Enma Ichi Adventure

Hello loyal readers and those joining us for the first time. You may have noticed that there has not been any posts for like, the past 3-4 days. There is a reason for that. From Sunday til today was Enma Ichi, a street festival in honor of the Chinese god Enma, Lord of the Underworld. Bum Bum Bummmmmmm.
Anywho, I decided that I would give you Enma Ichi in one big serving instead of little pieces. So, here you go. My Enma Ichi experience.

Before the Festival

Like I said, Enma Ichi started on Sunday. But because it is Sunday, we went to church. It was kids Sunday, so the preacher, well, preached about the Israelites in the wilderness using what looked like pictures from a coloring book. During Sunday school, he elaborated on the story more for the adults.
After the church service, the church has lunhc. Usually the Mort family goes home for lunch, but today we stayed. Most of the food was Japanese, which is a given. I sat betwen Aki and Keiko, and Keiko made sure that I tried a little bit of everything. haha

After lunch, I helped some of the ladies wrap flowers. The kids in the church had been learning how to play this instrument made out of wood that is kinda like bells in a bell choir. They were practicing because they were going to an old folk's home to play and pass out flowers. They were really good. I had a video too of them playing Jesus Loves Me, but it wouldn't load. Sorry:S



At the Festival

Each day, we went down to ECS and took the doors off the front and had an open door for any weary festival goers. We offered free Mugie-chaw, a barley tea, which i'm pretty sure I spelled completely wrong haha. We also had a bean bag toss game where kids could win snacks. For the adults, we had a chance box where they could pull out a slip of paper from this box and depending on which color dot they got, they could win a free text book, half-off tuition, or 10 free lessons. Or a tissue pack.

Keiko and Aki are in a band called Morning Glory, and during the festival, they sat out front of ECS and played and sang praise songs both in English and in Japanese. Keiko has an amazing voice! I somehow ended up playing a jimbe (?) drum. I don't think I have very much rhythm, but I wasn't doing too bad. Jerry played the tamborine.



On Tuesday, Nathan Worley, the intern at Sanjo, came down and stayed at the Morts'. He's an education major, so he came down so he could go to University classes with Jerry. Blog readers, meet Nathan Worley. He was a lot of fun to hang out with. And he's in Jerry's office..... where he slept. haha







When Nathan arrived, he, Jerry and I walked around the festival and to Enma's temple, the eventual end stop to all Enma Ichi goers. Out in front of the temple, they had three statues. One was of a preist. One was three headed, and I'm not quite sure who it was supposed to be. And the fancy looking one with the aura is a statue of Buddha.









Luckily, they allowed photography inside the temple. I took a picture of the main wall of Emna's temple where a statue of Enma and his court sat. Jerry was telling us that people come once a year to bribe Enma and make requests of him. He is an unmerciful, unrelenting god, but he takes bribes. :S Go figure. I also took a picture of the seven hells. This is what one would bribe Enma for: a favorable hell.


Other Fun Stuff

I got to eat a bunch of festival food and I also got to buy some really awesome bowls and cups from a pottery booth!

Today, as in Tuesday, I also got to go eat at an Italian restaurant called Rigalo(?) with Laura and two of her students, Noboko and Machiko, both older women. It was alot of fun and the food was delicious!!!!!!


Also, for reader ferrero, I investigated a little on Pokemon. It seems that they catch young pikachus and use them for festival things. For some, they slice off their faces and use them as masks. I found that they are also very popular as a snack. This picture here is from a vendor who caught a young pikachu and coated it in candy. It is somewhat disturbing, but kids seem to love it here.

Thanks to all of you who have been praying over this festival and our outreach. The next event on our calender is Kid's Club on Saturday. I ask for prayers over this event also! Thanks and God bless. Next post tomorrow! Promise!