A little while ago, Palaceside Building held its annual "Fuigo Festival" on November 6.
"Fuigo" is written in kanji as 鞴 (also 吹子). It is the bellows essential to old metal refining and working. To melt metal you need high heat, and that means blowing air to fan the flames. They began as leather bags sewn from animal hides and evolved into airtight boxes with pistons moved back and forth to send out air. Large foot-operated ones are called "tatara."
The fuigo festival originally seems to have been an occasion when craftsmen who used bellows visited Inari Shrine to purify their tools and pray for safe work, but it spread beyond smiths and casters to any trade involving fire, and after modernization it came to be held as a year-round safety prayer at places with boilers and the like. Recently, however, fewer buildings seem to hold it. At Palaceside Building we cherish it as a traditional event — and, while we are at it, we also seem to be asking for prosperous business.
It is normally held on November 8, but this year, because the 8th fell on a Sunday, we moved it forward to the 6th.
On the day, an altar was set up in a corner of the boiler space in the room atop the east elevator tower. Large sea bream, vegetables, fruit, sacred sake, and other offerings were placed before it, and about 80 people in all — building staff, contracted service companies, partner firms, and others — attended and offered tamagushi＝photo.
It is said that eating the festival mandarins keeps you from catching colds or measles; in the old days mandarins were served with mochi to neighborhood children at shrine gates. Hmm — why mandarins? Probably because they were the only fruit in season. They are rich in vitamin C, so they are surely good for you.
Palaceside Building also handed out mandarins to attendees. I received one too. No colds for me now!!
May we all spend the coming year safely and in good health.