Torch Lit Noh Play

The annual Takigi Noh or torch lit Noh play will be held this weekend in Kasuga Grand Shrine and Kofukuji Temple, Nara.　First performed in 869, this torch lit Noh play has the longest tradition among torch lit Noh plays performed in Japan. (From this year on, Takigi Noh is scheduled on third Friday and Saturday of May. Next year's Takigi Noh is on May 18 and May 19.)

Noh plays at Kasuga Grand Shrine are performed in older styles of Noh which you are unlikely to see in a theatre.

Schedule

May 20(fri)
11:00~ 12:15@Maidono(Dancing Hall) in Kasuga Grand Shrine
 Noh play: "Okina"
17:30~20:30 @Nara Park(an area adjacent to Kofuji Temple and in front of Nara Prefectural Building)*
 Noh play: "Iwafune"
 (Torches will be lit after Noh play "Iwafune")
 Kyogen play(comical play): "Onigawara"
 Noh play: "Kagetsu"

May 21(sat)
14:00~15:15@Wakamiya Shrine (near the main hall of Kasuga Grand Shrine)
 Noh play:"Katsuragi"
17:30~20:30 @Nara Park(an area adjacent to Kofuji Temple and in front of Nara Prefectural Building)*
 Noh play: "Hagoromo"
 (Torches will be lit after Noh play "Hagoromo")
 Kyogen play(comical play): "Tsukuzukushi"
 Noh play: "Nue"

*If rains, plays are performed in Nara Prefuctural Culture Hall(Nara-ken Bunka Kaikan). (map: see point A)

Tickets: 4000yen per person
Sold at the entrance of each venues. =May 20= 10:00 ~ @Kasuga Grand Shrine, 15:00~@Kofukuji Temple. =May 21= 13:00~ @Kasuga Grand Shrine, 15:00~ @Kofukuji Temple.
Tickets are good for one day. With one ticket, you can enjoy a day-time Noh play at Kasuga Grand Shrine and night-time torch lit Noh plays in Nara Park.
Limited free seats are available, but to get best views to enjoy performances buy a ticket. (No free seats at Nara Prefectural Culture Hall) As the performances are put on an outside stages, you might be able to have free views of performances from a distance.

Sue
-NARAWALK guide 

the Bon fire

Kyoto's Gion festival marks the start of summer (especially for people in Kyoto). With Bon fire, people feel the end of summer is approaching.

During Bon (usually in mid Aug.), ancestors have a summer visit to this world, and with Bon fire we send off our ancestors to the other world.

In Nara, this Bon fire is lit on Aug. 15 at Mt. Takamado. 108 fire beds are lined in the shape of "大(dai)" - a Kanji character that symbolizes "universe." You can observe this Bon fire from mostly anywhere in Nara Park.

Date: Aug. 15
20:00~ light up at Mt. Takamado
20:00~ concert by Nara city firefighters musical band at Tobihino in Nara Park

Also on this day!
19:00~22:00 about 2500 lanterns light up Great Buddha Hall at Todaiji Temple
* free admission to Great Buddha Hall during light up

Also on Aug. 15&14!
19:00~21:30 more than 2000 lanterns light up the precinct of Kasuga Grand Shire

Before going to these traditions, get to know the city and roads while the sun is up -by joining morning Nara Walk tours!

Sue
-NARAWALK guide

Why is she running?

Here running is a shrine maiden of Kasuga Grand Shrine, wearing a beautiful crown of wisteria flowers. The shrine maiden is supposed to behave gracefully. Why is she running? Because it is one of the busiest days in Kasuga Grand Shrine. The luckiest day(大安 Daian) in the old fortune-telling calendar, in which six different fortunes come in the order, falls on Sunday. So there are more ceremonial occasions than usual.

When Japanese people hold special ceremonies such as a wedding ceremony, a one- month- old baby’s blessing ceremony and so on, many of us still examine the fortune-telling calendar and choose the luckiest day which usually comes once in every six days. Many calendars and pocket diaries tell us six days cycle in the fortune-telling calendar. There are no scientific proofs at all, but this idea is deeply rooted in our DNA. Really Japan is a wonderland where the old and the new coexist side by side in harmony.

Why don’t you visit Kasuga Grand Shrine especially on the day when the luckiest day falls on Sunday or a national holiday, so you will have more chances to see happy ceremonies.

Those days are March 14th and May 4th in spring 2010.

keiko

-NARAWALK Guide

Maybe even Shinto diety is tired.

The deity of Young Prince Shrine in Kasuga Grand Shrine, affectionately called Young Prince, travels once a year.　Every year on December 17th, he comes to a temporally built traveling place (1 kilometer to the west of Young Prince Shrine) and stays here and goes back in 24 hours.

While his staying, people offer a variety of performances in front of the traveling place to please him. He enjoys entertainment of the people behind the bamboo curtain. Maybe even Shinto deity is tired of daily routines and needs to travel. In the 12th century, the country was suffering a long period of rain which caused a serious famine. People invited Young Prince to the traveling place to ask him for help. This is the origin of Honorable Festival dedicated to him. This festival is the biggest festival in Nara and also famous for the traditional procession. But, do you know how Young Prince comes to the traveling place and goes back?　Ask us!

(Shinto is an indigenous religion in Japan based on nature worship.)

Keiko

-NARAWALK Guide

Kazuo Oga Exhibition

"The world of "My Neighbour Totoro" is realized in Oga's paintings" once said Hayao Miyazaki. Kazuo Oga is the art director of "My Neighbour Totoro". In recent "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" and most of Studio Ghibli animations, he painted the background arts - yes that comfy backgrounds making us somehow feel at home.

In Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, there will be about 600 pieces of Oga's arts in display. Get warmed, relaxed and soaked in Oga's world. Afterwards come to Nara, you might find a glimpse of Totoro's forest in the primeval forest of Kasuga (forest surrounding Kasuga Taisha Shrine where we go during our daily walking tour!).

Duration: 2009.12.8 ~ 2010.2.7
closed on Mondays(Tuesday if Monday is a national holiday), Dec. 31, Jan. 1
Hours: 10:00-18:00 (Fridays and Saturdays till 20:00 except for Jan. 2)
Admission: Adult 1400yen, Grade 9 - college students 1000yen, Grade 1-9 500yen
*advance tickets sold at major train stations of Kintetsu line and other are 200-100yen cheaper.


Sue
-NARAWALK guide

A strange tree

I found a strange tree with many white pieces of paper on its branches on the way to Kasuga Grand Shrine.

They seem to be Omikuji (fortune) paper but why did peple tie them on this tree?

It is standing more than 200 meters away from the main building where Omikuji are sold.

Yoko
-NARAWALK guide

(posted by proxy)