I was supposed to go out with friends last night, but ended up passing out from exhaustion. It was probably for the best because it wasn't until 10:30 a.m. this morning that I regained consciousness. I then had to hurry because I was supposed to take part in the Shinto procession that was coming to visit the house at 11:00 a.m.

Kumagai-san arranged for the Shinto priests to both cleanse the house from any lingering bad spirits and to bless it for the coming year. She prepared an offering of NIHONSHU (Japanese rice wine), SHIO (salt), and MIZU (water) on a tray that was offered to the KAMI (see photo to the right). There was also a packet of money that serves as a kind of donation to Kita-Shinagawa JINJA (shrine), which is where all the priests are affiliated - similar to paying for indulgences, I suppose.

There were 20 or so people taking part in the event, and most of them had a different role to play - making it an interesting experience. The priests (above and to the left) laid the offerings in front of the KAMI's portable shrine, or KAMIDANA (神棚), and proceeded to bless us with the TAMAGUSHI (玉ぐし) leaves and incomprehensible words. The musicians (above and to the right) played traditional instruments that date from around the 7th Century. (It is in such ways that I have been so impressed by Japan: here I am, living in an ultra-modern house in downtown Tokyo, and yet people are still very much in touch with culture dating back more than 1000 years.)

I posed for a few more photos (shown above), but I felt bad because I was clearly under-dressed for the occasion. I had football practice starting at 12:00 p.m., so I had to run to the train start to get there in time... Showing up late means spending the entire 3 hour practice running, which was not something I was particularly keen about doing.