Tokyo Home: Jichinsai Ceremony

Today was a very symbolic day in the course of our home building project: we celebrated Jichinsai, a ritual that is performed to acknowledge the spirits and pay respects before using the land. From what we've gathered, the ritual has the purpose of clearing away bad luck, impurities, or evil which might be connected to the land.

This ritual typically involves a priest who prays for safety, happiness, and protection from disaster. 'Jichinsai' seeks to pacify the spirits of the land for cutting plants, breaking ground, and digging holes.

Not only were we lucky enough to enjoy outstanding weather today, but this Friday is also a TaiAn day - 大安 - a day considered to bring good fortune, according to the Japanese Calendar!

We did a simplified version of Jichinsai that was performed in the presence of our Contractor Suzuki-san from Archimoda, Two Style Director Shioda-san, and our Architect Yakushiji-san. For this event, we were asked to prepare some rice, a large bottle of sake and some salt.

We started out by making offerings of sake, rice and salt on the four corners of the land, starting from north-east going clockwise, as well as in the center. The goods were poured and sprinkled once to the left, once to the right, and again once to the left, symbolizing the heart - 心.

This ritual closely resembles that of "Ch'alla" performed in Bolivia where beverage is poured onto the land to honor the Pachamama- Mother Earth.

We then went to greet our neighbours. Suzuki-san had prepared typical gifts - small towels, as well as a letter providing details on the construction plans. He explained that we would soon be building next to their home, and that they should expect some disturbance.

This seems like a nice way to establish good relations with our neighbors. Our kids were also very happy to give out the little gifts we had prepared for them...