Family Tradition of 400 years: Komagata Shrine of Hakone Town 箱根駒形神社

 

“Bon 盆” or “O-bon お盆” is Japanese traditional festival for summer around July 15. It’s based on folk religion combined with Buddhism. It is said that dead ancestral souls would visit this world once a year around O-bon time and spend summer holiday with their descendants. If you like, Buddhism monk will come your home and read mantra in front of the family altar to welcome returnees. If that family has a long memory, the gathering must be a huge party with centuries old grandpas and grandmas … Each rite of the festival is performed privately at family. Though, often a large village-wide, or for that matter city-wide, festival is held with these family gatherings. You may have heard of the Gion Festival of Kyoto 祇園祭.

Around July and August 15,
supermarkets in Yokohama provide
these veggie baskets that are offerings
 for ancestral soul visiting home.

I said once a year of home coming, but as Japan switched in 1873 from lunar calendar to Julian calendar, the date nowadays faces a scheduling conflict with a peak season for summer agricultural works. Families in Tokyo or Yokohama, i.e. very urban, follow July 15 of Julian calendar without problem, but communities with strong rural and/or traditional memories have O-bon around August 15 when ag works can have a small break between summer and autumn. The August O-bon is also conformable with lunar July 15 that moves between the middle of Julian August to September. So, Japanese summer of July and August is the time of family and community festivals. Do you think July 15th Yudate Lion Dance 湯立獅子舞 of Hakone Miyagino Suwa Shrine 諏訪神社 (my post for August 3rd) has nothing to do with the connotation of coming back ancestral souls from the underworld? Meanwhile in Hakone, August festival season is set between July 31 to August 5. The largest one is for Hakone Shrine 箱根神社 (I will report it to you someday in future). But the one that may have more atmosphere of intergenerational family gatherings is held on August 5th at Komagata Shrine 駒形神社. Last week, I’ve attended the festival for Hakone Komagata Shrine. It was a festival for forest people.

Hakone Komagata Shrine

In Japan especially in Tohoku and Kanto Region there are many Komagata Shrine where guardian mountain gods are in charge of horses and people engaged in business with horses. Komagata Shrine in Hakone is apt in this regard. Among Shintoism Shrines in Hakone, Komagata Shrine of Hakone is located nearest to Hakone Pass on Route 1. Hakone Pass is the traditional border between Kanagawa and Shizuoka Prefectures, or to be exact, Odawara Feudal Domain and Nirayama Magistrate Office 韮山代官所 for Mishima 三島 (now the City of Mishima). Odawara Domain held by the family for senior councillor for Tokugawa Shogun, and Nirayama Magistrate was a direct holding of Tokugawa Shogun. Before 1618 when the Shogunate Government established Hakone Checkpoint on the shore of Lake Ashi, the mountainous area had only forests. The developer Shogunate, with the strong will for defending Edo (= Tokyo), created a completely new town just west of the checkpoint. They forced people to immigrate from Odawara and Mishima. 50 families from one same community in Odawara Fiefdom were moved to then the Odawara District of Hakone which now has the port for sightseeing cruise ship on Lake Ashi. They were called Odawara people. 300m or so west of the pier, there is a small stream. Beyond this stream to the west was called Mishima District and 50 families from the same community in Mishima were transferred from home. They were labelled Mishima people. As the Shogunate relocated the two entire community to these area, blood and local ties of their original home carried over to their new home.

Hakone Checkpoint which is now a museum.

Both of two communities were originally from the inn towns on Route 1, aka Tokaido.　Yeah they were the people of mountainous forest, but their family business was not for agriculture or forestry. They were specialized in mountain logistics sustaining the artery road of Japan. Odawara District and Mishima District each had official district job titles in charge of handling parcels, arranging packhorse drivers, couriers, etc. for moving through Hakone mountains. The two communities shared the workload by rotating the duty every 10 days. The system worked well for 250 years till 1869. Now in the 21st century, there is no governmental checkpoint in Hakone and Japanese has constitutional right for the freedom of choice in employment. Though, people living in the southwest area of Lake Ashi remember the history of their family.

Former “border” between
Odawara and Mishima Districts of Hakone
ended around this pier in Lake Ashi.

Former “Mishima District” in Hakone

Komagata Shrine is located southwest of Odawara and Mishima Districts combined. Oh, by the way, in Japanese Onmyodo (traditional Jujutsu for the way of Yin and Yang), southwest direction has the gate vacuuming evil spirits from the community. Don’t you think for the psyche of artificially created old town it would be important the festival of Komagata Shrine? Next week, I tell you about my adventure with the festival for Hakone Komagata Shrine. The event itself is popular with fireworks after the rite for the shrine. I personally prefer the ritual just to the secular extravaganza of fireworks ... Please stay tuned!

Hakone Town Hall 箱根町役場

256 Yumoto, Hakonemachi, Ashigarashimo-gun,
Kanagawa 250-0398
〒250-0398 神奈川県足柄下郡箱根町湯本256

Phone: 0460-85-7111
https://www.hakone.or.jp/