Yakubarai (Exorcism)

Ponderings that lead to unexpected happenings

As the living space work progressed and the walls got cleaner overall we were feeling pretty good about the place. 

There was a little concern about a dead tree close to the side of the Inaka House. We were chatting one morning when our neighbour popped over with some veggies from his garden. He joined whilst we were staring at the looming tree in the midst of the following  debate:

It is rather tall …

 

Possibly a little too close to the house?

<furrowed brow>: hum… what should we do? Its stood there for around 10 years       without falling over. Maybe it will be OK?

<head-scratch>: I know it is going to fall over as soon as we fix the roof.

<furrowed brow>: yeah that is a real possibility. Do you think we can fell it ourselves?

<head-scratch>: We don’t have the tools and if we do it wrong it may go through the roof.

<furrowed brow>: So…maybe we should get a professional? Wonder what they are called in Japanese.

<friendly neighbour>: There is a company in the village you can use and they are fairly cheap.

<raised eyebrows of interest> Could you give us an introduction?

So this short exchange somehow translated  to a quote for tree felling, ground clearance and a gravel driveway. It was very reasonable so we decided to go for it.

Ghost busting…

It seems there is a custom with building companies; that it is ludicrous to do out-door work during the last week of July and the start of August.

This may only be true in Yamagata or even in our small hamlet. We tend to take these microcosmic experiences and apply them to the whole of Japanese society. So we were happy to wait for a cooler period. A few days after the work date was agreed our friendly neighbour called on us looking a little perturbed. A request came from the ground work company via the neighbour and he was unsure how we would react. He explained that the company would like us to carry out a yakubarai ceremony before the work started. A yakubarai is a type of Buddhist exorcism. The company requested it as the previous occupant died inside the house. We are not religious or superstitious so it was not very important to us but we felt that it would please the local community so we agreed. The neighbour arranged a meeting with the local shrine.

The monk was welcoming and gave us a list of things he would require; salt, candle, ground sheet, cushion, sake and candlestick holder. It was arranged for the ceremony to start early morning as the days were very hot.

The hardest challenge was getting the sake. There is a huge amount of choice and the monk was only going to throw it all over the ground so what do you do? Buy the cheapest? How much do you spend? A joke about buying “one-cup” (a cheap sake sold in a small covered glass sold in convenience stores) didn’t go down too well. A good indicator we should be spending more. Then again with the salt. The same questions. We grabbed a sales assistant and asked for recommendations. No-one wants to commit to anything. They work in a sales environment and we are at a disadvantage. They could sell me the most expensive yet we were passed on to two different members of staff for advice. Neither of which tried to suggest the most expensive. One of them even said: “well you are just throwing it on the ground get this reasonable priced one.” We went for a mid-priced sake and salt and hoped we were offending anyone.

The monk arrived at six am and the ceremony took around twenty minutes. It was an interesting experience, the neighbors were happy and our two-year old son found it amusing.

Preparing the things for the exorcism

Laying it out as the instruction

Some things are not quite right.

Not sure where we should stand

 

 

A little giggler. During the ceremony our two-year old found the sounds all too new and interestng to contain himself