Mishima City Summer Matsuri

A few weeks ago I visited the city of Mishima in eastern Shizuoka Prefecture to the west of Tokyo just to enjoy their big summer festival. It was a three day event full of performances and culture but this time I could only take part in the first two days of events. This festival too has as one of its main features the giant dash, huge festival platforms pulled about by towns people. In Mishima City most of the townspeople seems to take turns being on top of the floats, with lots of flutes and drums to try and outperform each other! It is great fun to watch and enthusiasm and energy is really heart warming. The dashi are also unusually decorated with masses of lanterns hanging up front, making it a bright and colorful festival.

If you are in the area or feel like getting out of Tokyo for a couple of days I can really recommend Mishima, with maybe a day tour to Numazu City nearby or even as far as Kakegawa City or Atami City. They are good even when there are no festivals!

Hachioji Grand Festival

I missed the grand festival in Tokyo’s western city of Hahicoji that took place last weekend. It is one of my favorite festivals so I am a little miffed that I could not go. Instead I dug around among the photos I took of last year’s festival and found these, of the giant dashi right during the magic blue hour! The red light of the lanterns to the wooden browns of the costumes and the dashi look great contrasted with the rich blue of that time of the early evening. Of course seeing the real thing is best photos will have to do in this for this blog!

This Weekend – Hachioji Matsuri

If you are in Tokyo over the weekend and want to see or do something special there is nothing I would recommend more than the famous Hachioji Matsuri, one of the biggest festival in Western Tokyo. It is a little bit of a train ride from central Tokyo but less than an hour from most points in the city I think. The festival is scattered all over central Hachioji, but the main action is on the main road near the station, where the giant Dashi are being pulled back and forth throughout the day and the evening. Apart from the there are also plenty of Hayashi (traditional live festival music), omikoshi, dances, rituals, geisha, etc. This festival is easily one of the most “complete” of the big summer festivals in Tokyo! I took these in the scorching hot festival last year but this year looks to be even hotter!

Narita Gionsai – Fishing For Donations

Lots of festivals recently but I can’t really help myself from keep posting them! Summer is the great festival season of Japan and here in Tokyo you really are spoilt for choices, especially if you don’t mind spending a couple of hours on the train getting out of the city! One of my favorite “near Tokyo” festivals is the grand Narita Gionsai, where the rather huge dashi of the city are pulled up and down the narrow – and very steep! – streets of Narita Old Town! The festival is next month and quite famous, it will be hard to miss if you are in the area.

One of my favorite parts of the festival is when the dashi pass on of the traditional inns of Narita Old Town, and the guests on the upper floors dangle out donations of cash on long fishing rods! The men on the roofs of the dashi do their best to catch them. I have only visited this festival once and am not so familiar with the whys and the wherefores of this aspect of the festival, but it looks fun!