Natsu-Matsuri

The day after we arrived home I stopped by our local French bakery. I always chat a bit with the woman behind the counter. (although with her limited English and my limited Japanese it's usually a short conversation) She told me about a festival that was happening that weekend. Based on our conversation I knew it was taking place between 2-3 on Sunday and it was located at our grocery store, Seiyu.

So, I showed up to the grocery store just before 2 and observed the celebration. According to our Japanese instructor, the Japanese have a lot of Natsu-matsuri (Summer Festivals) in August. Each community has their own festival. During the day, they carry the Mikoshi (a portable shrine) in the neighborhood and in the evening they have Bon-odori (Bon dancing) in the park. Mikoshi parades are held to pray for the good health of the people who live in the neighborhood.

This picture below shows people carrying a Mikoshi. They were dancing and chanting in place.



Here are a couple close ups of one of the Mikoshi:




This festival also had floats with drummers and flutes. Here are some boys drumming (I somehow managed to take the picture right as they were in the middle of the strokes, I guess, as it looks like they're not doing anything):


After the festival was over the floats were carried back to the neighborhoods. This man below helped to direct traffic:

A pose like this is definitely meant to stop traffic!

...and it only gets better...


I ran into Ryan's boss at the festival and he said he's seen this man at numerous celebrations. I think he relishes his role of jester for the day.

Here are a couple short videos of the day. Let me know if they don't work.