"Burning Water Ceremony" in Niigata

This is Nathan Shiga, and today I have an episode on a rare, ancient ritual in Niigata of the "burning water" from a pond in Tainaishi. No savez? Well, this is what it's all about.

In the ancient historical document "Nihon Shoki" or The Chronicle of Japan is a legend of some "burning water from Koshi County presented to Emperor Tenji", the 38th emperor in the 7th century enshrined in Omi Shrine, Shiga.

Now, the ritual started in 1987 to revive the legend by collecting and offering the burning water, or crude oil, to the shrine on every July 1.

The crude-producing pond is located in the Kurokawa district of Tainaishi, where about 80 local school children gathered today to watch the Shinto ritual. A bundle of Kaguma, a kind of fern, was soaked into the pond water; crude oil was squeezed out of the bundle of Kaguma.

The oil was momentarily burned in the "burning ceremony", the ground was cleansed with sand and the priest from Omi Shrine received the "burning water" to conclude the ritual.

It's so deliciously classic, and a school child, so impressed by the "Burning Water Ceremony", commented:

"Gee, I never knew such a ceremony. So glad I came to see it today. This experience will help my study in many ways."

Emperor Tenji is a key person in Japanese history engineering some crucial political decisions. An emperor of "heavenly wisdom" as his name literally means, Tenji is known to have invented Japan's first water-clock and initiated Japan's first family register.

There are several crude-producing areas in Niigata - Kurokawa, Niitsu, Higashiyama Hills, Nishiyama Hills, Kubiki, etc. and a number of places are associated with the term "Kusouzu" meaning "smelling grass" or "smelling water". All these terms do suggest Japan used to have oil wells up in Niigata way.