That Japanese culture attracts the rest of the world is a fact. There are the figures of foreign visitors who visit the nation with numbers that exceed each year. The Japanese nation interests because in many cases it is the opposite of the culture of the West. Let’s put as an example a postcard that usually surprises the tourist who comes: why are the hell so many Japanese with umbrella?
One track: it is not just to cover the sun.
Umbrella and spirits. Yes, in Japan, umbrellas and umbrellas are not just protection against rain or sun, they can also be Yorishiro, that is, objects capable of attracting or hosting divinities and spirits.
This animistic vision, described by Professor Emeritus Tatsuo Danjyo, associates the circular form of the umbrella with the soul and its handle with the pillar through which the entities descend, which makes the daily object a spiritual receptacle with symbolic presence in ritual and popular life.
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Of the emblem of power to common use. Between the IX and XI centuries, the umbrella broke into Japan not as a meteorological shelter, but as an distinguished of religious and political authority: long sashikake-gasa supported by assistants on elites and dignitaries.
From the 12th century its use extended to the people, but the spiritual ground remained, so that the umbrella lived with its practical function as a sign of amparo, status and link with the sacred.
Festivals that cure. Today that dimension survives in celebrations where the umbrella acts as a ritual vehicle. In the Yasurai Matsuri in Kyoto, in April, the floral umbrellas “extract” diseases of the participants, and in the Hakata Dontaku in Fukuoka, every May 3-4, the imposing Kasaboko distribute health and fortune to whom it passes under them.
Not just that. In Okshima (Kōchi), during the Obon from August 13 to 16, richly decorated umbrella structures house the spirits of the newly deceased to, on the night of the 16 alternate years, lead them back to the beyond through a processional dance.
The umbrella that comes alive. The Japanese imagination has personified this relationship in the so-called Kasa Yōkai, the “spirit-Paraguas” that appears in paintings and rolls like the night of the parade of the demons mirates, where ancient and discarded objects wake up and roam.
With its only eye and naughty features, Kasa Yōkai embodies the animistic intuition that the used, dear and finally abandoned utensils can keep a spiritual spark.
Everyday use. Although visitors see parasols to protect themselves from the sun or umbrella against rain, in Japan open a traditional wagasa can resonate with a cultural memory that transcends the weather.
In fact, workshops and museums allow to explore first hand the history and trade of these pieces, from their structure to their decoration, connecting the daily practice with a legacy that combines utility, aesthetics and ritual meaning.
A modern gesture with roots. Thus, the image of streets crowded with umbrellas on sunny days summarizes a continuity: a practical object that, while still being, operates as a symbol of care, health and good fortune.
Remembering that double nature (physical protection and spiritual vehicle) explains why in Japan a simple opening and closing can, according to tradition, summon more than shadow or coat.
Image | Cipher
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