The lights of civilization can be seen from Kankakei as they shine like stars in the sky. Let’s take a peek at what lies beyond the lights. The exhibit here highlights the story of a young boy and his family who lived at the foot of Kankakei Gorge -- in Kankake-dori. Let’s explore the ancient traditions and customs that have continued on this island for hundreds of years.
The locals attend Shodoshima’s festivals filled with wishes and hope for the future. When the area suffered from water shortages, they held festivals, built shrines, prayed for bountiful harvests, and welcomed the divine spirits.
The Betto River flows from the Kankakei Gorge and into the town of Kankake-dori, where it’s used for daily life as well as agricultural purposes. There’s a local tradition called “Tondo-yaki” that takes place after the New Year at the river. The people gather by the river and make a bonfire out of a wooden watchtower, burning holiday decorations such as “kodomatsu.” Please take a look at the photos included on the next page of the app.
The 8-meter tower “tondo”, or watchtower, is crackling in the vigorously burning flames, and smoke billows to the sky. How does that image make you feel?
Japan has long believed in the cleansing power of fire. The fire from the “tondo” is no exception, and locals tell of a legend that if you roast rice cakes or mandarin oranges in the bonfire flames, you’ll have a healthy and happy year.
What kind of wishes did people make under the twilight sky? We hope you can imagine the festival atmosphere beyond what you see in the photos.
After winter comes spring, when wild cherry blossoms bloom and new greenery grows in the Kankakei Gorge. Spring is the season for farming, so locals come together and start planting rice to be harvested in autumn. Fireflies flit around the fields, and summer is around the corner.
Summer is the season of the Obon holiday, commemorating one’s ancestors and welcoming their spirits to this world temporarily. It’s during this season when the event “Kawameshi” is held in the same location as “tondo-yaki.”
Here are some photos of the festival.
To prepare for the festival, locals clean up the river the day before and collect stones to build an oven for cooking rice casseroles for the festival. The rice is seasoned with dashi broth and includes five seasonal vegetables, and when finished it’s served on persimmon leaves and offered to the Buddha. Back then it was believed that Obon welcomed spirits of ancestors and also those who tried to attain Buddhahood, so people offer hospitality to those spirits as well.
In autumn, they hold the festival to give thanks for the season's bountiful harvest. The celebration includes a large portable “mikoshi” shrine that is carried by about 100 people and presented to the shrine of each village. The mikoshi is filled with drums that the children energetically pound as they’re transported to each shrine.
Can you imagine the sounds of the scene from the photos?
Seasons change, the night sky shifts, and life on Shodoshima continues. No one moment in time is the same because we’re always changing and growing. We take life for granted, but we should be grateful for our existence and for nature like Kankakei Gorge and Betto River, which have been here for thousands of years. That in itself is a miracle as well as the culture and scenery that’s been passed down until today.
“The Water Corridor of Time” photo exhibition is split up into two sections. Half of the exhibit is focused on locals’ family photos, and the other half includes landscape pictures of Shodoshima and the enchanting night sky. But the theme that flows throughout the exhibit is “time and water.” Time has been progressing for 13.8 billion years, and without fail each night gives way to a new day. Can you feel the compounding of time as we receive life every day? Please take a look around at your own pace.
