Today we went to Mishima Jinja in Kimitsu to watch the festival there. It’s a special demonstration of traditional martial arts based on swords and farm implements.
Five hundred years ago, the area didn’t have a daimyo overlord to provide protection from warring neighbors, so the peasants had to defend themselves as best they could.
Swords were not allowed for regular folk, but a scattering of farmers had them secreted away. To supplement their few swords, they developed martial skills with tools like hand scythes and poles. These skills survived to present day in rituals that showcase forms that were lost long ago.
Today was a fascinating display of swords, poles, umbrellas, kama knives, even folding fans going head to head. The wooden practice swords knocked loudly on one another and the steel swords were scarily sharp, cutting bamboo poles in a single stroke. There was a lot of jumping over swinging blades. Each set of opponents started their fight with blessing of salt and earth, and ended their bout with a bow to each other, walking off the field as a pair.
Mishima Jinja is also home to a forest of massive cypress “mother trees” that towered over the whole experience. I wonder how many times they have witnessed this ritual?
Closer to home, at Kippo Jinja, was the annual display of horseback archery. We arrived back too late to join in, but I captured a distant video of the huge crowd cheering the last horseman’s arrow.
Next year, we’ll got to Kippo Jinja and see the spectacle.
