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Sunny, 17C (22C)
It's a beautiful day for a fertility rite! Here, have this picture I took from my veranda (I was still in pijamas and half asleep so I didn't want to risk going to the front veranda where I could get a better shot but also be exposed for the lazy oaf I am...) :
This is a danjiri. In Ehime, they're called taiko; in Kagawa, they're called choson; here in Hyogo, they're called danjiri (which is apparently the standard appellation). Here's a picture of a taiko for comparison purposes :
Now, this is exciting because I had no plans for today but know very well that I need to mix things up a little so I had been contemplating a trip in to Kyoto to visit some of the areas upstream of the Shimogamo's east branch and try to try out a felafel and schwarma stand I heard about in the neighborhood of Demachi-yanagi station (but it really would be better to do that tomorrow or even Tuesday because most things will be closed on a Sunday).
But anyway, the whole time I was in Kawanoe people would often tell me how tokubetsuna (special) Kawanoe's festival is. People certainly believed it! Each year, former residents would loose their jobs in disputes over time off to attend the festival. The people in Kawanoe were absolutely crazy about it. But nobody could explain how it was so special--I asked people from Kawanoe and people from outside Kawanoe and all anyone could say was that it was "special". Now I have a chance to find out for myself! I'll try to post more pictures if there's anything particularly interesting (and, of course, a wider shot of one of those danjiri ; if the pattern is anything like Kawanoe, they'll make several passes through the neighborhood...).
I knew this festival would be sometime this month (I was very surprised when I learned that--Ehime's festivals are all in October or November, Kawanoe's is always October 13-14-15 no matter what days of the week they fall on, and Niihama's is October 21-22 (noted for being the only festival in the prefecture or perhaps even the whole island where women are allowed to come into contact with the taiko ; they can even pull it along the streets!)) but I had no idea when. Goodness, time flies. This month I'll have been in Kobe for ten months...
It's a beautiful day for a fertility rite! Here, have this picture I took from my veranda (I was still in pijamas and half asleep so I didn't want to risk going to the front veranda where I could get a better shot but also be exposed for the lazy oaf I am...) :
This is a danjiri. In Ehime, they're called taiko; in Kagawa, they're called choson; here in Hyogo, they're called danjiri (which is apparently the standard appellation). Here's a picture of a taiko for comparison purposes :
Now, this is exciting because I had no plans for today but know very well that I need to mix things up a little so I had been contemplating a trip in to Kyoto to visit some of the areas upstream of the Shimogamo's east branch and try to try out a felafel and schwarma stand I heard about in the neighborhood of Demachi-yanagi station (but it really would be better to do that tomorrow or even Tuesday because most things will be closed on a Sunday).
But anyway, the whole time I was in Kawanoe people would often tell me how tokubetsuna (special) Kawanoe's festival is. People certainly believed it! Each year, former residents would loose their jobs in disputes over time off to attend the festival. The people in Kawanoe were absolutely crazy about it. But nobody could explain how it was so special--I asked people from Kawanoe and people from outside Kawanoe and all anyone could say was that it was "special". Now I have a chance to find out for myself! I'll try to post more pictures if there's anything particularly interesting (and, of course, a wider shot of one of those danjiri ; if the pattern is anything like Kawanoe, they'll make several passes through the neighborhood...).
I knew this festival would be sometime this month (I was very surprised when I learned that--Ehime's festivals are all in October or November, Kawanoe's is always October 13-14-15 no matter what days of the week they fall on, and Niihama's is October 21-22 (noted for being the only festival in the prefecture or perhaps even the whole island where women are allowed to come into contact with the taiko ; they can even pull it along the streets!)) but I had no idea when. Goodness, time flies. This month I'll have been in Kobe for ten months...