’t sniffle, they didn’t weep. Most of them were completely and utterly bawling, though they all did it completely silently so that no other teams would see. Almost immediately memories of sobbing at swim meets came to the forefront of my mind, and in some way I felt like I was getting some of the pain waves going off of them at that moment in time. It sounds slightly ridiculous, but that’s how it was.
Regardless of whether they won or lost, they are an absolutely amazing team. They work so unbelievably hard. I am proud to be considered a part of them.
And there you go. Hope you guys enjoyed the post, it was an intense one, lol…
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