Joya no Kane -- New Year (Patreon)

Akemashite Omedetō Gozaimasu~!

How is your 2025 going so far? Mine's be fun! On the way to joya no kane (the video), my car started acted really strange. Sort of a vwump vwump vwump sound coming from the engine, shaky, and no much power. Richard wisely said we should turn around and go home. I said, Oh, we're halfway there already and what a story we could tell if we have to walk home and something about there are always taxis! That last bit we know for a fact is false because a little mishap in Hokkaido had us both standing outside as it snowed looking for and trying to call a taxi. No luck. Where was I?

The car made it there and back, but I didn't want to press my luck, so we didn't go to the first sunrise. 😢 But that's okay because I was awake and able to see it from the verandah. Not quite as exciting as the beach with all the merry makers, but lovely just the same.

My apologies for shaky video and weird breathing. I took my little camera and I usually record the crows from a sitting position, so the whole moving is new to me.

It's only five minutes and some pieced together clips. Richard was a trooper and wore the binaural microphones again this year so he'll get that recording ready and I'll put it up for those who really want to immerse in midnight at the local temple, ringing the big bell.

Bonnō!

No, not the singer from U2. 煩悩 (Sanskrit is Klesha) could be translated as mental delusions or earthly desires. Klesha translates as pain or anguish, btw. Bonnō is what clouds the mind and disturbs our peace, makes us suffer.

So when the temple bell is rung at midnight from one year into the next, the idea is you are ringing out (away) all the bonnō from the previous year.

Side note: I even have a bonnō oracle card. You'll never guess which yōkai it is. I was with some friends the other day and there was a heated discussion and one older man who reads a lot and I quite adore shouted out: It's all bonnō! It was funny and true at the same time.

So the segments of the video are first, the end of the walk up the mountain (hence, the breathing 💨) to the temple. Next, is getting at the tail end of the line. We were later than usual so had to wait awhile. That was fine, though, lovely place to wait if you have to wait.

After that, I just happened to be filming at exactly midnight. Funnily enough, before when it was only older people who went no one EVER cared about a countdown or when midnight even was. It was all just one span of time. But now that young people have started coming (I still don't know what changed...a manga or anime made it cool?) they do a wee little countdown. It's adorable. Note the mother and her daughter looking at their phones and jumping. I probably mentioned this last year, but it's a joke among young people that if you jump at exactly midnight and someone asks, where were you on New Year's Eve at midnight, you can answer: I wasn't even on the planet earth. This has been going on since Julyan was in high school. So never gets old, I guess ٩( 'ω' )و

Then comes a longer segment of the whole vibe. Everyone waiting in line, the drum canister with the fire going. That's always there. It wasn't very cold this year so no one huddled around it.

Then comes the bit at the table. They always offer amazake (a sweet hot drink made from sake lees or fermented rice -- can be alcoholic, but they serve the non alcohol version for kids) and regular nihonshū. Heated! The monk on the left is the son of the monk on the right who is pretty obviously a little buzzed. This is so Ikkyū. I mean, last I checked monks aren't supposed to drink. But this one (Suzuki Roshi) is a nice guy who's funny and wise and I believe works with some temples in the States. I need to check locations. The bigger monk is new. Probably visiting.

The next clip is the son monk climbing a rock to take photos. Cute. He's the one who back in the mid nineties I met at a swimming pool. I was just married and he was there with a bunch of kids. I was brave and asked what temple he was from and he wrote the name down for me. So that's how I learned about Rinsōin. The kids weren't his. They were neighborhood kids he was bringing so they could splash around.

And finally, the walk back down, well, the start of it and some ojizō statues along the way. Wishing you all a wonderful, healthy, prosperous, and peaceful year. 今年もよろしくお願いします〜

Here's my New Year's card. I thought it was hilarious that the snake's expression kind of sums up how I feel most of the time and especially going into 2025. ･:*+.\(( °ω° ))/.:+

Sending you all my love, XOXO 💕

terrie