Shimotsuura Shindig

My home village of Shimotsuura had a festival last Sunday.  Rather than simply asking me to come, my neighbors once again invited me to join in.  My presence last year warranted an entire article in the newspaper.  This year drew somewhat less attention, but still turned a few heads.

The festival, as far as I can tell, has something to do with bringing a shrine to a nearby temple.  It also has to do with higanbara, a type of flower that blooms along riverbanks during the week of the equinox.  In fact, I believe the event’s real name might be Higanbara Festa.

At least, that's what all these banners said.

There is a long precession accompanying the shrine, and I was one of about twenty men who carried these long poles with feathers on the end.

 We also wore what I assume to be some manner of traditional dress.

 All my things were labeled in English this year.

I give them an "A" for effort.

The poles are quite heavy and the wind was rather strong that day, making the march all the more difficult.  To add to this, we were supposed to be dancing down the path to the temple.  I say supposed to because I was certainly not the only one having trouble and we all probably walked a better portion of the trail than danced.

As with most social events in Japan, there was a lot of drinking.

We had our own sake cart!

Years of being the designated, responsible driver have made it to where I have very little tolerance for alcohol.  By the time we got to the temple, I was pretty giddy.

Look at that smile.

And just in time to meet Amanda and my friend Emily, who came out to this obscure event from Kuratake, a good 40 minute drive away.

Amanda, pictured here with her new moth friend.

Emily helped carry my pole afterward.  What a sweetie.

The temple gate is the site of the most important moment of the festival, at least as far as my role is concerned.  We approached the gate in pairs, dancing in rhythm with the taiko drums.  As we neared the gate, there were lines on the ground indicating stopping points.  Once we reached the last line, we took three big steps forward, lowered our poles, twisted them to the right then the left, and charged through the gates.  I still have no idea why we do this.

After reaching the temple, my part in the festival is pretty much over.  From then on, there are performances by the kids involving taiko drumming, flute playing, and short, silent plays involving things like tricking demons into tying themselves up and then killing them.  I have to say that the girls look stunning and the boys very cool in their traditional dress.  I made sure to get some really great pictures of both groups this year, as did Amanda.

Finally, there was a door prize giveaway and the catching of mochi, a delicious Japanese treat.  Amanda and I won matching bags.  Emily didn’t win anything, but was given a badminton set by one of the other guys.  I hope she can get some use out of it.  The amount of mochi you get is supposed to be reflective of the luck you will have and people are pretty serious about snatching up as much as they can.  Thanks to her new bag, Amanda was able to snag quite a few for us.

Thankfully, there was no after party.  I really don’t think I would have had the energy for one this year.  Instead, we headed home after dropping off the clothes.  Along the way we ran into one of my neighbor’s girls and helped her carry her things home.  She was adorable and she and Emily took great delight in tipping the bag Amanda was trying to balance on her head.  All in all, the event was about four hours long.  It was another really great day.