Japan Shrines: Suwa Shrine Nagasaki
Suwa Shrine
Jake Davies
Suwa Shrine is the premier shrine in Nagasaki
and home to the Kunchi Festival, one of the biggest festivals in
Japan. The Nagasaki Suwa shrines' origin lie in a small shrine that was
erected in 1619, the year that Tokugawa Ieyasu issued his edict against
Christianity. These two events are closely related.
By the beginning of the 17th century the population of Nagasaki was predominantly
Christian and during the latter half of the 16th century they had destroyed
most of the Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines in the area.
Beginning with Hideyoshi in 1597, the successive rulers of Japan enacted
increasingly harsh measures to suppress and eradicate Christianity which
they had come to view as dangerous and a threat to their power, perhaps
the most well known example of the persecution being the crucifixion in
Nagasaki in 1597 of 26 Christians.
As part of the measures the bakufu attempted to rebuild the shrines
and temples in the city, but, like the small, original shrine built in
1619, sabotage by the Christians slowed the imposition of Buddhism and
Shinto.
Torii gates leading to Suwa Shrine in Nagasaki
Relief carvings showing Nagasaki's citizens at work
Things began to change in 1623 with the arrival of Aoki Kensei,
a yamabushi, the wandering mountain-ascetics that roamed and preached
all over Japan.
There is no direct evidence that he worked for the shogunate, but he
did receive funds from them, and as a measure of just how important the
eradication of Christianity was, the shogunate only put money in to two
shrines, one being the great mausoleum to the Tokugawa founder Ieyasu
at Nikko, and the other the Suwa Shrine in Nagasaki.
Aoki, who was to become the first priest of Suwa Shrine, and his sons
devoted themselves to establishing the shrine and eventually succeeded.
Partly this may be due to bringing in a neighborhood festival to take
place within the shrine. This became the Kunchi Matsuri.
Another measure was an edict forcing every resident to register as parishioners
at the shrine. Failure to do so meant you were Christian and subject to
punishment. Both of these methods, the enforced registration at a shrine
and the incorporation of local festivals into the shrine were methods
used more than two Centuries later by the Meiji government in the establishment
of State Shinto.
Shimenawa sacred rope at Suwa Shrine in Nagasaki
Mikoshi portable shrines at Suwa Shrine, Nagasaki
Today Suwa Shrine looks like many other major shrines in cities around
Japan. Approached up a long flight of more than 250 stairs, flanked by
torii and komainu, all the rituals and ceremonies now associated
with shrines take place here: blessings of children and cars, purifications
etc.
The komainu, guardian lion-dogs, are particularly interesting
and especially diverse in style. There is a "money-doubling lion"
that if you wash your money in the water coming out of its mouth it will
double, but the most famous pair of komainu here are the "Stop
Lions" by tying a thin strip of paper around the lion's leg one wishes
for success in stopping something - gambling, drinking, smoking etc.
On the way up the steps to the shrine, not far from the top, there is
a lane on the right that leads to another shrine. This was the original
site of Suwa Shrine, and is now a Tenmangu shrine. If you go through the
shrine grounds, past the chickens roaming free, and look at the back,
there is a wall surrounding the honden (main hall), and in the wooden fence
atop the wall are a series of exquisite relief carvings. Traces of paint
still remain but even in their unpainted state they are remarkably detailed
and show the citizens of Nagasaki engaged in their various traditional
crafts and trades.
Chozuya at Suwa Shrine
The Kunchi Matsuri takes place from October 7th to the 9th each year
and has grown to such a size that it takes place at several other locations
other than Suwa Shrine.
One of the reasons for its popularity is that each year is different.
A total of 59 different neighborhoods take part in the festival, but each
neighborhood only takes part every 7 years, so from year to year the content
of the events changes. There are various types of events, Kasaboko
Procession are when each neighborhood proceed to the shrine headed
by a kasaboko, a huge umbrella like object weighing upwards of
100kg.
Each kasaboko is decorated to reflect its home neighborhood (odoricho).
Honodori are traditional dances, often long epics accompanied by
shamisen, including the Oranda Manzai which tells the story of
the meeting between Dutchmen and geisha.
Hikimono are huge wheeled floats representing different kinds of boats
associated with Nagasaki: Japanese, Dutch, and Portuguese. Katsugimono
are a variety of heavy objects that are carried rather than wheeled and
this includes such things as giant taiko drums as well as dragons etc.
Some of these events need tickets.
Stop Lion at Suwa Shrine
Suwa Shrine
18-15 Kaminishiyamamachi
Nagasaki
Nagasaki Prefecture 850-0006
Tel: 095 824 0445
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