The Pillar Festival

The Suwa region in the mountainous heart of Japan is steeped in mythical lore. Taka Osaka is a stalwart of his village community there and a civil servant harried by an endless parade of obligations. One fine day he encounters Santed LaFlamme, a wanderer with a secret on an unknowing search to belong.

Taka’s village faces a development boondoggle that threatens its traditional forest land. Officially sanctioned yet mired in shady dealings, the project also endangers the future of the region’s ancient Onbashira Festival—an unhinged pillar riding tradition that celebrates the single spirit of the people and the land. Hemmed in by duty, the development proceeds in part at Taka’s own hand.

Populated by a motley band of villagers, bumbling bureaucrats, yakuza gangsters, and Shinto priests, the story unfolds along with the grand festival of the people in all its earthy pomp and pageantry. As environmental destruction from the development looms, cultures clash and mingle—Santed must learn to stand with others; Taka must learn to stand alone. Among shadow and shifting appearances, the demise of the village, the future of their beloved festival, and the shared heart of the land are all but certain. Unless they can make their stands, through the spirit of Onbashira.

The Pillar Festival deals with the limitations and necessity of both individualism and the collective spirit. It explores themes of community, tradition in transition, and the conflict between group expectation and personal responsibility. It’s also a story of homecoming, of humans as part of a living natural world.

The Pillar Festival has yet to be published. Feel free to contact me with questions or for more information.

* Japanese calligraphy above by Wakana Inoue. It reads “Onbashira.”