Car Blessing
A few weeks ago, on Eric and Virginia’s last day in Japan, we went on a tour of Ogaki with one of Aaron’s supervisors. He took us to see the much loved Ogaki castle (a mere concrete shadow of what it once was), the Basho memorial (and site where he wrote his last haiku) and then to a few shrines.
At one of the shrines we spent some time asking his supervisor about some of the symbols that we had seen so many times before. He was patient, answered the best he could, and when he didn’t know the answer he went to ask someone else. As he was talking with a monk that worked at the shrine, we started chatting with another woman. She came to the shrine that day because she had just purchased a new car and wanted to have it blessed so that she would have safe travels in it. Not only were the monks ready and willing to do so, she also invited us to come and watch her car blessing ceremony.
At first I thought her request for a car blessing was a little odd. Do they really do that? Well, not only do they really do it, it also seemed as though they do it quite frequently. Frequently enough, anyways, to build a little shrine adjacent to the parking lot. It vaguely reminded me of something you might see in vegas, drive-up wedding chapels, with a lot more class. Despite the strangeness of it all, it was clear that they hadn’t lost sight of the religion behind the rituals. Despite the fact that this ceremony was being held to bless a modern machine, respect for the religious institution and the ritual was still present. I am not sure that the same is true in the previously mentioned drive-up chapels.
There was a lot of bowing, a little bit of chanting, and then some banging on a large metal cymbal. Then the monk grabbed this large white paper thing and proceeded with the ceremony.
He went out to the car, bowed at it and shook the large white paper thing (technical term) over the shiny new mercedes. He returned to the couple, they bowed and thanked him. It was pretty interesting to see and somehow I found it reassuring that there are still people out there who believe strongly enough in their religion and their God that they reach out and ask for help staying safe while riding around in a modern machine. A very interesting blend of old and new, I’d say.
I’d say at least with the rates at which people lose their lives in cars in America, this makes sense. I have no idea how car culture is in Japan, but I think everyone could use a blessing, a seatbelt, and a helmet at the very least.