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!

Ometaisai Dashi at Night

Dashi, the huge mobile festival platforms pulled around the neighborhood at matsuri time is great fun both to watch and to photograph. Here is the main dashi of the grand Ometaisai that took place last month the Western Tokyo city of Ome.

Ometaisai Snapshots

Some more snapshots from last months grand Ometaisai in the western part of Tokyo, Ome City (青梅市). The festival takes place along and near the old Omekaido, one of the great “highways” of old Japan and the main artery of all trade, commerce, travel and transport for hundreds of years. Along the way of the festival area there are several hayashi stations, where performers in traditional costumes entertain the passing dashi, great mobile stages. Each hayashi is managed by a different neighborhood and it is traditional to entertain guests manning the dashi from other neighborhoods with sake, served fresh from large barrels. The sake used in this town is from the local brewery and is served in square wooden containers with a touch of salt added. It must be a special kind of man to be able to handle the dashi from early morning and still stop for a drink of straight liquor at every stop, over and over again! I do not think I could do it myself. The hayashi teams have members of all ages, from kids to the elderly, and are always great fun to watch.