Mystery and Otherness Restored at Todaiji Temple’s Omizutori Ritual – and by Omizutori Museum Exhibitions in Nara

Religious practice in Japan is sometimes tamed by way of museum exhibitions and by the contemporary secular viewer of such exhibitions, making it, whether consciously or not, “mere ritual”: performance art or piece of theatre, political expression, or display of eccentric quirky superstition. It may be any or all of these things, but the subsumption often reflects materialism or a lack of belief that is projected onto the performance of the ritual itself and assumed of its participants. When this happens, we don’t give credit to the way that the spiritual world pervaded premodern Japan, and arguably still does today, whether that is ritualistically acknowledged or not. Current exhibitions focusing on one particular ritual at Nara National Museum  (Treasures of Todaiji’s Omizutori Ritual) and at Todaiji Museum (Nigatsudo: The Ritual Space of Todaiji Temple’s Shunie Repentence Ceremony) explain but also restore some of the mystery and otherness – fearful, reverent, and sometimes downright puzzling – of the spiritual dimension and the way that people interact and negotiate with it, delivering quite a special experience to their visitors.

The Omizutori (“The Sacred Drawing of Water”) is one of the major and more impressive rituals of Todaiji, Nara’s most famous and most-visited temple, which – with its imperial connections – is quite literally majestic. Todaiji holds many claims to greatness. Architecturally, its principle worship hall is one of the largest wooden structures in the world; historically, it is one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Japan; and artistically, it houses an imposing 15 metre high “Great Buddha” statue that has long represented, like the temple itself, the power and influence of Buddhism in Japanese history. But one way to experience Todaiji as a present and living place of elaborate and deeply-felt devotion is the Omizutori, which takes place at its Nigatsudo Hall. And while many of the temple buildings and the Great Buddha itself have been reconstructed after instances of destruction, this ritual is an example of authentic longevity: it has been practiced every single year without a break since its founding in 752.

The Omizutori is made up of a series of rituals over the first two weeks of March. If you visit the Nigatsudo at sunset on any evening between March 1^st and 14^th you can observe one of them, a ritual called Otaimatsu (“Pine Torches”). Here, eighteen-foot long torches are carried by priests up to the balcony and vigorously swung around, and for around twenty minutes – via the sparks of fire, fragments of burnt torch, and embers that are showered down onto a gathered crowd – blessings of protection are bestowed for the coming year. The fiery spectacle is at its height on the last day of the ceremonials when the largest number of torches (eleven) is brandished by the priests producing a blaze that, from the balcony of a building made of wood, seems almost incomprehensible. The effect is one of awe, not only because the unfurling waves of flame are thrillingly beautiful, but because the wildness is controlled – after all, this has been practiced for centuries.

Nocturnal rituals that take place on March 12^th and 13^th between 1:30-3:30am similarly display the energetic and theatrical manipulation of water and fire, which used together constitute a highly purifying ascetic practice. On March 12^th the priests ceremonially and repeatedly draw sacred water from a well to the sounds of blown conch shells, the rite which gives the whole ritual its name: Omizutori. The Dattan no Myoho (“Wondrous Rite of Fire Ascetics”), following this, is dance-like and performed by two priests, one bearing a bowl of sacred water and acting as the water god, and the other who acts as the fire god holding a gigantic, blazing torch. During these procedures six other monks who embody other gods appear one after another, rotating swords and staffs and flinging materials around.

Many aspects of the ritual seem incomprehensible, and the exhibitions at Nara National Museum and Todaiji Museum do a good job of explaining them without stripping them of their mystique. Its original name was “The Eleven-headed Kannon Ceremony of Repentance” since monks could repent of their transgressions through the power of the multiheaded Kannon bodhisattva enshrined in the Nigatsudo. The emphasis on purification by fire, water, and other means can be partially explained by the original and fundamental nature of the ritual.

Exhibits provide clues to the meaning of other aspects of the ritual. Founder monk Jitchu had invoked Kannon as a “living” icon, after having seen a vision of the ritual being performed by heavenly beings and deciding to imitate it. Kannon was thus drawn from its mythical residence Potalaka, washing up materially in a river, as depicted in the 1545 Karmic Origins of the Nigatsudo picture scroll displayed at Nara National Museum. Divine instructions received by Jitchu account for the startling performance of monks running and prostrating in the hashiri circumambulation section of the ritual. Not only did his iteration have to be in front of a “living Kannon” but it had to be performed 1000 times a day to be commensurable with its divine prototype. Jitchu’s solution was to perform austerities at the speed-of-running. As for the enshrined Kannon, to whom all this is offered, the icons (there are two) are completely concealed, even in images of the ritual found in the Karmic Origins. However, the appearance of one is divulged in a displayed picture scroll, a monastic collection of “Classified Secret Notes” from the early thirteenth century. It is a standing figure holding a vase and a rosary, with a plume of stacked up heads emerging from its crown. A replica of the shrine and part of the altar for this “small Kannon” is one of the exhibits at Nara National Museum.

Water, along with incense and light (lamps) is an essential offering to Buddhas and bodhisattvas. As legend has it, one local god of all those invited by Jitchu to the rite, Anyu Myojin, was late to the ritual and by way of apology offered scented water. This is why the monks ceremonially draw it from the Nigatsudo well, at which is is believed to have been divinely provided, and offer it to Kannon.

Some beautiful paintings depicting the temple grounds and buildings in which the events take place are also on view and are as valuable for their artistic quality as for the historical information they have preserved.

While this is a Buddhist ritual, some disparate influences are apparent, namely exorcistic ones. One monk is designated “Shushi” (Incantation Master) and his role mainly concerns dispelling bad influences and summoning helpful ones. Goblins, too, are ceremonially invited along for the events. A 17^th century scroll of his words of purification (Onakatomi no harae) is on display. Enchantments and spells like these pervade the rituals, all of which reflect the practices of Shinto-inflected esoteric Buddhism, and are evidenced by exhibits: a woodblock for the mass printing of the circular sonsho dharani amulet, pulled from the rubble of a 1667 fire; paper wands; a ritual handbell (probably an enchanted object) packed artistically in thick paper. During the ritual, the monks handprint “spells” (dharani) which they offer to Kannon bodhisattva. After completion of the final ritual, the Incantation Master marks the forehead of each monastic participant with one of the signs found on the seals for printing – that of a red jewel.

The sounds of chanting, clanging, calling, of bells being rung, wooden clogs stamped, and of ancient Japanese music float over the exhibition halls from an introductory video  – something I’ve experienced at other exhibitions at Nara National Museum and which is an effective way of enhancing them. Here they evoke a sense of presence at the ritual itself, giving an otherworldly atmosphere that highlights its true strangeness. The exhibits do this too – among many others, the strange form of the paper wrapped bell, the patched up black robes of the serving monks, the “classified” revelation of the secret bodhisattva icon, the photo of “the calling of the goblins”. All are initially puzzling but, by virtue of that, signal authenticity and a distant (and obscure) history.

This exhibition and the smaller Todaiji Museum show, which displays a collection of diagrams and texts that clarify the spaces and buildings used in the Omizutori, along with more of the Karmic Origins picture scroll, restore a solemn mystery and even a rather fearsome nature to the serious acts performed here that are far from “mere ritual”. The value of rituals such as these which have continued without a break up to the present day is not only in their fidelity to ancient form and content or in the unchanging power they are believed to exert, but also in their capacity to transport observers into a rare state of mind open to be accessed once a year, every year.

Omizutori Ritual:

For full and up-to-date details, access etc see Todaiji’s website here.

March 1st-14th (with the “water-drawing” and “Dattan” rites taking place on March 12th during the night between 1:30 and 3:30am)

All parts of the Omizutori ritual are held Held at: Nigatsudo (Hall) – a ten-minute walk from Todaiji Temple

Otaimatsu (Pine Torches Rite): please note the differing times and duration of the torch-burning (and number of torches) below.

March 1-11: 19:00-19:20 – 10 torches

March 12: 19:30-20:15 – 11 torches

March 13: 19:00-19:20 – 10 torches

March 14: 18:30-18:40 – 10 torches

Special Exhibitions:

Nara National Museum, New West Wing: Treasures of Todaiji’s Omizutori Ritual 

February 10th – March 17th

9:30 – 17:00 (Last admission 16:30). The museum is open until 6:00 p.m. every day during the Omizutori ritual (March 1st to March 14th), and until 7:00 p.m. on March 12th.

Admission: 700 yen; University students 350 yen (Admission includes entry to the permanent collection exhibitions of Buddhist masterworks; the Nara Buddhist Sculpture Hall; and the Chinese Ancient Ritual Bronzes Gallery).

Todaiji Museum: Nigatsudo: The Ritual Space of Todaiji Temple’s Shunie Repentence Ceremony (Website info only in Japanese) February 10th – March 18th

February 10th – March 18th

9:30 – 17:00 (Last admission 16:30)

Admission: Adult: 600 yen / 6-12 years old: 300 yen (Admission includes entry to the permanent collection)