Greeting the Year of the Dog
with 15,000 Lights

Travel Story by Daniel Krieger

Nagasaki, Japan

As countries around the world are kicking off the Chinese lunar new year with fireworks and parades, Nagasaki begins the Year of the Dog by flicking on 15,000 lights. From January 29th until February 12th, Nagasaki's Chinatown is illuminated nightly with thousands of dazzling paper lanterns for the Nagasaki Lantern Festival.

For my third and final time, I wend my way through the crowd, under the hanging columns of bright red lanterns toward the central stage. I am here for the dragon dance, the Chinese acrobats and musicians, Chinese sweets, and the gigantic animal lanterns which seem to have been released from some enchanted zoo: to my left a giraffe, behind me an elephant, before me a Koala, and a fleet of glowing dragons hovering above!

The main event each night is the dragon dance. A big crowd gathers, waiting expectantly as a wide path to the stage is cleared. Drums begin pounding, cymbals crash, and an eerie trumpet atonally signals the arrival of the 65 foot dragon, gracefully winding and twisting its snaky body through the crowd up to the stage. It is carried on 10 poles, its movements led by a conductor who directs with a golden ball atop his pole. The pole bearers hoist the dragon up and down to create the rippling, undulating dance of the dragon, which has something to do with praying for rain and trying to swallow the moon. After the dragon leaves, everyone screams for more, and the dragon returns for an encore. And then five more. This dragon really knows how to work the crowd. As I walk away after the final encore, it even starts to rain.

The year 2006 (actually 4703) is special because I was born in the year of the dog, so this marks the completion of my third cycle of the Chinese zodiac. It is my lucky year as I have the good fortune of being a toshi-otoko (a male completing his 12 year cycle). The years are also measured in 60 year cycles according to the complicated "stem-branch system," which makes the 60th birthday the most significant. The Chinese zodiac works much the same way as Western astrology, though personality traits are determined by the year of birth. So how were these 12 particular animals chosen?

According to one legend, the Jade Emperor of China decided one day to create a system with which to measure time. On his birthday, he gathered a bunch of animals around and told them that they would compete in a swimming race in which the first 12 to finish would be awarded one eponymous zodiac year. The dog, much to the surprise of the Jade Emperor, came in 11th, and received the penultimate year of the zodiac cycle. The Jade Emperor asked the dog, "what took you so long? You are one of the best swimmers here!" The dog explained that he was detained by a sudden urge to have a bath and relax in the refreshing river. Known for loyalty, trustworthiness, and honesty, the dog is also said to have a streak of cynicism and pessimism. And why is the cat absent from the zodiac roster? Because it was sabotaged by its friend the rat, who came in first by cheating. And this is why cats delight in the stalking and killing of rats, who soon after earned the reputation for being untrustworthy and sneaky.

The Lantern Festival is unique to Nagasaki, a small coastal city which opened its port to foreign trade in 1571. After the appointment of Ieyasu Tokugawa as shogun, the policy of sakoku (national isolation) was established in 1639, and thereafter all contact with foreigners was prohibited with the exception of the Dutch and Chinese with whom trading continued. This went on for more than 200 years until the ports were forced open in 1854 when Commodore Perry of the United States made them an offer they couldn't refuse. Later a Chinese community grew in Nagasaki and one of Japan's three Chinatowns was formed. What began as a small festival of local Chinese residents turned into a large-scale affair in 1994, when it became an official, i.e. commercialized, city event which now attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year from all over the country. Though not native to Japan, the Lantern Festival is embraced as if it were, despite increasing friction between Japan and China.

Japan has always been liberal in its adoption of things foreign which appeal to the Japanese sensibility, and festivals which include a bountiful array of lights are a done deal. At summer festivals, Japanese fireworks, called hanabi 'fire flowers' are sometimes designed to portray flowers, and there are even competitions which award the skillful rendering of them. During the winter, Christmas illuminations can be seen throughout the country. Even though the secular Japanese Christmas is just an excuse for couples to have another go at Valentine's Day and families to gorge themselves on Kentucky Fried Chicken, its illuminations outshine any that I have seen in the United States. When I tell Japanese people that I'm from New York, I'm frequently told that the Christmas lights at Rockefeller Center, something I never gave any thought to, are beautiful. That may be so, but in Japan I have found that dwelling on illuminations is even more illuminating.

The Nagasaki Lantern Festival web site:
http://www.nagasaki-lantern.com

Illustration by Bob Veon
(Bob Veon's Website)

Read more about the author of this story:
Daniel Krieger