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2011/07/17

Kaminokawa Town Summer Festival


We, as Utsunomiyans, used to go to the local summer festival called "Tenno sai (天王祭)". But this year, Ms. T. was encouraged to carry mikoshi at the Summer festival in Kaminokawa town (上三川町) by her friend, Sayaka SATO. Her family owns a fancy construction company (佐藤材木店) there.

We went there, had the same outfit as you can see in this photo and had a good time.

We really appreciate Ms. and Mr. Sato's hospitality!!!

2011/07/03

Mikoshi Procession



Summer is the season for the festival in Japan.

The festival we went today is called Miyaichi festival (宮壹祭). In principle, mikoshi (a portable shrine) is owned by each district and the carriers in the district wear the same uniform with its logo. At Miyaichi festival, you can only see ONE mikoshi carried by a variety of participants coming from Utsunomiya downtown, as well as mikoshi freaks coming from outside of Tochigi prefecture.

This year, we have several mikoshi carriers coming from the tsunami devastated area in Tohoku... Though they also could be refugees that had been evacuated to Utsunomiya city...

This is an entry for Show Me Japan Vol 1, Issue 32. If you want to see nice photos taken in Japan, don't forget to visit!!!



Update: For those who are curious about how I took this photo, here is the answer.
I was not on the mikoshi, but my camera was approx. 3 meters high from the ground. I am not a mutant in the movie X-Men. So I don't have the ability to jump 3 meters, stay in the air, and take photos...
What I did was attaching monopod and remote cable release to the camera and doing the blind shooting by walking backwards in front of mikoshi! Does it make sense???