Last night (and tonight if you are in Tokyo) was the annual Awa Odori Matsuri at nearby Kagurazaka. The day was very hot so I remained indoors (with AC) until I walked the 30 minutes or so to Kagurazaka in order to arrive by the start at 7 p.m.

Summer nights have that magically feel in the air already. Add thousands of Japanese musicians and dancers to the smiling members of the audience and the evening becomes that much more special.

I have never witnessed the Awa Odori before, and I hope it won’t be my last such experience.

Here is a video I took:

Posted on July 23rd, 2010 under Japan. Tags: awa odori, festivals, people, Tokyo, video. Comments: 5

It’s time to finally wrap up this series on the Takeda Shingen Festival I went to in Kofu last month. I’ll probably share some more photos from my day in Kofu later, but not in the near future.

I waited around with many other people for about an hour for the promised fireworks. They were to be fired off from the top of the castle site. Very cool I thought. However, the firework show lasted less than 1 minute. I kid you not. I’ve witnessed longer fireworks after home runs at baseball games.

The wait could have been worse were it not for all of the typical Japanese festival food available. What would you like? Yakisoba? Ramen? Takoyaki? Kakigori? Okonomiyaki? Udon? Yakitori?

Posted on May 6th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: festivals, fireworks, food, kofu, matsuri, night photography. Comments Off on Wrapping up the Takeda Shingen Festival

The setting for my first picture in this series was the grounds of Maizuru Castle Park. Shingen’s troops gathered here before heading off in their regiments for the “parade.” The atmosphere was very good. The weather was fine, Mt. Fuji loomed in the background, and the samurai were getting drunk before heading off to battle (the pavement of Kofu’s streets).

The Japanese guy above was enjoying the mood as well. I was merely taking an incognito picture of his group when he spotted me and performed this “charge.” It was actually more of a pose than a charge, but I appreciated his willingness to provide a nice action shot for my camera without actually impaling me.

Let’s not forget this was a festival and not a battle reenactment. Therefore, there was plenty of yakisoba, takoyaki, and the like to be had, as well as monkeys doing tricks and other matsuri standards.

The guy in the middle of this group, with the tall helmet, is the president of his company and represented one of Takeda Shingen’s generals on horseback later in the evening. I chatted with him for a while earlier and had my picture taken with him. Photos of people like me in regular clothes with those of Japanese in samurai gear don’t look right though.

As each of the 24 regiments left the castle grounds they gave a battle shout like the one you can see in the above video I took. Some groups were more serious than others. Applause at the end seemed a little… wrong.

Posted on April 25th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: castle, festivals, kofu, people, video. Comments Off on More from the former Kofu Castle site (甲府城跡)

Cherry blossoms, people, and food vendors for as far as the eye can see. What’s missing?

Blue tarps to sit on for the flower viewing party along the Tama River (near the Hamura Station to be exact).

Posted on April 4th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: cherry blossoms, festivals, sakura. Comments: 1

Ever since the aforementioned Bon Odori, signs have been going up, and we have observed preparations, for our local shrine’s omikoshi matsuri. Saturday, the 5th, featured the children’s version (kodomomikoshi). While we watched the procession, the man directing the kids struck up a conversation with me and invited us to participate in the following day’s event. He told us to borrow some Happi Coats from the local sake dealer which we did.

At 9 o’clock on the morning of the 6th we arrived at 天祖神社 (our local shrine) decked out in our new Happi Coats and all ready to lift the mikoshi, bounce it up and down, and wave it back and forth through town. I wasn’t so sure we would get the chance given that there were hundreds of people looking to do the same and only space for a couple dozen lifters at a time.

The local elders (to the right of the above photo) gave speeches before we began, telling us to be safe, enjoy the great weather, and continue the tradition that had been happening for hundreds of years. They only take this mikoshi around town once every three years so we were lucky to be here at the right time.

The procession included not only the mikoshi but also boys dressed like Shinto priests, someone in a Tengu mask, a lady dressed in a traditional Shinto outfit with the above wagasa over her, and others.

I got my chance to carry the mikoshi at one point (that’s me on the far left) and quickly discovered that it doesn’t work so well when one person is more than half a foot taller than everyone else. Not only do the tall get stuck with far more weight, but they also tip the shrine a bit. This was a great experience, though, and I’ll post some more pictures soon…

Posted on September 17th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: festivals, japan pictures, matsuri, shinto. Comments Off on 天祖神社の御神輿　2009年9月6日　Part 1