Osan
nomiya-hie Shrine recently held its large annual festival. Last year’s main festival was unfortunately rained out, but the so-called ‘shadow festival’ (which acts like a coda to the main one) managed to just barely avoid the same fate.
To provide more background, Osannomiya-hie Shrine holds its main festival and shadow festival every year, and for the former, portable shrines are paraded around the Isezaki-cho Mall area. The shrines include a large one from Osannomiya-hie and nearly forty others from the surrounding neighborhoods. During the shadow festival, only Osannomiya-hie’s shrine makes the rounds of Isezaki-cho Mall. Since last year, our crew has been documenting the affair.
While my father was still alive, he was one of the organizers of the main festival. Even more revealing, The Dark Room’s original location was in Yokohama’s famous Strong Building (near Yokohama Stadium), and we had the previous chief priest bless our space before opening.
Even today, I’d say that The Dark Room’s existence is tied to Osannomiya-hie Shrine. That same priest looked after me from the time I was in elementary school. When I was researching the history of the shrine as a part of my summer homework, I borrowed my dad’s Nikon F-series camera and went to take a picture of him. When I think about it, perhaps the first person I ever photographed was that priest.
Against that backdrop of deep ties to the shrine, after my father passed away, I wasn’t really sure how to engage with them anymore. Time steadily slipped past… But then, when the opportunity to document the festivals came my way, I happily accepted.
To tell you the truth, this strange feeling came to me last year. While walking alongside the portable shine, it was like my father was there. I kept looking behind my back, thinking I could hear him say, “You can’t take any good photographs just plodding along like that!” It’s humbling to say, but I still have so much to do before I achieve what he did…
