All across Japan there are Spring festivals called Matsuri. Each town has their festival in their own way. They usually involve carrying floats, called 'mikoshi' through the streets. Some towns, like Takayama, have gorgeous floats that are hundreds of years old.
Other town make new floats for each matsuri. Here in Hachiman, each neighborhood works on a float. Ours have modern themes, and a few of them were little statues of cartoon characters from Japanese animation. They even had lights that shone through the night.
What made this matsuri different from a few others I've been to, is that there were also dances with live music performed by little kids in elaborate costumes. The kids practiced a few hours a night for weeks. We didn't let Kazu practice because he was too tired and just getting used to first grade. Next year, for sure, he's going to play a drum.
The kids were great. They really danced. They faced down a dancing dragon, and they played drums. A line of men played flutes for music. There were also two characters that performed, a randy old farmer with a hunched back and a woman who dodged his gropes and waved her fan.
They wore masks, and looked great.
All day on Saturday and Sunday, when they weren't dancing, the children followed the mikoshi all around town and chanted, along with grown ups. There was a little wagon for the tiny kids. We met at a friend's house and ate great food in the evening and watched the performances, while a Tengu visited the houses with the priests from the local shrines. Good times!
I'll post video of the dancing later.
The Tengu.
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