Chiriku Hachimangū

Chiriku Hachimangu.

In the rural rice fields of Saga Prefecture, sits a shrine famous for an unusual annual ritual that, even today, weather forecasters secretly watch.

Each year on March 15th, priests at this shrine prepare a special bowl of rice porridge — congee — and seal it. They place it inside the shrine, untouched, for nineteen days. On April 3rd, the bowl is opened. The patterns of mold that have grown on the surface of the porridge are read carefully.

The reading is precise. Different regions of the bowl correspond to different parts of the country. Different colors of mold mean different things. The pattern of growth is interpreted as a forecast for the year's weather, harvest, and natural disasters.

This is called the Okayu Tameshi — the Porridge Test. It has been performed every year, without fail, for over twelve hundred years.

Modern weather forecasting, of course, has long since replaced this method. Computers and satellites can predict storms more precisely. Modern agriculture is no longer at the mercy of bad guesses about the rainy season.

And yet — the porridge test continues. Locals still come on April 3rd to hear the reading. Newspapers still report on it. The Saga Prefecture government takes it seriously enough to send representatives.

Why? Partly out of respect for tradition. Partly out of curiosity. Partly because, for over a thousand years, this method has surprised observers with its accuracy.

Stand in the courtyard. The rice fields surround you. The wind carries faint smells of growing things.

Some places remember an older way of asking the future a question.