Summer Night Festival

🎐 Once again, the season of summer festivals has arrived.

Kyushu is a treasure trove of festivals. The background to this includes complex factors such as its role as a stage for mythology since ancient times, its position as a gateway for accepting immigrants and continental culture, and the cultivation of a "culture of prayer" in response to the blessings and threats of abundant nature.

I believe the reason the passion for festivals still pulses through this land today is that the rich colors and shadowed states of mind woven by the climate and history are deeply engraved in the depths of people's spirituality.

Recently, in my city of Kitakyushu, the "Kurosaki Gion Yamakasa," which boasts a history of about 400 years, was held. The sight of all eight "Ningyo Yamakasa" (doll floats) adorned with glittering warrior dolls being pulled through the city in a bold and heroic manner is a spectacle that swallows you into a vortex of overwhelming emotion no matter how many times you see it.Kurosaki Gion YamakasaNingyo Yamakasa

Also, in the "Takatoyama Torch Procession," over a thousand local residents, young and old, walked with torches in hand along the mountain path from the foot to the summit during a tropical night. It looked as if the flames of each person's prayers were gathering together, transforming into the shape of a dragon as they wound their way up the mountain surface in the night.Takatoyama Torch Procession

This procession is said to have begun in 1954 when Akutagawa Prize-winning author Ashihei Hino, who was born and raised at the foot of Mount Takato, prayed to "brighten up the desolate post-war world" and climbed the mountain with people who agreed with him. Even as times change, the form of people's prayers still pulses through the landscape of this city.

🎐 The etymology of "matsuri" (festival) is said to come from "matsu" (to wait) for the descent of divine spirits, or from "tatematsuru" (to offer/present) offerings to the gods. Offering prayers to the gods and receiving divine power was the original form of a festival.

The lives of people in the Jomon period were based on hunting and gathering. The spiritual pillar they held was a faith in "animism," which finds spiritual existence in natural phenomena, creations of the natural world, and animals and plants.

Creating dogu (clay figurines) as objects of prayer for the peace of survival and the blessing of children, and connecting deeply with a sacred state of mind through the worship of giant trees, giant rocks, mountains, rivers, springs, and waterfalls. I believe this is the biggest factor that allowed them to maintain peace for over 10,000 years.

When the Yayoi period began, many immigrants flowed in from the continent, and a planned technology called "rice cultivation" was introduced. Humans became able to envision a more stable future, thinking, "If we sow seeds in the spring, we can harvest in the autumn."

However, in reality, this rice cultivation did not guarantee the stability of survival. The Yayoi people cleared forests, dammed the water of springs and rivers, and created an "artificial environment" called rice paddies. But for them, this was an act of destruction against the natural ecosystem, and disasters such as droughts, typhoons, pests, floods, and landslides were considered "divine wrath" or "curses" against such destruction.

To dispel their fear and guilt toward the natural world, the Yayoi people eventually became aware of the urgent need to not only offer prayers to the gods but also to exchange "pre-promises/contracts" with them.pre-promises/contracts

🎐 As a folkloric consensus, the beginning of Japanese festivals is said to lie in "yoshuku" (pre-celebration).

yoshuku

"Yoshuku" is a "pre-celebration" held in advance as if future wishes or goals have already been fulfilled. It is a theory that the origin of festivals lies in the community sharing the wish for a bountiful autumn harvest and thanking, celebrating, and rejoicing with the gods in advance during the spring or summer stages.

"Yoshuku" also appears in the world of mythology. If we interpret the banquet of the gods in the famous "Legend of the Heavenly Rock Cave" as a scene of celebrating and dancing in advance for the reappearance of Amaterasu Omikami, who had hidden in the cave, we can see it as proof that this spirit of yoshuku has been deeply rooted in the Japanese heart since the age of mythology.

By rejoicing with the gods for a bountiful harvest in advance and offering a sense of gratitude first, one draws the reality one has dreamed of. From such intentions, the primitive form of the ritual called "yoshuku" was born, and it eventually came to persist as various "festivals." Events such as spring cherry blossom viewing and rice planting rituals are exactly the rituals of pre-celebration that celebrate and rejoice in the autumn harvest.

The Yayoi people found a way to live with awe and gratitude toward the natural world in "yoshuku," and they obtained a powerful "emotional anchor" called a festival.emotional anchor

🎐 The Japanese spiritual climate that has been passed down continuously from ancient people to modern people.

From there, the differences in the characteristics of the two DNAs—the Jomon people and the immigrants—which mixed as Japan's history changed, emerge. I think this is reflected more vividly in the special event of festivals.

In the genome of modern Japanese people, the trajectory of the fusion between the indigenous "Jomon DNA" and the "immigrant DNA" of people who arrived in several waves from the Yayoi to the Kofun period is being elucidated in detail by "latest scientific research."Jomon DNAimmigrant DNAlatest scientific research

Through the intellectual future forecasting brought by immigrants, the movements of celestial bodies were calculated, calendars were created, and a system of 'praying by calculating backward from the autumn harvest' was constructed. This precise thinking ability is deeply embedded even today in the architecture, prayers, and rituals of Shinto shrines.

It also means that the ancient 'agriculture and ritual system'—of planning according to natural cycles (planting) and achieving results (harvest) as a community while maintaining discipline—has become the foundation that fosters the high level of discipline and social order seen in Japanese people today.

On the other hand, it could be said that the 'Jomon DNA' is what instilled in people a spirituality rare in the world: a pure trust, joy, and sense of unity with the power of words (kotodama) and the myriad gods (yaoyorozu no kami). This is expressed in the energetic dynamism of festivals.

A flame of passion that wells up inexhaustibly.
The excitement that makes one's blood race to the intense beat of festival music.
A sense of ecstasy where one lets go of reason and surrenders to overflowing vitality.
An overwhelming contrast between movement and stillness.

By releasing all the social rules and constraints of daily life, one ignites the source of pure vitality residing within. When this power gathers, it explodes into a powerful sense of solidarity and bliss. A festival can be called a kind of collective trance state where the inner 'Jomon DNA' comes alive.

The result of the characteristics of these two DNAs—Jomon and immigrant—miraculously meeting and fusing within the Japanese climate is what became the Japanese festival and the essence of 'yoshuku' (pre-celebration).

🎐 The 'festivals' of the past were events of 'collective pre-celebration' within the local community.

Japanese festivals likely blossomed most brilliantly in local communities during the Edo period. With wars ended and a period of peace lasting about 250 years, festivals transformed from solemn religious rituals into enthusiastic events where local residents celebrated and rejoiced.

Even in modern society, if we can rediscover this spirituality, it will not just be a traditional event, but could contribute to breaking through the sense of stagnation or the lack of solidarity in local communities.

Since the Meiji era, against the backdrop of national modernization and the policy of 'enriching the country and strengthening the military,' the tendency to value high discipline and social order has become even stronger in Japanese society. As a result of prioritizing group cohesion through education and systems, individual joy and passion were suppressed, creating an aspect where individual freedom and passion were stifled. That structure has continued to this day, even as it changed its form after the defeat in the war.

Opportunities to experience the 'resonance and empathy' gained from interactions with others and the local community have been lost, and rich sensibilities are buried in a virtual reality world without physical sensation, ending up as mere joys and sorrows in the mind. I feel this is a major factor at the root of various modern social problems and the 'difficulty of living for individuals.' As the tendency to rely on generative AI and robots grows in the future, this situation will likely escalate further.

The cause of the daily sense of stagnation is not only external factors such as the post-war regime or the stagnation of national politics, but perhaps also the fact that we have unconsciously fallen into a cramped framework that values traditional discipline and order. If so, focusing on the wild energy of the Jomon DNA hidden within should be a powerful trigger to ignite latent vitality and rewrite the brain's cognitive system.

By moving away from cost-benefit calculations, social evaluation, and excessive dependence on the system, and returning to the simple 'childlike heart' that is 'just living,' and by opening your heart to interactions with others that involve empathy and fluctuation beyond formal relationships, it becomes much easier to live as your unadorned, natural self.childlike heartto return to, and if you open your heart to interactions with others that involve empathy and fluctuation beyond formal relationships, it becomes much easier to live as your unadorned, natural self.

🎐 In the frenzy of a festival, sublimate the anxiety and loneliness of personal life with the energy of collective pre-celebration, and turn the longing for the joy of living into conviction.

When you can shift this consciousness of pre-celebration from a 'festival of a few days a year' in a 'group' to a '365-day festival' in your personal life, I think it will become a paradigm shift that dramatically transforms life itself.

It can happen in casual moments. Meals and tea times can also turn into celebrations. Or even cleaning, cooking, and laundry can become moments to celebrate your own existence. When walking through town, smelling the scent of flowers, swaying in the wind, or just looking up at the night sky doing nothing, it becomes a moment to celebrate the miracle of being alive in this world.

When the 'immigrant-style intellectual future design program' and the 'Jomon-style wild joy' engraved in each of our DNAs since ancient times function in coordination, the latent potential sleeping within us awakens.

It is structurally very similar to the way a 'huge body' made through precise calculation and design in the 'Kurosaki Gion Yamakasa' festival transforms into a giant living entity that shines with a fierce yet beautiful aura only when the power gushing from the 'carriers (Jomon DNA)'—the 'high-output engine'—is integrated with it.huge bodyhigh-output engine

This will not be just a modern technique for attraction or wish fulfillment. It is not a calculated way of life chasing dreams to wipe away future anxieties, nor is it days of living blindly, just being swept away by impulses. It becomes wisdom for realizing the 'joy of living in this very moment' itself.joy of living in this very moment

“365 days a year, life itself is a celebration.”.

This is not about an ideal way of living, attaining enlightenment, or the ultimate form of humanity, but about living out the potential that everyone inherently possesses.

Japan's culture of "yoshuku" (anticipatory celebration) has been passed down, transcending mere superstition or prayer, and sealed within the form of the massive "festival" that stirs the soul. For these thousands of years, the legacy of wisdom and passion cultivated by our ancestors has been preserved within us, never lost.

Japanese festivals are opportunities that allow us to experience the truth of this "yoshuku." Its essence is a “treasure” embedded in our DNA.

🎐

“Takato-yama Torch Procession 2026”

Kurosaki Gion Yamakasa 2026

What the girl saw
Yukie Nishimura

Thank you as always