Adventures of Anette: Fuku Musume

Showing posts with label Fuku Musume. Show all posts

Saturday, October 6, 2018

How to become a Fukumusume (Shrine Maiden) - Imamiya Ebisu, Osaka

Anette 10:03:00 PM

Back when I was a student in Kyoto I had the chance to participate in the popular festival "Toka Ebisu" (十日戎) in Osaka as a "lucky girl" - fukumusume (福娘). This was a great cultural experience for me, and one of the most fun memories I have of my time as a student in Japan. Each year the Imamiya Ebisu shrine elects a total of 50 girls through the Fukumusume contest, and the lucky chosen get to work at the shrine during the 3-day long Osaka festival held on an annual basis in January, and if you are lucky you could have the chance to become one of the lucky girls of next year!

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Osaka

商売繁盛で笹持ってこい！Behind the scene of the Toka Ebisu Festival 2016

Anette 5:01:00 PM

The Toka Ebisu festival (十日戎) is one of the largest festivals in Osaka, with a history stretching all the way back to the Edo period (17th-19th Century).
Every year more than a million people visit the 3-day long festival in order to pray for good fortune in the new year, especially in relation to business.
The festival is held in the honour of the Japanese god Ebisu, locally known as Ebbessan, and the whole shrine area are filled with items that has his face printed on it (A face that might be quite familiar for those of you who enjoy Ebisu beer).

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Osaka

Fukumusume (福娘): Working at the Tōka Ebisu Festival (十日戎) 2015

Anette 11:33:00 PM

The annual Tōka Ebisu festival held in the Imamiya-Ebisu shrine (今宮戎神社) in Osaka is one of the city's largest festivals, and every year the 3-day long event attracts around one million visitors. The festival is held from January 9-11 (the most important day is the 10th, hence tōka ebisu) and is mainly visited by merchants who come to Imamiya-Ebisu to pray for business prosperity in the new year.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Osaka

第１５回Fuku Musume 同窓会 reunion in Osaka!

Anette 12:17:00 PM

A couple of years ago I had the honour of being elected as a Fuku Musume (福娘) for the annual Toka-Ebisu festival at the Imamiya Ebisu Shrine in Osaka. Although new Fuku Musume are elected every year we still have the chance to come back to the shrine to participate in the Toka Ebisu festival. In addition the Fuku Musume Association also holds annual alumni meetings where previous Fuku Musume also have the chance to participate.

第１５回いまみや福娘会同窓会

For me this was actually the first time to attend this event even though it has been a couple of years since I first participated in the Toka Ebisu festival. During the festival we are usually very busy so it is not that easy to get to know other fellow Fuku Musume that easily, so this was a nice opportunity to get to know some of the other girls a little bit more.

Premium Yebisu

As some of you might know, Ebisu is the Japanese god for fortune in business, happiness and beer. So it was not a surprise that we got served Premium Yebisu along with our food.. We spent some nice hours in good company with delicious food and fun games, and I'm very happy that I had the chance to take part in the event.

Buffet

Although the Toka Ebisu Festival is mainly a big event in Kansai there are more and more previous Fuku Musume that for various reasons live in other parts of Japan. As a result the Imamiya Fuku Musume Association recently started up a new group in Tokyo that also are holding annual alumni meetings. I'm looking forward to this years' event that is going to be held in Tokyo in July!

Recommended Hotels in Osaka

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Osaka Marriott Miyako Hotel

Superhotel Lohas Honmachi

Khaosan World Namba

The St. Regis Osaka Hotel

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Friday, March 1, 2013

日本語あり

NHK50ボイス: 日本の冬ボイス・今宮戎神社の十日戎祭り

Anette 10:56:00 PM

今年も一月に大阪の今宮戎神社の十日戎祭りで福娘としてお世話になりました。その時はNHKの「５０ボイス」という番組のために面接を受けましたが、結局あまり映りませんでしたｗ。それでもまた日本での素晴しい経験ができて本当に嬉しいです。他の福娘さんすごくかわいいですね〜＾＾！

母国のノルウェーではこうした伝統的な祭りはなかなかないですので、再び十日戎にお世話になるのは非常に幸運なことだと思っております。将来ノルウェーにもどるとしても一生忘れられないことでしょう。やはり国境を越えて様々な文化を体験するのはいいなぁ。私は旅行が非常に好きですので、家族や彼氏や友達と一緒に世界中の国々を回って旅をしておりましたが、現在まで訪問した国々のなかでは日本が一番気に入っています。今学期も立命館大学の共同修士学位プログラムのために韓国で留学しますが、就職が決めたら八月から東京で働くことになりそうですので、来年も機会があれば是非大阪の素敵な十日戎祭りでお世話になりたいとおもっております〜

(^o^)／

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Fuku Musume

Working as a Fukumusume (福娘): The Tōka Ebisu Festival (十日戎) 2013

Anette 8:17:00 PM

Last year I got elected as one of fifty girls who got the honor of participating as a Fukumusume, a sort of shrine maiden, in the Tōka Ebisu festival taking place annually in January in the Imamiya Ebisu shrine in Osaka (you can find my Fukumusume blog posts here).

Although they elect new Fukumusume girls every year, they also let previous Fukumusume who volunteer for it come back to the shrine to participate in the festival, and working as a Fukumusume last year was such a fun experience that I couldn't avoid stopping by Kansai for a couple of days to take part in the big festival again.

This time I stayed with Yuma's family in Kobe, which is quite close to Osaka by train. As I mentioned in my previous post Yuma had already gone back to Tokyo to start working again, so this was actually my first time to stay with his family without him being there.
On the morning of the Tōka Ebisu festival I went with Yuma's mother to a 美容院 close by to his house, where they had agreed to help putting on my kimono and fixing my hair. Any of you with experience in putting on kimonos would know how difficult this is, and there is absolutely no way that I could have done this myself.

I have no chance at putting on a kimono myself.. Good thing there are professionals.

Arriving at the Imamiya Ebisu shrine a couple of hours later I was ready for another fun and unique experience. This time we were about 17 of the original 50 fukumusume who participated in the festival, and among the 17 we were two foreigners; my friend and fellow SKP-student India had also joined us, she actually travelled all the way from Canada to participate in the festival again!

Getting ready for the festival. This time we had to go without the eboshi hat though.

Ritsumeikan Fukumusume! Oh yeah! x)

外国人の福娘 in action^^

Participating in the festival felt a bit different from last year; First of all there had been an election of 50 new Fukumusume girls, and second-year Fukumusume usually don't get the chance to wear the traditional golden hat (the eboshi) worn by the other Fukumusume girls. Also, while the new Fukumusume girls have work from 9 am to 9 pm three days in a row we only worked from 11 am to 4 pm so it was quite relaxing compared to last year. This also gave us the chance to take more time after work to actually look around and enjoy the festival a bit more.

Money for good luck!

For some reason I also ended up being interviewed by an NHK-program called "50 voice" (50ボイス), where they are doing interviews with young people all over Japan. However, as only 50 of the 100 interviewed people actually are included in the TV-sendt part I'm not sure if I'll be in it or not. After all they did interview the other Fukumusume girl too, so it is kind of likely that they will choose to cut one of us out. Which most likely would be me I think. Anyway, the magical date is the 28th of February! Although I'm not sure whether to look forward to this or not, I feel a bit embarrassed about it.. Among other things they asked me about Japanese men, and all I could think of then and there was the stereotype of the so-called sōshoku danshi (草食男子, or "plant-eating" men, which refers to men who are afraid to approach women etc etc). 恥ずかしい. Yet another reason why they probably would cut me out, haha.

Getting interviewed for NHK's TV show ５０ボイス

Ahhh, the new fukumusume looks so dazzling with her shiny hat! I'm totally jealous! Haha^^

I also got the chance to have a chat with one of the new gaijin Fukumusume girls. Italian beauty and さすがに from Ritsumeikan ;D

Well well. I got some good pictures (sorry for the overload of pictures of me in this post btw><) and a lot of great memories this year too. Not to mention that I had a lot of fun, and I'm already look forward to next years' festival!

Now I'm in Tokyo, where I'm staying until the 1st of February. Then it's back to Korea, where I'll be taking a 3-week intensive course in Korean at Yonsei University! ^^

Lastly, a big thanks to Yuma's family who once again took so good care of me:)

Place	Imamiya Ebisu Shrine (今宮戎神社)
Map
Festival	Toka Ebisu Festival (十日戎祭り) held annually on January 9th-11th
Access	A couple of minutes walk from the Imamiyaebisu station (今宮戎) or around 5 minutes from Daikokucho (大国町) station

Recommended Hotels in Osaka

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Osaka Marriott Miyako Hotel

Superhotel Lohas Honmachi

Khaosan World Namba

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Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Shrine

Fuku Musume (福娘): The Children's Ebisu Festival 子供戎祭

Anette 5:18:00 PM

Adorable kids' drawings at the shrine

As a Fukumusume I got the chance to participate in the Children's Ebisu Festival in the Imamiya-Ebiu shrine this weekend. The "Kodomo Ebisu" is Imamiya Ebisu shrine's summer festival, and it is held annually around the last weekend of July. A lot of children come to visit with their parents to play and have fun, so the shrine is filled with a pleasant atmosphere. It is quite interesting how different the shrine looked compared to the Tōka Ebisu festival in January, one could almost mistakenly think that they were two different places..
My role on the first day was helping out by the fishing dam. The kids all got a rod which they used to fish paper fishes (and animals) with, and the kids could get candy if they were lucky and got a fish with the note 当たり on it.

Kids trying to catch the paper fishes!

The fishing dam

A somewhat blurry picture of our group of Fuku Musume-girls in action at the festival.

In addition to the fishing dam there were also a whole load of other activities for the kids as well. On the stage they were having dancing and balloon shows, and the kids looked like they were having a lot of fun. On the second day of the festival me and three of the other Fuku Musume-girls got the honor of opening the snow slide, and the rest of the day we helped out with one of the ballgames.

The snow slide at the Kodomo Ebisu Matsuri seen from the top!

Since I was working at the festival it wasn't easy to take a lot of photos though. I had to use my iPhone 3G, which just doesn't take that good pictures.. Here are some photos taken with my normal camera after all the kids had gone home:

Drawings made by kids used to decorate the shrine

The main temple in the shrine.

The fishing dam after all the children have gone home..

The Kodomo Ebisu festival was quite fun to participate in, and it was nice to be back in the shrine too as I've got some good memories from my work there during the Toka Ebisu festival in January. The Imamiya Ebisu shrine sure has some cool festivals^^! Lastly, here is a short video from the festival:

Place	Imamiya Ebisu Shrine (今宮戎神社)
Map
Festival	The Children's Ebisu Festival (子供戎祭り) held annually during the last weekend of July
Access	A couple of minutes walk from the Imamiyaebisu station (今宮戎) or around 5 minutes from Daikokucho (大国町) station

Recommended Hotels in Osaka

More Osaka Hotels

Osaka Marriott Miyako Hotel

Superhotel Lohas Honmachi

Khaosan World Namba

The St. Regis Osaka Hotel

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Monday, June 25, 2012

Norwegian

My Article in the ANSA Magazine Utlendighet 2012

Anette 3:15:00 PM

I got an article about my participation in the Toka-Ebisu festival published in Assosiation of Norwegian Students Abroad - ANSA -'s magazine Utlendighet (nr. 02/2012), feel free to check it out^^. (Unfortunately it is only available in Norwegian)

Thursday, February 2, 2012

TV interview

The Fuku Musume TV-Show 2012 福娘2012年

Anette 9:05:00 PM

I finally got access to a video showing the Fuku Musume election, which took place in Osaka Desember 2011.! Yay!

A bit embarrassing to watch it though, I was so nervous I messed up the last part of my self-appeal.. You might even be able to see me shaking during the appeal. Oh well x)

I have already written about the Fuku Musume election and the Toka-Ebisu festival in quite a lot of blogpost already, so please feel free to check them out from the links below.

Related blogposts

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Saturday, January 14, 2012

Osaka

Fuku Musume (福娘): Behind the Scene of Osaka's Touka Ebisu Festival (十日戎)

Anette 11:46:00 PM

The Imamiya Ebisu Jinja shrine (今宮戎神社) in Osaka, where the Tōka-Ebisu Festival (十日戎) takes place

ようお参りです！

In the end of last year I was elected as one of 50 girls (out of almost 3000 applicants) to serve as a shrine maiden in the Imamiya Ebisu Jinja - shrine in Osaka during the famous Tōka Ebisu Festival which is being held from the 9th until the 11th of January. But it didn't end there. In fact, out of the 50 elected girls there was another round of competition where I was among the 4 girls who got the honor of representing the Fuku Musume girls as a so-called Fukumusume Daihyo (福娘代表, meaning Fukumusume Representative).

Me in front of a Tōka-Ebisu poster

Just being elected as a Fuku Musume in itelf is however a great honor, so you can imagine I was happy..! The Tōka-Ebisu festival is one of the most famous festivals in Osaka, and it attracts as many as a million visitors each year. Not too surprising, considering that the festival has been celebrated more or less annually since the Edo-period (Between the 17th and 19th Century).
In this blogpost I'm going to write about my experiences during the Tōka-Ebisu Festival.

Some of the items being sold at the festival

Imamiya Ebisu decorated with lanterns and pictures

But first, a little bit of background information. This festival is celebrated to honor the god of good fortune, known as Ebisu or Ebessan among people from Osaka. In order to get luck for their businesses and loads of money in the following year, a lot of people find their way to the shrine during these three days. Our job as Fuku Musume was to sell them lucky charms, which we then attached to branches of bamboo which the visitors had gotten for free in the shrine area before approaching us. Of course you are expected to speak to the customers in polite Japanese, preferably Keigo. There are however some set phrases which are not being used in a normal store; for instance you can greet the visitors with "yō omairi desu" instead of the commonly used "irasshaimase", and when they leave you simply make this phrase into past tense (yō omairi deshita).

Visitors coming to buy lucky charms

The days were pretty long: we had to meet at 8:30 in the morning and then we worked almost non-stop until 9 in the evening. That is to say, we did get one lunch- and one dinner break a day though, both 20 minutes long. Which is quite short and stressful, since it included both the time to eat and necessary toilet breaks. The Eboshi-hat and the cape are considered holy, so you have to remove them before you can use the bathroom or go to lunch, and it usually takes some time getting everything both on and off. Further, there are only 3 toilets, and often a line of girls who wants to use them. And trust me; waiting in line does not give you extra minutes for your lunch breaks. In other words, I'm pretty sure it is virtually impossible to keep the time limit unless you refrain from eating most of your bento. Fortunately they are not that strict with the exchange students group, but for the Japanese girls they are taking the time and keeping a record of the girls, covering all their meals on a big board. Either you enter as an exchange student or in the same group as the Japanese girls you better be prepared to eat fast..!

Cameras ready!

The first two days went by pretty fast; but as a Representative Fuku Musume (福娘代表) I got a couple of extra breaks to participate in TV interviews. Lucky! I mean, although it is fun with the work in general, the day can be a bit long since you basically do the same all day. And of course being interviewed is fun too^^.. The only difference I noticed in the work between Daihyou Fuku Musume and the other Fuku Musume girls is basically that the four Daihyou girls are the ones who talks with the press.

From one of the Fuku Musume TV interviews

On the second day they are also having a palanquin parade called Hoekago (宝恵駕籠行列), which are one of the highlights of the festival. However, unfortunately only the Japanese Fuku Musume girls got to participate in the big parade; us exchange students had a normal working day at the shrine.

Attaching lucky charms to a bamboo branch

I did meet a lot of friendly and interesting people during the 3 days of the festival. Some of my friends who came to visit me in the shrine could however not find me because of all the people (most likely I must have been on a lunch break or something, we are naturally not allowed to carry mobile phones during the working day so it's not exactly easy to contact people).. But besides our friends who came to support us, there were a lot of people who wanted to take pictures of us or shake our hands. Some people had seen me on TV and actually came only because they wanted to see me. One guy asked me where I come from, and when I answered that I am Norwegian he told me that it was perfect, because he was running an Italian restaurant.. Haha.. Well, at least I'm from the right continent! ;p In short, there is a lot going on during the three days of the festival! The last day I must admit was a bit long though, most of all because it was freaking cold! And because we did not do any interviews either.. The other days there were also a lot more people, so we did not really have time to get bored.
Anyway, here are some of my photos taken backstage:

Obi (帯)

Seen from the side. The hat is called an Eboshi (烏帽子)

The Fuku Musume girls waiting for their turn to start working

As foreigners we are quite lucky, because they have assistants helping us put on our kimonos..!!

The process of putting on the kimono sure takes time! Luckily there are some places where they offer courses in how to put kimonos on, and I definately think I should join one of those courses..

Some of the assistants going through the days schedule etc.

Group picture time!

Most of the Ristumeikan-組

The day might be long, but when you have people who are there for you it makes the time go by faster.

For those of you who might be interested in applying next year, all I can say is that you have to be prepared to work hard. It might be quite stressful at times, and the days are certainly quite long, but I promise you will have a lot of fun too! Zehi gambatte kudasai:)

商売繁盛で笹持ってこい！