When eras collide
Today’s photo shows what can happen when a troop of 16th Century samurai heading out to battle get tangled up going downhill from their castle with 21st Century tourists heading uphill to check out the castle ruins.
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Posts tagged kofu
Shingen Festival (信玄公祭り)
This lovely lady and her samurai entourage were posing for a photo at the base of Takeda Jinja in Kofu, Japan during the Shingen Festival of 2010.
Samurai commemorative photograph
Takeda Shingen Festival - Ricoh samurai (employees) line up for the customary commemorative photo
Japanese take more canned, commemorative photos (記念写真) than anyone. Perhaps they take more than all other cultures combined. Who knows?
Everyone tends to look very solemn in these kinen shashin, and the pictures tend to include so many people that you can’t really see who is in the photo anyway. Rather boring, right?
I suppose one way to liven things up is to have the participants dress as samurai.
Shingen Ko Matsuri (信玄公祭り)
Takeda Shingen approaches Takeda Jinja in Kofu, Japan
When taking pictures in Japan, it is helpful to be 6′ 4″. The next best thing is to have a dad who will put you on his shoulders for the same effect. I went with the first option, but the kid in the Oshkosh jacket in this image went with the latter.
I took today’s photo in April of 2010 in Kofu at Takeda Jinja (武田神社).
Ikki Sawamura (沢村 一樹) as Takeda Shingen (武田 信玄)
Ikki Sawamura playing Takeda Shingen in Kofu in 2010
At last year’s 信玄公祭 the famous actor Ikki Sawamura played the role of Takeda Shingen. I say famous, but I had never heard of him before. Gathering from the crowd reaction, though, I think he is rather well known by the Japanese.
Flag Day
Today is flag day in the USA. In my town the streets are lined with flags. It’s an impressive sight. Next week I’ll be in Denmark, and they are quite fond of their flag as well.
Today’s photo doesn’t have Japan’s flag in it, but it does have several of the flags and banners that were carried during the Shingen Festival in Kofu last year. The main flag in this photo, as impressive as it looks to a foreigner who can’t read Japanese, is actually an advertisement for the Yamanashi Branch of NEC (日本電気株式会社). The flag holder, rather than being a real samurai, is merely an NEC employee.