When the spirit bursts into flames: surfing in Japan

When the spirit bursts into flames: surfing in Japan

by Sam Bleakley

For travelling surfers the Japanese are gracious hosts. They have a great belief in the transience of the world, in impermanence and renewal. Surfing sits beautifully in a place that values the importance of both nature and innovation, of the given forces of life and of cultural change in dialogue. As a result, there are two million surfers in Japan blending tradition and experimentation.

Waves strike Japan from all directions, most spectacular on the eastern Pacific facing coasts during the typhoon season between August and November. Weekend crowds arrive from big urban areas such as Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. But it’s totally empty midweek, many of the breaks set amidst bamboo groves, watermelon farms and fishing communities. The main concentration of surfing activity is around the Chiba, Shonan and Shizuoka areas.

A one hour drive on the freeways from Tokyo, Chiba is a consistant, powerful beach break and the home to a number of contest events. Located a little further south of Chiba, Shonan mixes the city with the surf and attracts quite a crowd due to it's accessibility. Consisting mostly of beachbreaks, Shonan can get juicy but is usually smaller in size than it's neighbour Chiba. Get started around the Enoshima area and work your way up to Kamakura.

“My hometown, Shonan, is the birthplace of Japanese surfing,” says professional surfer Takayuki Wakita. “Like many Japanese seaside towns, it started out as a fishing town. But now it’s one of the capitals of surfing for the entire country because the waves are good and it’s only an hour away from Tokyo.” The change started in 1955, when the Japanese author Shintaro Ishihara published Season of the Sun, about a group of Japanese teenagers living in rich hedonism on the sands of Shonan. While it didn’t describe any surfers, Wakita’s forefathers started riding waves soon after. Sylphide Surfing and is one of the best and most established surf schools in Shonan.

Isonoura is the closest surf spot to Osaka. When the summer typhoon season arrives the beach break comes alive. Take the train to Isonoura on the Nankai Kada line, or head south from Osaka on Route 26. It can be very crowded. During July and August, the beach is divided into a surfing area (to the right of the main gate, beyond the lifeguard tower) and a bodyboarding/swimming area (to the left of the tower) from 8 am to 5 pm. Wakayama on a good day can provide some of the best reelers in Japan. Wakayama has always catered for the Osaka surfers keen on finding a secluded session. Reef breaks dominate this peninsular. A two hour drive from Osaka will get you to the main surf area of Gobo, while heading further south gives you less of the crowds and more of the swell.

Okinawa is a tropical island chain in the south where powerful swells can snap over sharp coral reefs, at best rivaling the surf of Indonesia. The tropical climate allows warm water conditions all year with surreal views of the F-16’s flying overhead from the adjacent US military base. The main island of Naha is a good place to start.

Travelling to surf in Japan opens two horizons of possibility – one looks out to sea, hawk-eyed for the next set, sensitive to the local conditions, rapidly soaking up the local tide and rip conditions, watching where the locals sit in the line up, checking out the sea life. But this posture literally turns your back on the land you have visited. Inquisitive surfers take time to also go inland, meet the people and the landscape, soak in the culture.

I decided to turn my back on the beach and ride by car and ferry from Tahara to Ise, in Western Honshu. The coast here is deeply convoluted, lined in maple, birch, cypress and cedar trees, and famous for both oyster pearl production and its Grand Shinto Shrine. Shinto – ‘the way of the gods’ – is Japan’s oldest religion, a nature-based practice, and Ise has the most sacred shrine in the country. It is believed to be the home of the spirits of all the past emperors, and dedicated to ‘Amaterasu’ - the sun goddess.

The mischievous weather spirits must have been hanging out their laundry to dry, as the air was heavy with moisture - yeasty and torpid, forcing me to be slow, perhaps to notice. I arrived at the ‘toril’ - a gateway that marks the entrance to the shrine and the main icon of Shinto. The site is filled with towering cedar trees broken by rivers and streams - wood and water everywhere, so that the spirits of the place feel at home. Even the temple buildings are made of burnished cypress. The surfaces are smooth and lustrous, the grain and colour left natural, with intricate details added. The craftsmanship is flawless. There is a tradition of bringing beauty into everything in Japan, from building to making tea to social manners. Past and present blend seamlessly, so that even the factory workers making televisions talk of the spirits in the tube. Following a tradition since AD 690, the whole temple complex is completely rebuilt every twenty years in accordance with Shinto principles of purity and renewal.

Today few Japanese are pure Shintoists, but most observe various Shinto and Buddhist practices. Many Shinto habits pervade everyday Japanese life, from an emphasis on purification to an obsession with austere aesthetics and the celebration of the cherry blossom. At the ‘jinga’ shrines the visitors make prayers to different deities - known as ‘kami’ - that preside over all things in nature, both animate and inanimate. On the way out you can buy ‘omamori’ good luck charms, hoping for health, safety and success.

Shinto is deeply connected to sumo wresting, and the Japanese martial arts are often closely associated with Zen Buddhism. Both pride themselves on total concentration of mind and body, something surfers can readily appreciate where balance, control, speed and accuracy are paramount. In sumo, surfing and martial arts, living in the present in a sense eradicates time, for there is no mindless wandering to recollection, and no fruitless future guesswork. This state of mind is when you surf at your best, mindful, not mindless. This is when that current runs through you, the spirit bursts into flame, but quietly, and you are fully absorbed. Sometimes you learn a lot when you escape from the waves for a day and turn your attention to that other horizon, inland.

WHEN TO GO: August to November typhoon swells light up Japan’s coastline. For more gentle surf, go between March and June.

WATER TEMPERATURE: 24°C in summer is good for boardshorts and bikins. 8°C in winter needs thick wetsuits, gloves, boots and hood.

ALTERNATIVE EXCITEMENT: Oden is a Japanese specialty stew that contains various types of fish, and there is no better elixir to warm you after a dip in the Pacific. Between the second and third Sundays of April, you can experience the unforgettable Kamakura festival showcasing traditional dances, samurai skills such as archery and sword fighting, and pink blossoms of the cherry trees.