Cycling to Tsukuba san's changing of the gods ritual

Unfortunately this trip will not push through as both organisers are down with flu!

We will cycle to the foot of Tsukuba-san following rin-rin road. Rin-rin road is a bicycle path that was made on the old train track from Tsuchiura to Iwase. All along the road different types of sakura (cherry blossom) can be seen, if we are lucky....

On the foot of the mountain we will watch Tsukuba-san shrine's Ozagawari-sai (ritual), the changing of the gods. The Ozagawari ceremony takes place twice a year on April 1 and November 1. The parent gods and the child gods change location because it is too cold for the child gods to stay in the shrine on the top of Mt. Tsukuba during winter. So, on November 1 the parents gods go up to the top and the child gods come down. On April 1, before the hot summer arrives, the child gods go up the mountain and the parents come down. We will see Omikoshi (portable shrine) parade along the the Tsukuba Michi.

*You will find more interesting story about Ozagawari on TsukuBlog http://blog.alientimes.org/2016/03/on-april-and-november-1st-its-the-ozagawari-%E5%BE%A1%E5%BA%A7%E6%9B%BF%E3%82%8A-mt-tsukubas-most-important-traditional-rite/, written by Avi-san.

Meeting time: 9 am
Meeting place: Tsukuba center koban (police box) next to Tsukuba station
Club fee: 300 yen
What to bring: lunch and drinks