SAKE FESTIVAL IN DAIANJI TEMPLE
- José Carlos Gómez Delgado
- Jan 24, 2016
- 2 min read
Daianji temple is a little away from the main tourist route of Nara, which is not part of the usual recommendations ... except for two days in the year: January 23 and June 23. And it is that in these two days are held two separate festivals with an interesting peculiarity: all you can drink of sake.
I will focus on the one that took place yesterday, and let the June's one as the absolute must that I'll write about at the time.
The called Konin-e Festival (Ganfuji Sazazake Matsuri) is held in honor of Emperor Konin (709-781) who visited the temple and rested on his bamboo forest while drinking hot sake. Once he ascended the throne, he prayed much for peace and the restoration of the sick people, so the meaning of the festival has derived to the prevention of serious diseases (mainly cancer) through sake.
So, from early morning until 4 in the evening you can taste this "medicine" in an "all you can drink" for the low price of 500 yen, which is what it costs the bamboo cup in which the sake is served.
Sake is introduced into bamboo warming around a bonfire, so that it be served to the visitors by young students of the School of Kimono of Nara. The students are not only Japanese, but they come from many Asian countries to study at the prestigious school of Nara.
To accompany sake, there are several food and sweet stalls, as could not be otherwise in a Japanese festival.
Hot sake was delicious, and needless to say that the atmosphere was very cheerful and festive, and disinhibition which causes the sake encourages the approach and speaking with unknown people who say goodbye shaking hands until the next similar event held six months later, and that I will not miss.
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