Hanamatsuri is a celebration of Buddha's birthday. The children pull a white elephant statue down the street to the temple and then learn about Buddha's birth and give flowers. They also did a little dance and drank "amacha". Amacha is a tea made from fermented hydrangea leaves. It is an herbal tea. The children had a chance to drink amacha and then they each took a turn to pour some over the head of a statue Buddha, like bathing a newborn baby.
I took a taxi from my office so that I could be there at the school when they started. The taxi driver was one I had used before. I use the same company every time I take a taxi and the drivers all know me and Violet pretty well. This particular driver was in his mid 60's I think. He always trys to use simple Japanese with me and trys to talk a lot. He started off by asking where I wanted to go and I told him Ofunato Hoikuen (Violet's school). He smiled and said "oh you're going to get your daughter." I told him that I was going to see her Hanamatsuri. He smiled so big and I could see that he was thinking about something. Then he looked in the rear view mirror and said "When I was a small boy I did Hanamatsuri too! I always thought the elephant was so big. It seemed huge to me. I was so surprised when I saw it as an adult how small it really is." I smiled and tried to think of memories that I had like that from my childhood. He then told me about where in Ofunato he grew up and how the temple is in a different place now. He lost his childhood home in the tsunami that occured here in Ofunato in 1960. I can't imagine living through 2 tsunami's in one lifetime, but I have met many people here in Ofunato who have. He talked to me about his memories and I enjoyed listening. When we arrived at the hoikuen the children were all lined up and waiting to walk. The elephant statue was standing behind the long lines of children and the taxi driver smiled as his eyes fell upon it. "Natsukashii..." was all he said. Natsukashii means to feel nostalgic or fond sweet memory. I saw in his eyes that he was remembering.
Here are some pictures of Violet's Hanamatsuri. I took A LOT of pictures so feel free to scroll through or skip through if you like. I also made a little movie but I haven't uploaded it to a video server yet so that will be added later.
I was so pleased to see that Violet was standing in line right in front of her two closest girlfriends in her class. They have been in the same class since Violet started going there. Yoshino chan and Nowa chan. They seemed to be having such a good time together. Violet didn't see me when I first walked up to the school. I stayed back a little because I was worried she would want to leave her group and stand with me. Yoshino or Yo chan as she is called by her friends, saw me right away though. She smiled and waved. She has an infectious smile.
The children did such a good job staying in their line pulling the elephant statue. Cars still passed by along the road and when the first car came my heart started pumping because I was worried one of them would step out of line and try to cross the street to see their parent. But they all stayed closely together and no one let go of the rope they were pulling.
Violet did so well. She started to get tired towards the end of the walk. It took them about 20 minutes I think to walk to the temple. When we got there some of them started to cry from being tired, as it was getting close to lunch time for them. But they all did their best. Violet danced with her class and then once it was time to go inside the temple she started to cry a little. By the time I met her inside (I had to go in a different entrance) she was crying pretty hard. Other kids were crying too. Her teacher said she could come and sit with me. So she stayed with me the rest of the time and we went to drink the amacha together and I walked up with her to pour the tea over Buddha's head. She decided to wanted to nurse a little too. So we did that at the back of the temple.
After it was over we decided to walk home for lunch. We had a nice long walk home and saw some beautiful flowers and she really enjoyed seeing the Koinobori that were still flying. (Carp streamers for children's day)
This first pic accidentally got out of order but it is one of my favorites from the day so that's ok. :)
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Sooo beautiful! What a special day!
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