僕たちには思いもよらないアイデアです。
このところ家族ぐるみで仲よくしてくれているHさんの家には、長子の娘さんが子連れで帰省中。その娘さんの友人のSさんが、アメリカ人夫のEさんと子どもを連れて、遊びに来ています。
雨降りのこの日の朝、Hさんから電話がかかってきました。
「Eは山の方の生まれで海知らん言うけん、子どもらにもいい思い出になる思っち、船出しちゃろう思いよったけんど、こんな雨やけん、お宮（春日神社）あがっち太鼓叩けやっいうことになったんよ。お前らも行かんか？」
「そんなことしていいんですか？」
「かんまんが。いつも開いちょるがやけん、いつでもあがってドンドコドンドコやったら神様もよろこぶがよ」
さっそく準備してHさん宅前に集合。すると中からごそごそと、いろいろ抱えてHさんが出てきました。
「一杯やろうや。お宮あがるがやけん、お神酒も持っちかにゃいけん」
雨降りの中、小さい子どもを連れて、鞄にはお神酒と子ども用のみかんジュース、お湯割りを作る道具も抱えて、えっちらほっちらあがっていきます。より一層、鬱蒼としたお宮の提灯で明かりをとって、拝殿のど真ん中にござを広げます。子どもたちは太鼓をドンドコドンドコ、ぐるぐるくるくる縁を走り回ったりしながら、宴が始まりました。
「酒足らなんだら、お神酒飲んだらいいけん」
途中から、電話で呼び出された隣集落のIさんも加わり、好奇心旺盛なSさんとEさんと、地域や信仰、環境のことなど、あれこれ話しながら、むした苔の参道を眺めながら、みんなでお昼過ぎまで、朝から愉しく飲みました。
（ゆ）
Drinking at the shrine
We have never had such an idea: drinking at the shrine.
Our family friend H-san gave us a call on this particular day. It was a rainy day, and we had another family from Philadelphia (Mr. E is the father). He said,
"E has grown up in the mountains, so he doesn't know much about the sea. I thought of taking them to the sea in my little boat; it'd be a great fun for the kids. But see, it's raining a lot now. The other idea is to walk up to the shrine; the kids will enjoy playing the shrine drums. You wanna come along?"
I replied "...is it allowed to do such a thing?"
He answered "Why not. It's open anytime. You can go whenever you like and play the drums to entertain god".
So we got ready and met them in front of H-san's house. In a while, H-san came out holding a lot of things in his arms. He said
"Let's have a drink there. Going up to the shrine, the sacred sake is a must".
So in the rain we went, taking the little kids, carrying bags of sacred sake, orange juice for kids, and hot water to dilute the Shochu. A Japanese lantern at the shrine gave us light, and we spread out a big straw mat over the floor of the small worship hall. The kids started playing with the drums and running around here and there. It was like a small party!
"If our Sake and Shochu is not enough, we can drink the sacred sake, hahaha". H-san said.
In between, H-san called up I-san, who lives in a neighboring village. Together with curious E and S from Philadelphia, we talked a lot about our community, beliefs, environment and so on. There was a mossy approach before the shrine in front of us. We enjoyed our shrine drinking party until sometime in the afternoon.
Yuki
