Mushroom Madness

So, the other day, I get a ride home from a guy who’s been living and working in Japan for about 8 years. He started as a JET in Ota and told me a story from his early days in Japan. Apparently, what he thought was going to be a day of mushroom picking on the mountain was a ceremonial procession of mushrooms. How interesting it all sounded. A mushroom ceremony here in Ota? Who knew?


Well, apparently anyone who bothered to read the many posters plastered all over town knew. I, of course, cannot read Japanese. I was only able to discern that there was event coming up on October 7th and that it was in Ota.

Using my cunning smile and foreign charm, I was able to get someone at a small, local restaurant to explain when and where the event would take place. Lucky I asked someone in the food business too because he knew the English word, “mushroom” and that’s when I put the puzzle together; the mushroom march would be this weekend!


Caitlin and I were at the Daikoin Temple at precisely 11 am for the kick off of the event. There were dignitaries on hand and the temple looked especially festive for the occasion.


The local media were there too, cameras often panning over to the two foreign women in attendance (yes us.)




And at the centre of it all was a group of young men and women, probably high school students, who were going to march baskets of mushrooms from Mt. Kanayama in Ota to some place in Saitama (the whole march, including pit stops and a long lunch break, was maybe four hours, at a snails pace.)


The outfits were traditional, right down to the footwear.


Mushrooms ready, banners and weapons poised, the reenactment began.




We followed the marchers from the Daikoin Temple, out the gates and along the busy streets all the way to Ota city hall.



And, the stars of the show? These funny looking mushrooms. Apparently, a sight to behold, and smell.


For being such loyal followers, Caitlin and I were rewarded with bowls of mushroom soup, and rice with mushrooms for lunch.