タル占い Fortune-telling barrel

Near where I used to live in beautiful Arashiyama, Kyoto was a medium-sized Jinja (shrine) by the name of Matsuo. It's one of the oldest shrines in Kyoto, and originates when a major samurai of the Emperor of the time (I think it was Kammu) stopped under a waterfall and noticed a turtle resting at the base of the falls. Well, this was about the time the capital of Japan was being shifted from Nagaoka-Tenjin to Kyoto, nearly 1300 years ago.

The purity of the water was remarkable (as it is everywhere else in Kyoto), so the samurai immediately recommended a shrine be built there to commend the pure spirit inherent in the water. Matsuo Taisha (or large shrine) was built and it remains a place of blessing to local miso and sake producers.




ALL SAKE (I especially like the barrel of Hanshin Tigers sake over there on the right, second row.



There is sake everywhere, and the most fun comes during Hatsumode (the first shrine visit of the year) when they bring out a mixed liquor filled with gold leaf.　This is the shrine to the god of Japanese sake.



One interesting thing about Matsuo Taisha is that there is a "barrel fortune-telling" yatai (stand) during Hatsumode.





You basically take a cumbersome arrow and shoot it at a barrel with all but a small circle cut out and a gong behind it. If you hit the edge of the barrel, you get a "kichi" charm (good luck), but if you hit the very middle and the gong, you get a special "daikichi" (very good luck) charm that also serves as a cell phone strap. My wife and I both shot it - my wife got kichi and I got daikichi. My wife lovingly looked in my eyes that day and told me I was a "yareba dekiru otoko" (a guy who can stand up and do it). Now I wonder if I'm that same guy, there isn't a Taru-uranai (fortune telling barrel) to tell her so!