26 August 2009

お宮参り (O-Miya Mairi: Baby's First Temple Visit)

Two weeks ago Sunday we took Rin to Nakayama Temple for his first temple visit ceremony, and accompanying photo-shoot. It was brutally hot and he had to wait a long time on the train and at the temple and again at the photo-studio, but he was a little trooper and didn't cry at all.

Here he is with Shoichi and me and his obaa-chan after the ceremony. We had quite a time getting the kimono on him. No one in our group had any idea how it was supposed to go on, and we just kind of tied it in place. The other families seemed to know what they were doing and tied it on quite elegantly, but we got there late and just had to tie it any which way.

The ceremony itself was quite lovely. A monk chanted some blessings over the babies (Rin and two little girls) and his voice was really rich and deep and sonorous almost vibrated. The room where the ceremony was held was beautiful too. We weren't allowed to take photos but everything was done in gorgeous wood, covered in shiny red and black lacquer with golden tasseled ornaments hanging from the ceiling.

After the ceremony we went to the photo-studio at the mall for the official portrait. The photos all came out great, but darn were they expensive. Here is Dad and Julie in their Sunday best. (Dad had to buy a new tie at the mall because his original tie clashed horribly with his suit.)

Finally here is me and Sho-chan in our Sunday best.

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