National Foundation Day in Kyoto

On February 11th Japan takes a day off to celebrate the nation’s mythic beginnings, and in Kyoto, Shinto priests celebrate with an ancient game of football.

February 11th is an annual public holiday in Japan called “National Foundation Day” (建国記念の日, Kenkoku Kinen no Hi). From the rather grand formality of the name, you might assume that it commemorates an event of great historical importance in Japan’s past. And on the face of it, it does: the ascension to the throne in 660 BC of Jimmu, Japan’s first emperor.

However, although the earliest origins of this nation are rather murky, it is widely accepted that Jimmu is a figure of myth rather than history, so the event celebrated each year on February 11th probably never really happened.

As our old friend John Dougill writes of Jimmu, “Like King Arthur, he may have been a composite figure around whom legend accrued and to whom heroic tales were attached.”

Well, I quite like myths, legends and heroic tales and am a fan of King Arthur too, whether he be real or not. The problem with this particular holiday though is its more recent and unfortunate associations.

The holiday was first introduced in 1872, under the name of Kigensetsu (紀元節), (often referred to as “Empire Day” in English), and was one of Japan’s major holidays with festivals and flag-waving parades, all meant to unite people in patriotic fervour for their country and for the emperor.

This sort of thing fell out of favor after the war for obvious reasons, but in 1966, the government brought the holiday back, with a new name and the professed intention of fostering a love of country.

But perhaps because of its former militaristic and nationalistic associations, the modern version of this holiday hasn’t really caught on in the public imagination.

Although a few right wing nationalists may hold events here and there, and a few people who don’t like right wing nationalists may hold counter-events, for the most part the average Japanese just sees it as a day off from work. In fact a survey a few years back found that 8 out of 10 Japanese were unable to correctly date National Foundation Day when asked.

Rather fittingly though, as Jimmu is a figure from Japan’s mythic past, some Shinto shrines around the country will mark this day with some kind of special celebration.

At Kamigamo Jinja in Kyoto, this holiday will be marked with a 紀元祭 (Kigensai) celebration which is open to the public. This will include demonstrations of martial arts such as kendo, karate and iaido. More interestingly, this is also an opportunity to see Shinto priests all togged-out in their best Heian-era finery for a game of kemari, an ancient courtly style of non-competitive football, in which a small circle of players, using only their feet, all join together in a game of keepie-uppie with a deerskin ball.