6/3/2007 CHRONICLE FROM KYOTO// JORDI JUSTE
This winter is being unusually warm, also in Japan. So much that the predictions of almanacs and calendars are becoming out of phase and conversations in elevators and commentaries over the weather on television, are monothematic moans for the absence of the cold winter and the preoccupation for the possible advance of the blossoming of the cherry trees.
The eve of the 3 of February was setsubun, the day that marks the change of season with the end of daikan (great cold) and the entrance in the spring, according to the old Chinese solar calendar. Right that day, a cold air front coming from Siberia entered the country, allowing the coincidence of its departure with the traditional end of the great cold. But the problem is that we already are in March and this year the real winter is still to arrive. In Sapporo they had to sweat to avoid the melting of the works displayed at the festival of ice figures, that every year congregates more than two million people in the capital of Hokkaido.
Since 1873, Japan uses the Gregorian calendar, but previously it used a lunar one, for civil subjects, and the Chinese (with 24 divisions) for rites and agricultural works. Of the dates related to the old calendar, setsubun is the one that continues having great importance in contemporary Japan. It is a working day, but with festive flavor, that always gives place to commentaries on the weather.
In schools, Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines, private companies and houses rituals are carried out to exorcise people and places and help them enter clean of bad spirits the new cycle of nature. The most popular ritual is known as mamemaki, and consists on the throwing of toasted soybeans to the shout of "oni ga soto, fuku ga uchi" (demons outside, luck inside). In the houses, the tradition marks that the throwing is done by the toshiotoko, the man born in a year of the same sign that the present one, according to the Chinese zodiac or, in its defect, the family head.
In many places public one is in charge of it to medical instructors of traditional professions, like fighters of extreme or geishas. It is the case of the great sanctuary of Yasaka, in Gion (Kyoto), where geishas of different districts are alternated to send you exceed with soybean to the multitude.
While in Kyoto geishas were throwing soybeans and in Sapporo hotelkeepers and skiers complained about the lack of snow, the ex vice-president of the U.S.A. Al Gore, arrived in Tokyo to present his film on the climatic change and to remember the symbolism of this country for the fight against the environmental problem. "Kyoto will be honored in history because it welcomed a crucial meeting, when humanity began to address the crisis", said To Gore.
Gore encouraged Japanese industrialists to influence their American colleagues using the experience they have on power efficiency. "The Japanese business community can have a powerful influence on the shaping of opinions within the U.S. business community", said Al Gore, who also talked about the Japanese language to transmit optimism: “In Japanese, when you speak of 'kiko no kiki' (climate crisis), the word kiki is made up of two symbols together. The first by itself means danger, but the second by itself means opportunity."
The eve of the 3 of February was setsubun, the day that marks the change of season with the end of daikan (great cold) and the entrance in the spring, according to the old Chinese solar calendar. Right that day, a cold air front coming from Siberia entered the country, allowing the coincidence of its departure with the traditional end of the great cold. But the problem is that we already are in March and this year the real winter is still to arrive. In Sapporo they had to sweat to avoid the melting of the works displayed at the festival of ice figures, that every year congregates more than two million people in the capital of Hokkaido.
Since 1873, Japan uses the Gregorian calendar, but previously it used a lunar one, for civil subjects, and the Chinese (with 24 divisions) for rites and agricultural works. Of the dates related to the old calendar, setsubun is the one that continues having great importance in contemporary Japan. It is a working day, but with festive flavor, that always gives place to commentaries on the weather.
In schools, Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines, private companies and houses rituals are carried out to exorcise people and places and help them enter clean of bad spirits the new cycle of nature. The most popular ritual is known as mamemaki, and consists on the throwing of toasted soybeans to the shout of "oni ga soto, fuku ga uchi" (demons outside, luck inside). In the houses, the tradition marks that the throwing is done by the toshiotoko, the man born in a year of the same sign that the present one, according to the Chinese zodiac or, in its defect, the family head.
In many places public one is in charge of it to medical instructors of traditional professions, like fighters of extreme or geishas. It is the case of the great sanctuary of Yasaka, in Gion (Kyoto), where geishas of different districts are alternated to send you exceed with soybean to the multitude.
While in Kyoto geishas were throwing soybeans and in Sapporo hotelkeepers and skiers complained about the lack of snow, the ex vice-president of the U.S.A. Al Gore, arrived in Tokyo to present his film on the climatic change and to remember the symbolism of this country for the fight against the environmental problem. "Kyoto will be honored in history because it welcomed a crucial meeting, when humanity began to address the crisis", said To Gore.
Gore encouraged Japanese industrialists to influence their American colleagues using the experience they have on power efficiency. "The Japanese business community can have a powerful influence on the shaping of opinions within the U.S. business community", said Al Gore, who also talked about the Japanese language to transmit optimism: “In Japanese, when you speak of 'kiko no kiki' (climate crisis), the word kiki is made up of two symbols together. The first by itself means danger, but the second by itself means opportunity."
