Miyamoto Hayashiren
There’s nothing like showing up early to all the big local Japanese summer festivals and wandering around town to take in the teams of hayashi (囃子) performers on their little stages. By the time you’ve seen most of them they will have rotated performers many times around. One of the best I saw at the Hachiouji Matsuri last weekend was this little member of the Miyamoto Hayashiren performing near perfectly with a crowd of admiring kids and adult onlookers! Her dancing and mime performance was so realistic it was impossible to remember that she was actually wearing a mask. She’ll be famous one day! I had to wait for a long time to get clear photos of her performance because so many people were just standing awestruck in front of her. It was just perfect and the kids shaking her hand were just too cute. I think it is a good luck gesture to shake the hands of these performers. Maybe someone who knows more about the hayashi tradition can tell us more?
Shaking hands isn’t a traditional Japanese greeting, as you probably know. I’ve noticed however that more Japanese celebrities and politicians do it with their fans and supporters, so I’m guessing it’s simply a thrill for the audience to touch the hand of a performer on stage. Given that this particular performer is so young, it must be fun for the children. But I’ve enjoyed following the summer matsuri events through your blog. I always look forward to the next post!
Thank you for the kind comment! Oh, I enjoyed reading your “uni” story! I think the chefs got it all wrong, uni is not supposed to pop like that, it’s more like a paste than anything else. Did they give you something other than uni perhaps? You don’t eat the “live” part of the uni, so unless you got some very non-Japanese sushi… (^-^;)
My mother used to grumble about the sushi chefs here in California: she said none of them knew how to cut the fish correctly, and now I’m thinking she’s right. The uni I ate that day didn’t look very paste-like: they reminded me of two tongues set on balls of rice. And now I’m nauseated. I really don’t think I can ever eat the stuff again! I think I’ll stick to the tamer varieties of sushi and sashimi. Maguro is still good, albeit endangered. And I love salmon. But I can’t even look at oysters anymore, and I used to love those.
They look like orangey tongues set on a “gunkan”, a bit of rice skirted with seaweed paper but in consistency it is 100% like a paste or soft pate, nothing that pops and nothing to bite into. Uni is an acquired taste that you need to get off on the right foot with. It is my absolute favorite but there’s a very short window of opportunity, just a little bit bad and the taste goes from sublime to bitter. I don’t mind it being slightly off but many of my foreign friends who try it hate it. That is why I tell everyone NEVER to try it unless they are at a very reputable place. In Japan a fresh uni gunkan goes for about 3-4$ at most average places. Any less than that and I’d be very careful. Ask someone who knows uni to check it out first! (^-^)
Still these masks are a little freaky and cute and a same time. o_o
Oh and the little girl by the fence looks gorgeous in her dress!
Doesn’t she? (^-^) I love these masks though… I remember the music just by looking at the photos!
Love it! can I ask what lens your using? cheers.
Thanks! It’s a Nikon 135mm DC F2.0 I think. My favorite lens!