It's summertime, the festival season in Japan. On Shiraishi Island, the festival season is already in full force, with a number of Shinto festivals and celebrations to start off the summer. These are traditions from hundreds of years ago.
One reason we have so many celebrations is because our island is host to so many gods. There must be more gods per square meter here than most other places in Japan. We've got mountain gods, sea gods and assorted guardian gods, who all protect us. And all these gods get their own ceremony. For an island of just 700 people, the god-to-person ratio is pretty good. And with the population decreasing so rapidly, as individuals we should be getting more coverage, so to speak.
Most recently, we celebrated the Benten-sama festival for the goddess who lives on an outcropping of rocks off the beach called Benten Island. Such small islands are a common sight in any part of Japan on the sea. They're all called Benten Island, and have a shrine honoring Benten-sama, who lives in all of them. Build a shrine and she will come.
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