The new year of 2014 has started. The university reopened this week,
and students started to prepare for the semester-end exams and final papers. In
the high schools, there is a tense atmosphere as students have entered the
season of university entrance exams. On January 18 and 19, the National Center
Test for University Admissions will be held across Japan. It is a standardized
national exam that must be taken by applicants who wish to enter governmental
universities, and Tohoku University will be one of the test venues.
In Japan, people who have something they wish strongly to achieve
usually go to shrines and pray for success. There are also people who visit
shrines to ask for perfect health and safety for family members. For such
people, there will be an annual event on the evening of January 14. It will be
at Oosaki Hachimangu Shrine. The name of the event is “Matsutaki Matsuri.” It
is a kind of bonfire festival. The shrine is not far from Kawauchi Campus, so
Tohoku University students can easily attend the event. There, you can
encounter an intense fire of tremendous scale made by burning New Year’s
decoration, talismans and so on. Legend has it that your mind and body will be
cleansed if you stand close to the fire.
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| Just before ignition |
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| After the ignition (photo from 2013) |