My first visit to Katsushika-Ku (葛飾区) was not to 亀有公園前派出所, home of my favorite manga, but to the 葛飾菖蒲まつり on the Arakawa side of the district. In June the locals celebrate the blooming irises in Horikiri Shobuen (堀切菖蒲園) as they have been for hundreds of years, but more on the flowers in tomorrow’s entry.

Today’s photo and video are from the taiko performance that we witnessed.

Related posts:

1. More photos and video from the iris festival Two creatures which are rather rare to spot in the U.S.A. but which can be found in nearly every body of water in Japan are koi (carp) and kame (turtle)....
2. Horikiri Shobuen (堀切菖蒲園) As mentioned last time, June is iris (hanashobu) blooming month at Horikiri Shobuen. We arrived early on a Sunday morning but not nearly early enough to avoid the crowd. The...
3. Taiko and sake (太鼓と酒) “The taiko is an instrument that demands more than technique. It is an obstinate instrument. It will resist and resist the drift of the music until the sheer energy of...
4. Shichi Fukujin (七福神) I spotted the Seven Lucky Gods being turned into something of a bike parking lot near the Horikiri Shobuen Station (堀切菖蒲園駅)....
5. TIS Cherry Blossom Fair A couple weeks ago Tokyo International School held their annual Cherry Blossom Fair. I’m not sure why they call it that as the cherry blossoms are gone by then. Maybe...

Posted on June 16th, 2010 under Japan • Tags: matsuri, people, taiko, video. • RSS 2.0 feed • You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed