Apparently Even Gods Need Money: The Inequality Between Shrines I Saw at Tori no Ichi

Yesterday, I went to a Tori no Ichi festival at a shrine in my neighborhood.

Tori no Ichi is a festival held on the Days of the Rooster in November to pray for prosperity in business. It is known for the decorative bamboo rakes sold as good-luck charms.

I do not know its detailed origins myself. Put simply, it is an event where large numbers of people gather to pray for success in business.

Rows of flamboyant decorative rakes filled the shrine grounds.

Many people were looking at them, but relatively few seemed to be actually buying them.

After all, they were quite expensive.

Before praying for prosperity in business, you start worrying about the money already in your wallet.

Gods Are Not the Only Ones Supporting a Festival

Food stalls lined the road leading to the shrine, and children sat by the roadside eating and chatting.

They looked as though they were having a wonderful time.

But I could not help thinking about something unnecessary.

How much garbage would cover this road the next morning?

When I passed by again the following day, however, the road was completely clean.

Despite the huge crowd, almost no garbage remained.

Had they hired a professional cleaning company?

Either way, it must have required considerable effort and expense.

The line of worshippers was extraordinary too.

Several security guards were on duty, dividing the line into smaller sections and directing people so that they would not block the entrances to shops along the road.

Security naturally costs money. Garbage must be collected. Setting up the stalls and directing traffic are not free either.

Even at a festival for the gods, the operation requires a remarkably earthly amount of money.

The shrine is usually almost deserted, but on this day it had an enormous line.

And even I, who normally walk straight past it, casually joined the queue.

Inequality Exists Between Shrines Too

There is actually another shrine in my neighborhood.

This one is an ordinary shrine in a residential area.

I once happened to pass it on the day of its festival. There were only two stalls.

A portable shrine was being carried through the neighborhood, but the event could not compare with the crowds at Tori no Ichi.

They were both shrine festivals, so what accounted for the difference?

When I thought about it, the shrine that hosts Tori no Ichi is located in a shopping district. Because the festival prays for business prosperity, it must also be an important event for the local merchants.

If the shopping district cooperates and provides money and labor, it can hold a large festival.

The shrine in the residential neighborhood, on the other hand, does not have that level of economic backing.

In other words, the scale of a festival is not determined by religious devotion alone.

Apparently, even gods must face the harsh reality of whether they have sponsors.

Are Japanese People Really Nonreligious?

People often say that the Japanese are not religious.

It is true that relatively few people consciously follow divine teachings in their everyday lives.

I usually feel nothing in particular when I pass a shrine myself.

But when a festival arrives, large crowds gather, toss coins into the offering box, and pray for prosperity in business.

People in the community spend time and money preparing for that occasion.

Calling it nothing more than entertainment does not feel quite right either.

For Japanese people, perhaps the gods are not beings they engage with seriously every day, but figures they remember at seasonal milestones and ask for a small favor.

And with the god at the center, the shopping district becomes lively, stalls line the streets, and money circulates through the community.

Faith and commerce coexist remarkably well.

Then again, at a festival for a god of business prosperity, perhaps it is only natural that money should change hands.

Still, comparing it with the small shrine in the residential neighborhood made me think.

Does the world of the gods ultimately come down to location and financial resources too?

I had hoped that gods, at least, would be free from economic inequality.