The last day of the holidays; classes begin tomorrow... Aside from preparing for classes, these are some of the things I did today - in two-frame style...

We received a box of daikon (大根) from my wife's brother in rural Aichi Prefecture...

I documented the worn handicapped parking spot at our locl convenience store...

I encountered a black cat, but she didn't cross my path. Still, I went to our local shrine (scroll VAoJ for the many photos of the shrine) to pray for a successful semester, good health for family and friends and world peace...

I bought some pineapple candy (パインアメ) to ring in the new semester and spring training for the Hanshin Tigers...

Tondo Matsuri at Ubusuna Shrine scheduled for January 15, 2026 has been canceled. 2026年1月15日に予定されていた産土神社のとんど祭りは中止となりました。

Ubusuna Shrine, Shirogaki-cho, Kadoma-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan

One of two small hand-made signs at our neighborhood shrine.

The Tondo Festival (とんど祭り) is conducted annually on January 15 to coincide with ko-shogatsu (小正月), or "small new year." Ko-shogatsu is a holdover from the time when Japan used a lunar calendar and is acknowledges appreciation for housewives who were busy during the New Year; it also marks the "conclusion" of New Year's events. This festival has many names (Dondo yaki - どんど焼き - is a common name but there are many others) and local variations. It seems to be a large celebration in various locations across Japan. But my neighborhood version could barely be called a festival as it was practiced in a very low key manner. At the Tondo Matsuri, shimekazari (a traditional New Years decoration hanged at the entrance to a house), omamori (good luck charms), ofuda (talisman), ema (votive tablets) as well as other religious or new year's related ornaments are burned. This is in effect a sort of recycling - these various ornaments are returned after a year or so of use and new ones are purchased. This is also an important community service as many neighbors come during the morning to drop off their used New Year's or religious paraphernalia. It is actually a lot of hard work but also a chance to share New Year's greetings and scoialize with neighbors.

Tondo Matsuri at Ubusuna Shrine, January 15, 2025

But it was canceled this year, probably as fallout from the resignations of the shrine elders (as previously explained in a previous post) who conducted the Tondo Matsuri every year. I do not intend to blame the elders as many other traditional neighborhood activies have been shortened or canceled due to demographic changes and gentrification in Japanese neighborhoods like my own.

The signs at the shrine announce the cancelation and inform neighbors that a Tondo Matsuri will be conducted at the parent shrine,「島頭天満宮」Shimagashira Tenmangu Shrine, a 10-15 minute walk from「産土神社」Ubusuna Shrine, and invites people to drop off their items there (and to not bring their regular daily garbage for disposal). I usually have to work on January 15, but I was able to participate in the festival last year, not knowing that the shrine elders would resign and that it might be the last time the festival would be held. So the VAoJ post documenting the evetn becomes an important recording as salvage ethnography. View it here:

「とんど祭り @ 産土神社 2025」Tondo Matsuri @ Ubusuna Shrine 2025

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2025/01/2025tondo-matsuri-ubusuna-shrine-2025.html

I also participated in 2013:

Tondo Festival - とんど祭り (2013)

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2013/01/tondo-festival.html

It is my hope that my neighborhood can somehow reorganize to revive the shrine, its activities and other neighborhood traditions.

Bonus stuff (added 1/21/26):

January 8, 2026

Source: https://japantoday.com/category/national/elderly-woman-burned-as-clothes-catch-fire-at-new-year-bonfire-in-hokkaido

Dondo-yaki: Japan’s Fiery Farewell to the New Year (a simple explanantion found on GaijinPotBlog): https://blog.gaijinpot.com/dondo-yaki-japans-fiery-farewell-to-the-new-year/

Pre/Re/Construction...

You have seen this:

「Deconstruction: Demolishing a Showa Era House in the Neighborhood (this post is still under construction...)」

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2025/09/deconstruction-demolishing-showa-era.html

The next phase of neighborhood gentrification has begun... (Photos taken 12/26/25 - 12/31/25)

The plot has been divided into two.

A representative of the construction company recently made the rounds to houses in the neighborhood to inform us (verbally and in writing) about the upcoming construction of two new 3-story apartment buildings called 「フォレストグリェオーレ城垣町 I II」, or in English (?) Shirogaki-cho Grieore Forest I and II (not sure what "Grieore" is or refers to - and by the way, our neighborhood is not a forest...). Construction will begin on January 13 and continue until some time in May, daily from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

I can't promise to take photos everyday of the construction. But I will do my best to record substantial phases of construction and share it with a post in May.

So it seems like it will be a very noisy spring...

Kayashima Shrine 萱島神社 After the New Year's Rush

Kayashima Shrine is close to my house and famous because there is a train station right above it. The kami-deity associated with the shrine resides in a large 700 year old Camphor tree. When the train station was being built, the tree could not simply be cut down. (There were many signs and messages directing that the tree not be cut including illnesses and the sighting of an auspicious white snake.) Thus the station was built around it. The tree/kami is seen as especially powerful. Many people claim their wishes have come true after praying and giving a small cash offering. The shrine is small but contains a lot of interesting sights and has many events through the year.

I have taken a lot of photographs at this shrine over the years. You can see some of them here:
https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/search?q=kayashima+shrine

Special Bonus Ethno-Photo-Art

Early New Year's Day 2026 at Ubusuna Shrine「2026年元旦、産土神社にて」

And the shrine looked very different today...

As I wrote in a previous post, due to the resignation of the local neighborhood shrine elders, it was unknown who would prepare and officiate at the shrine for the New Year celebration. It seems the tasks were left up to the priest and his staff from the nearby Shimagashira Tenmangu Shrine「島頭天満宮」, the current parent shrine to our Ubusuna Shrine「産土神社」in the regional and national Shinto Church social organization. In the past when the shrine did not have its own priest and the the neighborhood elders ran things, Ubusuna Shrine was fairly independent, especially in terms of grounds maintenance and festivals. There was also a stronger feeling of community. The priest from Shimagashira only came on special occasions and he had his wife conduct the monthly service.

***

TANGENT: Ubusuna Shrine is located in Shirogaki-cho, Kadoma-shi, Osaka prefecture. It has over 800 years of history going back to when the area was a village known as Kamimbushi. This area was part of the greater Kawachi province that was established in the 7th century. At that time, Ubusuna Shrine was one of the major and largest shrines in the area. You can check out the shrine homepage that was made by one of the shrine elders:

https://ubusunajinjyakamim.wixsite.com/kamimabushi

  
Information on Shimagashira Tenmangu Shrine:

https://osakadai3shibu.kilo.jp/jinja/kadoma/jinja/simagasira.html

***

I visited the shrine just past midnight, and it seemed sabishii　「寂しい」or lonely, and very minimalist. I did not see or meet anybody I knew from the neighborhood. The people that were there were bed-town strangers. And more people seemed to bring their little dogs with them this year.

I liked the glowing lighting of the lanterns (which made for some nice photos), but much was missing from the set-up in previous years.

There were no bonfires and there were fewer spotlights. It was darker, colder and less dramatic.

The large white tent where parishioners could receive omiki, the sacred sake, was missing (it was replaced with a small vessel of sake and small paper cups as self service at the counter where amulets were sold; there was a small note saying there was only a limited amount of the sake and when it was gone, it was gone. Last year, I was responsible for pouring and offering sake to the parishioners. We had several large bottles of sake on hand and some small snacks as well.)

There were only two young shrine maidens (probably working as a part-time job) selling amulets and fortunes. They seemed to be the only support staff there (as opposed to the usual 10-15 elders and volunteers in the past).

The Hinomaru「日の丸」or Japanese flag, and illustrations of the flag were abundantly present, and the Japanese National Anthem, Kimigayo「君が代」, was playing in a repeating loop inside the shrine office building. (The flag and the anthem are two very powerful and problematic symbols associated with Japanese right-wing nationalism.)

There was a "Staff Only" sign in English (and in Japanese in a much smaller font size) on the shrine office door. I have never seen any usage of English at the shrine before.

The were two signs announcing the cancellation of the Tondo Matsuri on January 15 (there will be a future post on this cancellation...).   

Here are some of the photos I took.

To get a better idea of the shrine layout in the daytime:

Ubusuna Shrine prepped and (almost) ready to go (?)...: http://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2025/12/ubusuna-shrine-prepped-and-almost-ready.html

Compare with last year with this important post which has turned into a piece of salvage ethnography:

New Year's Eve 2024 / Early New Year's Day 2025「2024年大晦日から2025年元旦」: http://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2025/01/new-years-eve-2024-early-new-years-day.html

Happy New Year 2026 from「VAoJ」

あけましておめでとうございます。

今年もよろしくお願いします。

Ubusuna Shrine prepped and (almost) ready to go (?)...

There have been big changes at our local shrine in the last year. The local elders, who have been in charge of preparations for most of the shrine activities for years, decades really, resigned en masse in April. Really, there are no others who are prepared to replace them and their knowledge. The biggest question was, who would prepare and officiate the shrine for the New Years activities? Unlike last year, I was not asked to help or participate. These photos were taken before in the late afternoon of December 31, 2025, before the expected big rush at midnight. I have no idea who did the set-up. But it is very different and minimal compared to previous years.