Bamboo Lanterns – Lighting Up a New FuJET Council
Bamboo, a symbol of strength and resilience, grows very quickly and in abundance in the Japanese countryside, and has served a variety of purposes, as a sturdy yet flexible building material and, among other things, as an indispensable tool for making popular (and delicious!) matcha drinks today.
On June 14th, bamboo took center stage at our first event with the new FuJET Council, where we each created unique bamboo lanterns at Iōji Temple in Fukushima City. While the Mt. Bandai Hike was slated to be our first event, rainy weather and poor conditions led us to unfortunately cancel it out of an abundance of caution.
After gathering at Iōji Temple, we walked through its temple grounds, which were filled with lush greenery, carved stone memorials, and several smaller temples.
At 10AM, we first started making our bamboo lanterns by choosing a pattern. The temple offered a great variety of patterns, from geometric patterns to animals like cute cats, frogs, and fish, to seasonal ones like hydrangeas, fireworks, and lotus flowers. Each design was made up of dots of differing sizes, and after our chosen designs were taped to a piece of cut bamboo and a brief safety lesson, we began!
Making a bamboo lantern means drilling into the bamboo, and each drill bit was color-coded to match the four sizes of dots we would drill into. We started with the largest dots, working our way down the pattern to the smallest dots. Since some of the dots were close together, following the pattern wasn’t always easy, but that’s where originality comes in! Between giving our hands and wrists a few breaks and sweeping away bits and slivers of bamboo fibers, we admired the designs growing on our lanterns, and before we knew it, we were finished!
The lanterns looked great by themselves, but for a small extra fee, we could get some lights to illuminate the lanterns from the inside. From there, the lanterns truly came to life.
About the Temple
Iōji Temple, founded in 826, is one of Fukushima City’s oldest temples with over 1,000 years of history. Its expansive grounds, offer a good opportunity to learn more about the local area and Japanese feudal history, including a legend about loyalty and bravery. Towering oak trees line the entrance and paths within the temple, and among them one tree stands out: a camellia tree. The camellia tree is several hundred years old, and is named after the wife of Lord Sato Motoharu, Lady Otowa.
As historical records indicate, Lord Motoharu controlled the area that Iōji Temple is currently in, and his sons bravely fought and sacrificed themselves to protect their lord, Minamoto no Yoshitsune in 1185. Following their deaths, Lady Otowa grieved deeply. While most camellia blossoms fall after opening, it’s said that the Otowa Camellia’s buds fell before they could bloom, suggesting that Lady Otowa’s love and grief for her sons could be felt by the tree as well.
Today, the graves of the Sato family, including Lord Motoharu’s sons and Lady Otowa’s camellia tree are in a quiet area in the back of the temple. Alongside them sits a stone marker engraved with a poem from the famous poet, Matsuo Basho, who was moved by the Sato family’s story.
Read more about the temple on their official website here.
Missed this event but want to make your own lantern? You can reserve a spot here.
