Global Ilk Magazine Issue #2 || Onbashira | Page 20

Shimo-Suwa
JaPAN

Timeless
balance

A Q&A with Kazuhiro

Note: Kazuhiro a 28 year old Japanese man from Suwa.
What does this festival mean to you?
Really. Not many things. Now for me I come, they have Sake you
can take for no cost. My friends come and it is fun to watch the
Kiotoshi but I don't never do the Onbashira. I just watch. The
Onbashira is for the Shrine, you know this?
Tell me about your cloak. Why does it have that design?
Oh! Each city has one. You know it is represent your city and
where you are from. That is why mine is black. There is red, and
green, many people where the blue. That is the most common.
You can buy that one. Each Onbashira there is a new one that
you can buy. Mine, I have to get very far in the future because
they run out and become hard to get.
Do you keep it forever?
Yes. There is no reason to get new ones every Onbashira. Some
do but not me. My father has the same and I will keep this one
forever. It is a balance you know? Balance traditions clothes, and
honor for the shrine.
What do you mean balance?
I mean to have tradition and today times both be equal you
know? We do this for the Shrine but also for the history, here
Japanese like history of our ancestors. We have to keep both in
balance.
Do you come to every Onbashira?
Every time. Yes. I attend the Onbashira. It is one of my favorites.
I get to be with my family my friends. My father friend was Kiotoshi before I was born. He is alive still so it is good.
What is the importance of the Onbashira?
They are the pillars you know? The ones at the shrine. They
stand there and protect, the area of the shrine. You know?

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