Posting the pictures of the Yosakoi last weekend prompted me to dig out some old photos from the Kawamoto matsuri 4 or 5 years ago.
I watched a program on TV last night from this years big Yosakoi Matsuri in Kochi City. Most of those groups were large and danced in formation as they paraded down the streets.
These groups at the kawamoto matsuri tended to be small, much younger, and danced in a style much closer to pop or rock.
One thing common to all Yosakoi dancing though is that you have to have fun. Or at least appear to have fun.
While I was at the kids kagura last saturday, a little bird whispered in my ear that there was going to be a secret, surprise yosakoi performance next morning in front of the local train station. I really like yosakoi dancing, so sunday morning we turned up in front of the deserted station.
Yosakoi dancing was invented in Kochi City back in 1954 and is pretty much traditional movements combined with modern music. Really the only rule is that naruko, japanese castanets, must be used. Yosakoi has spread all over Japan now, and has led to a wide range of styles. costumes etc.
The group performing here, Team Mugen from Okayama City, chose to use kagura flute and kagura melody in their dance, so they turned to 87 year old Ebiya-san, a friend of ours who lives in Kawado. He is the inventor and maker of the "Hero flute" that is now the standard flute in kagura performances here in the west of Japan.
The group had rented a bus and driven up more than 100 miles from Okayama to stage a surprise performance for Ebiya-san, who lives right next to the station.
Hibara Shrine lies on the Yamanobenomichi at the base of Miwa-san. It is an affiliate shrine of Omiwa Shrine, and like it, enshrines the kami of the mountain, now reckoned to be Okuninushi.
There are no buildings at Hibara Shrine. Buildings at shrines only began after the introduction of Buddhist temples.
Amaterasu was worshipped here but it seems that after Okuninushi was installed from Izumo there were problems between the two of them, so Amaterasu was moved to Ise.
This small shrine was added in 1987. Called Toyosuki-iri-hime no miya. Toyosuki iri hime was an imperial princess who was the "priestess" in charge of the mirror that was the shintai ( god body) of Amaterasu.
With a total length of 29,761 Kms, the coastline of Japan is where a large proportion of the population lived historically. The idea, underpinning much Nihonjinron, that the Japanese were primarily rice-growers is, I think, an exaggeration and a fairly modern invention.
This small port is in Asahi Town, in the SW corner of Kochi Prefecture on Shikoku.
Found a whole bunch of these critters under some rotting wood.
I gave them to a friend's sons, because they ( the critters, not the boys) turn into.....
...one of the most popular pets for young boys in Japan, Kabuto Mushi.
It's the biggest beetle in Japan, and Kabuto means "samurai helmet".
In English we call them Rhinocerous Beetle.
I found this monster after it had eaten half of one of my tomato plants. We get a few every year, but this one was the biggest I've seen,... it was as long as my hand. If it was in the U.S. it would become a Luna Moth. Not sure what they become here.
We went over to Ichiyama last night for the annual Kids Kagura Festival. Each year there are fewer and fewer kids performing. Partly thats due to the village losing population to the cities, but a friend suggested that because Ichiyama still dances the older, slower 6-beat style that some kids from the village dance with other groups that dance the more exciting 8-beat. I think it is due to the commitments that Japanese kids have to their school clubs and brutal exam system. Japanese kids get very little free time nowadays.
The video is from the Iwato dance. Koyane, mythical ancestor of the Nakatomi, who became the Fujiwara, and Futotama, mythical ancestor of the Imbe Clan, perform rituals, unsuccessfully, to entice Amaterasu out of the cave.
Uzume's dance, considered to be the mythical origin of all kagura, is successful in enticing the hidden sun out of her cave.
The arrival of the demon,... here in the Hachiman dance, is always fun!
One of the reasons our Turkey trip was so cheap, I think, is because we flew with Uzbekistan Airways. After spending 4 hours in the middle of the night in the holding tank that is Tashkent Airport Transit Lounge, the leg of our flight to Istanbul flew over some amazing country.
Not sure what they are mining here in the middle of the desert.
Another very noticeable man-made mark upon the earth.
Whenever I travel I spend the whole time with my nose stuck to the window. I was lucky enough to have a window seat, clear skies, and low light of the early morning.
I think these very high mountains were in Georgia.
Another mine, this time in Turkey
The suburbs of Istanbul.
To see the whole sequence of 42 photos, please click below
Depending on how you define "biggest" or "largest", then the Izumo Dome is the biggest wooden building in Japan. Most sources give the biggest wooden building in the WORLD as the Great Hall housing the Buddha at Todai-Ji in Nara, but the Izumo Dome is a little taller, and has a larger base area, but because of its shape it contains a smaller volume than Todai-Ji.
Anyway, its a pretty impressive structure. Built in 1992, and designed by the Kajima Corporation, it stands more than 49 metres high and has a diameter of 143 metres.
The design is modelled on a Japanese umbrella, and the translucent skin means no artificial lighting is needed during the daytime. It doesn't actually get used much as there are no pro sports team in the area, and most days a 200yen entrance fee will get you inside to look around.
Its located about 10k from Izumo Station, not too far from Izumo taisha, close the the Kitayama mountains.
Actually I recently discovered an even larger wooden stadium, the Nipro Hachiko Stadium in Akita, and it also looks cool, but I still like the symmetry of the umbrella design of Izumo Dome.
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