Ogano Harumatsuri – Kasaboko

A couple of weeks ago I visited the fantastic Ogano Harumatsuri, the Spring Festival of the little mountain town Ogano in deepest Saitama Prefecture north of Tokyo. The town celebrates the spring festival by launching four dashi, well technically there are two dashi and two kasaboko (傘鉾), where the dashi represents the female and the kasaboko represents the male. I took these photos of the Shinhara (新原) kasaboko as it made its way from the main shrine of Ogano town to the place of the old original shrine on the opposite end of town. The weather was a little bit to grey to really bring out the color and the splendor of these kasaboko wagons, but the townspeople did their best and it was wonderful multigenerational affair, the little girls in front and the young boys on flutes in the back, the men in front of the wagon and the older men directing it from the sides. I will post more photos of the festival at night later on in the week so stay tuned!