Ohaka-mairi and Hanabi – Sept 24th

Today we left the house around 10 in the morning to drive to the family grave. Twice a year, most families perform Ohaka-mairi, which literally means “going to the grave,” but is more a minor ritual of respecting the deceased by cleaning the gravesite up and making a quick prayer to one’s ancestors. We drove about an hour to get to the temple, and met up with Yusuke and his family. They cleaned up the family headstone and trimmed the plants on the raised dais. Haruto took great pleasure in pouring water on everything using the traditional ladle provided by the temple. After collecting all the clippings and water buckets, we each made a quick prayer to the ancestors by pouring some water over the headstone, and standing in a moment of silence. They invited me to perform the short ritual as well, so I stood in front of the grave and silently thanked the ancestors for providing me with such a kind and generous family, adding a どうぞよろしくお願いします for good measure. Before returning home, Otousan got permission for me to enter the temple and see the shrine. It is not customary to grant such permission, but not only did the head priest allow it, but he explained some of the rituals to me that are performed for the burial rites. The shrine was quite gorgeous, with almost everything inlaid with gold. They said it was alright to take photos, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. The images burned into my memory should suffice, at least for that experience.

We all headed back to the house; I rode in Yusuke’s car. Haruto was still a bit shy, but started to form an interest in me by the time we got back home. We had a very tasty and traditional lunch, including brown rice, a variety of sashimi, and a kind of mushroom called matsutake that is ridiculously expensive (almost $10 apiece). Spent, I took a nap upstairs, and apparently, so did everyone else. That evening we had a fireworks event planned for the CSU group, so I gave Haruto another handshake and left for school.

After everyone had gathered at main gate of the west campus, we headed to Saizeriya, a family restaurant (much more affordable and tastier than BLDY). I had a spicy (not really) pasta dish, and Hans ordered the squid ink pasta, which absolutely reeked. He said it wasn’t bad, but he’s in no rush to try it again. Afterwards, we headed to the park nearby for fireworks, which apparently are much easier to attain in Japan than back home. We set off all kinds of explosives, bottle rockets, roman candles, and other goodies that are now banned back home for the sake of those who are too dumb to simultaneously have fun and stay safe.

After we had exhausted our arsenal, we returned to the rotary to find a horde of drunken Japanese and exchange students from all over the world. Apparently, there had been a massive nomikai for all the students except for the CSU program. We hung around for a while, mingling with the wasted students. I couldn’t help but wonder if that’s what we act like when we go out drinking; another argument for moderation, children. Although there was talk of a trip to the Hub, time was running late, so I decided to just head home, sober but a few hundred yen richer. Tomorrow would need an early start anyways; we’d be signing up for classes and I hadn’t completely picked mine out yet!