November 8 is the Day of Fuigo (Bellows) here in Japan. On this day, blacksmiths, metalworkers, and artisans paste shrine talismans in their workplaces, purify the bellows, hang shimenawa (sacred ropes), and offer sacred sake and rice cakes. This is the day to appreciate the labor of the bellows, which are essential for controlling the fire in forging, to let them rest once a year, and to pray for fire safety and prosperity in work.
There is the Fuigo Shrine, an auxiliary shrine of Ikukunitama (Ikutama) Shrine located in Tennoji Ward, Osaka City. In the past, there was a Fuigo Town with many craftsmen engaged in building bellows in the area, and it flourished. Three deities are enshrined in the Fuigo Shrine, Amenoma-hitotsuno-kami (the progenitor of swordsmiths), Ishikoridomeno-kami (the ancestral deity of mirror-makers), and Kagutsuchino-kami (the deity of fire).
On the Day of Fuigo, I visited the Fuigo Shrine to watch the annual "Fuigo Festival". In attendance were a dozen guests involved in the blacksmithing, iron and steel, and hardware industries, along with another dozen members of the general public. Only the corporate sponsors were invited and allowed to sit inside the Fuigo Shrine to watch the ceremony closely, while the general audience viewed it from outside the stone torii gate.
The priest hands over the Tamahagane to the swordsmith
The bellows were operated, and the Tamahagane was heated and hammered by Jun Mizuno, a swordsmith from Mizuno Tanrenjo, based in Sakai, Osaka, along with two smiths alternately wielding large hammers. YouTube video link to the forging demonstration
After the festival, shrine maidens provided a cup of sake, a rice cake, and a mikan (mandarin orange) to each member of the audience. The mikan is an indispensable and important item in this festival. It is believed that eating mikans from the Fuigo Festival prevents colds, so in the old days they were grandly scattered at the gates and shared with the neighborhood children.
Bellows and the offering of mikan oranges inside the Fuego Shrine before the ceremony
