Yesterday we took Tomone outdoors for the first time. The occasion was her first trip to a Shinto shrine for a blessing. Futakashira Shrine (Two Pillars Shrine) is less than a kilometer from our home, but we took the car anyway. The first picture shows Tomone sitting in her car seat in the parking lot of the shrine.
The second picture shows my wife, daughter, and Tomone (her white dress is just visible under my daugher's left arm).
The ceremony was quite impressive. After filling out some forms and paying 10,000 yen (about $100) at the office in the administration building, we were sent up stairs to a waiting room. There were two big sofas and a coffee table and it looked like any living room. There was even a TV with tape recorder and a large collection of tapes about Shinto - and some popular cartoons. After about 20 minutes the priestess came in and asked us to follow her. I had the impression that the wait had been for her to get dressed into the ceremonial kimono she was wearing.
We followed her across a bridge to the second floor of the shrine proper and were guided to seats in a large room. At the very front of the room there was a round mirror which represents Amaterasu, the Sun God. Once we were seated properly, the priestess start beating on a large drum, making a loud sound that scared the baby. She then stood at a narrow table, facing the mirror and sang a song, I think, asking the god to favor the baby and us. There were some small packages on the table which she took to the table holding the mirror. Since she was facing the mirror with her back to us, I could not see what she was doing, but eventual she brought the packages back and replaced them on the table. Next, after sitting down and then standing up again, she went to the left side of the room, where she sang another song. She was standing in front of a wooden stick with folded white paper banners hanging from it. She waved this around and then came over to us and asked us to bow our heads while she wave the stick over our heads.
After sitting and standing again plus starting a tape recording of classical shrine music, she went to the right side of the room where she went through a similar ritual, however, rather than the stick she used a rattle.
Finally she returned to the middle of the room and finished with a final song.
She guided us back around the balcony and across the bridge to the admin building and left us to find our own way out. We were quite surprised when she reappear as we left. She wanted to see the baby and after appropriate comments she went on her way.
We stopped for pictures in front of the shrine building. The last picture shows me holding Tomone, who is still dress in her fancy lace dress that she was given by one of our friends expressly for visiting the shrine.
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