I was a few days late for it, but I went to Sasebo for my first takoyaki of the year! Oh, and I also made my first shrine visit of the year too.

I missed this so much. I ate two. No regrets.

Hatsumode, the first shrine visit of the year, is when people try to start the year off right with a prayer for a good year and to maybe pay a few hundred yen to try their luck at securing it. The shrine grounds also become more lively for a time as festival food and game stands set up on the property. Hachiman is one of Sasebo’s main downtown shrines and it was my local shrine when I lived there, but it has a very comfy, small neighborhood atmosphere compared to massive shrine complexes in places like Tokyo. Though I and my wife are not Shinto, it really felt like my local shrine and I always loved visiting for the festivals. I felt part of the community and the crowds never got too thick, though it would be nice if it had more visitors. I was always away around New Year’s when I lived in Sasebo so never got to hatsumode at my local shrine. It took moving away and making Sasebo the travel destination to make that happen.

For all my otaku followers, I’m about to rehash what you already know. The core of the visit is a typical one, go to the shrine like usual and copy what the normal looking Japanese people in front of you do. (Failing that, read the complete instructions courtesy of Meiji-Jinju referenced at the bottom.) But why just visit like usual when you can dress out in a flashy kimono? It’s an option, but not necessary.

Sadly, likely due to the current unpleasantness, the temple bell rope was hung up so I couldn’t actually do what I flew across an ocean to do and literally ring in the New Year at Hachiman Shrine.

To play the spiritual ponies, as it were, you can also buy an omikuji. You pay to pull a random fortune from a box and this can result in anything from great fortune to cursed. If you don’t like what you get just tie it up on the shrine grounds beside the likely hundreds of other bad luck gacha pullers ahead of you. Leave the bad luck behind you and let it be the shrine’s problem! I got ‘small fortune’ and left it behind since I believe in making my own luck.

Another way to leave your mark is to write and/or draw anime characters on an ema. Writing down your wishes and hopes on these little wooden plaques and leaving them at the shrine may not guarantee they come true, but it doesn’t hurt either.

Hachiman is a war god and a god of archery, with the primary Hachiman Shrine in Usa, Oita Prefecture. Sasebo’s local branch was established in 675 A.D. The current buildings only date from the 1960s though the grounds bear the scars of Sasebo’s sometimes tragic history as a naval port. An incendiary bomb strike from the Jun. 29, 1945 air raid still mars one of the stairs on the way up. The temple and surrounding area went up in flames along with more than half of downtown.

Incendiary strike

1953; prior to the reconstruction of the shrine hall

To the right of the bottom of the stairs is a memorial to all the shipyard workers who died building and working at the Sasebo Naval Arsenal, a navy shipyard that is today split between Commander, Fleet Activities Sasebo and Sasebo Heavy Industries.

Taken during our five minutes of sakura bloom in 2017

1930s; Foot of the stairs leading to the shrine. The memorial is less hidden by trees than it is today.

It’s that naval past that also ties Sasebo’s local shrine to an unusual video game/anime franchise called Kantai Collection or Kancolle. At some shrines associated with certain anime or manga it isn’t uncommon to see elaborately drawn characters on the ema. On my first visit in 2015 I saw an ema with Sasebo-based ship girls (don’t ask, long story) throwing beans for setsubun hand drawn on it. Sasebo is Sasebo, they do naval history / KanColle stamp rallies annually, we just roll with it.

Like I mentioned in the opening, one of my favorite parts of a special occasion shrine visit is the food. Normally this shrine doesn’t have any takoyaki stands but they had two for New Years! Takoyaki is a fried doughball containing octopus meat and covered with shredded seaweed and/or bonito fish flakes slathered in Japanese mayonnaise served hot enough to scald your mouth. I get hungry just thinking about it. They also had an okonomiyaki on a stick stand, which I’ve never seen before but it was also good.

Okonomiyaki on a stick.

Sadly I’m only a visitor now, but when I lived in Sasebo I enjoyed coming by the shrine periodically just to admire the grounds and the changing of the seasons. I looked forward to the natsumatsuri (summer festival) every year, to watch traditional dances and locals perform bon dances. It’s like line dancing, except done in a circle to what sounds like enka music being played on a rickety cassette tape. (Not joking. The Minato Sasebo bon dance is on a cassette.) One was Minato Sasebo, the city’s dance, and the other seemed to be unique to this neighborhood as I’d never heard it elsewhere.

Hopefully I’d be a resident again when I next come to visit. Thanks for reading this silly random ramble. I get nostalgic for my life in Sasebo and can’t wait to return.

It’s the Year of the Tiger!

A miko or shrine maiden; I asked permission to take her picture. This was taken on my first visit to the shrine in 2015.

ADDRESS
3-3 Hachimancho, Sasebo, Nagasaki 857-0028

REFERENCE FOR SHRINE VISITS

Meiji-jinju Shrine
https://www.meijijingu.or.jp/en/feelshinto/