Shizuoka Festival

A couple of weeks ago there was a big festival held in the city, involving parades, ceremonies, entertainment, stalls, lots of food and drink, dancing in the streets, fireworks, and a nice big bonfire. To kick-off the parade, there was a performance in front of the castle where a celebrity and 3 beauty queens (all traditionally dressed) held a kind of royal court with lots of people in costume assembled in front. After that, the people on stage brought out boxes full of dried rice-balls wrapped in plastic. All of a sudden the crowd surged forward as people pushed and shoved to get a better position to catch them as they were hurled into the audience. Elbows and knees were flying as people snatched at the rice-balls from the air, the ground, and sometimes each other! I was amazed at the vigor the older people displayed - it was almost like a mosh-pit. I didn't manage to catch any, but a nice man gave me one of his. I tried it, and it wasn't particularly tasty. Later I found out that it's good luck to catch them, and that you're meant to cook it first - doh!

All around the park were different stalls, sideshows, stages, and attractions. The taiko drumming was particularly good - it's pretty much a mixture of dancning and drumming. They also let kids have a go on the drums, and of course I tried it too! I wouldn't mind learning to do it properly one day. There was also a place where street entertainers showed off their skills juggling and balancing things, and let the public try out traditional spinning tops that have a string wound around it to launch it with, and whip it back up into your hand, or even balance it on. The centre of the park was filled up with blue picnic tarps for Hanami (flower viewing). There are a lot of these picnics held around this time of year because the cherry trees are blossoming, and they are great excuses to eat and drink to excess with your relatives/friends/workmates. I got to play some hackeysac with a group of English teachers having a picnic too!

Part of the parade had was a noblewoman's retinue. The shoes she wore were about a foot high, and she had a retainer to hold onto to balance herself as she walked. Because the shoes are very heavy, she had a special walking style which involved dragging the back shoe forwards on its side in an arc until it was in front, and then setting it upright and continuing with the other foot! There was also a samurai jumping castle with ninjas running along the roof! All through the main streets of the city centre was another phenomenon - choreographed dancing in the streets by thousands and thousands of people! Each group of 20-100 people had a different costume, and held banners with the name of the company or club they were representing. Most people were dancing enthusiastically (for a long time too), though a few had obviously been coerced into it!

There was a concert too, which had taiko drummers from Okinawa, traditional shamisen(lute) and shakuhachi(flute) musicians, a modern "a cappella" group, and a band. As a finale the band and singers gave a hearty rendition of "Oh Happy Day" and the traditional dancers came on and joined in. They also got members of the audience to sing along too! After that, the mayor of the city was carried through the crowds with a torch to light a bonfire.