Japanese festivals also known as matsuri are a wonderful spectacle so if you get the chance to see one of the bigger festivals during your trip put all your plans aside and make sure you take the time to get to know matsuri.
I have been to all kinds of festivals. One of the first was one of the biggest matsuri held at the beginning of August in the northern prefecture of Aomori. There was a matsuri with huge compositions and Japanese people dancing around to the rhythms of the rasera rasera tune. Equally impressive was the sanja matsuri held in May in Asakusa in Tokyo. I first saw sanja when I was a student. The spectacle left a lasting impression. Music, crazy people, traditional dress, strange shouts, drunken yakuza, what more could a real tourist want.
However, all my experiences are made up for by the real offer to attend a local festival. One fine day I received an unexpected phone call from Owada san.
Andrew, would you like to take part in a Japanese festival. We are short of helpers to help us carry the omikoshi (portable temple).
Of course – without going too much into details – I will shoot back to Owad.
Great, so I’ll see you this Saturday at 10am. I will take care of everything.
Now I don’t remember what train station it was or where we agreed to meet or the name of the festival or temple itself. But I do remember very well what was waiting for me.
As agreed after meeting Owada-san I was taken to someone’s apartment where I had to change into traditional festival clothes. Short white shorts and a happi on top. I smiled for the phone camera. After all it’s not every day that you have to dress up in exclusive festival clothes. I eagerly ask Owada when we have to go to the Omikoshi temple.
Right away, take your time, my friend reassures me.
And then it was even more beautiful.
I remember we gathered in a group at Omikoshi. All the participants are in a festive mood, cheering. I am happy too.
Okay, says some guy. We grab the omikoshi and move on. As the warriors say, forward.
Eagerly I rush into the circle of shrine bearers. I’m behind one of the wooden saddles on which the temple is loaded.
Oh heaven, oh lord s, oh holy Virgin of Guadeloupe. I hunt and curse at the same time. It turns out that this omikoshi weighs about one tonne. A thousand kilos. From the side, the whole process looks so light and simple, but in reality this whole mass is carried by a group of only twenty or thirty people, because there is no room for more. And believe me, that was the beginning of the suffering.
First of all, this thing is really very, very, very heavy.
Secondly, that pillow that you put on your shoulder is rectangular so it hurts your neck, your shoulders, the way you turn it. Every step forward means the shoulder is going to roll.
And the fun part. All the Japanese are like cucumbers in a shop. One meter sixty. All of them like a single cell – everyone one size. And now a gaijin like me, a giant of almost 5’9″.
Now guess three times over on whose frail shoulders the full weight of one tonne falls. Yes, you guessed right. In the final result, it is I who is dragging the whole omikoshi temple.
The thing is, that temple is not only carried normally, but it also needs to be swung.
Twenty cloned Japanese are dragging it down, and I’m lifting it up. Then we swap, twenty clones carry the temple up and I drag it down.
Fifty metres later, I thoutht that I am dying. I try to carry it hunched over to at least lighten my load a little. But the local leader, who is walking in front of me, with a whistle and adjusting the rhythm and when to turn and when to stop, is already shouting at me: hey, gaijin, straighten up, why are you going in the wrong direction.
Roger.
I try to straighten up but wooden strucure seems to have grown into my shoulders.
Aha, I think I need to go squatting somehow. Goose. So imagine me trying to carry one ton by throwing it over my shoulders and walking in a goose. I walk another fifty metres and die again. The sweat has soaked through my beautiful clothes.
We stop. Fifteen minutes to catch your breath. I catch my breath. Well, but am I not a man? I chuckle. I will walk to the end, i.e. carry the temple to the end point. I calculate in my mind that it will take us about an hour and a half.
Oh, God, how wrong I was.
I have gone through all the nine circles of hell described by Dante, stumbling, staggering, slurping in the true sense of the word. The whole procession took more than three hours. Just as Jesus Christ walked on Golgotha, so I crawled, fell and stood up again carrying omikishi.
Conclusion. If you want to make a surprise for your dearest friend or even better enemy ofer him to participate in omikoshi ceremony.
Sanja Matsuri
The Sanja Matsuri (三社祭, literally “Festival of the Three Temples”), or Sanja Festival, is one of the three major Shinto festivals in Tokyo. Sanja Matsuri is held on the third weekend in May at Asakusa Temple. Parades revolve around three mikoshi (the movable temples mentioned in the festival’s name), as well as traditional music and dancing. The festival attracts between 1.5 and 2 million locals and tourists each year over the three days.
Like many Japanese festivals Sanja matsuri is a religious festival. It is a weekend-long Shinto festival dedicated to the kami (spirits) of three men. Two fishermen, brothers Hinokuma Hamanari and Hinokuma Takenari, are believed to have found a statue of the Bodhisattva Kannon caught in a fishing net in the Sumida River in the early hours of 18 March 628. In the early hours of 18 March 628, a third man, Hajino Nakatomo, a wealthy landlord, heard of the find and approached the brothers and converted them to Buddhism. The three men then dedicated their lives to the Buddhist faith and consecrated the statue in a small temple. This temple now known as Sensoji is now home to the Kannon statue and is the oldest temple in Tokyo.
The current form of Sanja Matsuri dates back to the Edo period. Of religious origin, Sanjay matsuri is primarily a festival of celebration. During the festival weekend the atmosphere around Asakusa is tense and energetic. People constantly flood the streets around Senso-ji and flutes, whistles, chanting and taiko (traditional Japanese drums) are heard throughout the area.
The main attractions of the festival are the three mikoshi belonging to the Asakusa Shrine which appear on the third and last day of the festival. These three elaborate black lacquered wood temples are built as miniature portable versions of the Asakusa Temple. Each is decorated with gold sculptures and painted with gold leaf weighs about one tonne and cost 40 million yen (US$ 390 760) to build. They are carried on four long poles tied with ropes and each of them requires about 40 people, evenly distributed, to carry it safely. A total of around 500 people are involved in carrying each shrine per day.
The areas surrounding each shrine are crowded so there is a lot of jostling and jumping as they are carried. This action is believed to strengthen the power of the Kami sitting in the shrines and to bring good luck to the surrounding areas. Often there is someone standing on the pillars supporting the mikoshi, shouting and waving to help guide the people carrying the temple in the right direction. This regulation is very important because it is an attempt to protect the one-tonne mikosha temple from accidentally hitting the shops on the street and causing serious damage.
While the three main mikos are the main attractions on the streets during the Sanja Matsuri festival on Saturday around 100 other smaller mikos will be travelling through the area. Only women or small children carry a few of these shrines.
Although it is not part of the festival the official start of Sanja Matsuri begins on Thursday with an important religious ceremony. During this ceremony the high priest of the Asakusa Temple is to perform a ritual in which the kami of the three men who have been ordained at the Asakusa Temple are transferred into three mikoshi which will be paraded around Asakusa over the weekend. After opening a small door on each mikoshi (the inside of which is closed to the public with a small cotton curtain) the three spirits are invited into miniature temples where they will live for the duration of the festival.
The more highly publicised start of the festival begins on Friday when the Daigyoretsu (大行列, literally “great parade”) takes place. The grand procession moves along Yanagi Street and Nakamise-dori to Asakusa Temple an event aimed at activating the community. Musicians, performers and dancers in traditional Japanese dress also march through the streets of Asakusa during the procession.
The following day, Saturday, around 100 mikoshi from 44 districts of Asakusa gather at the Kaminarimon Thunder Gate then pass through Nakamise-dori and stop at Hozomon Gate to pay their respects to Kannon. The mikoshi are then taken to the Asakusa Temple where they are blessed and purified by Shinto priests for the coming year.
The main events of Sanja Matsuri take place next Sunday. Early Sunday morning, a procession of three mikoshi belonging to the Asakusa Shrine begin their march to Nakamise-dori towards Kaminarimon. These three elaborate shrines honour and represent the three men responsible for the founding of Senso-ji. On this last day of the festival these important mikoshi spread out to visit and bless all 44 districts of downtown Asakusa and the residential areas. When evening comes all three temples return to the Asakusa Temple in another grand procession that continues late into the night.
In addition to the traditional events Sanja matsuri has several other popular attractions. For example, many small food stalls are also open in the surrounding areas throughout the weekend. Members of the yakuza proudly display their tattoos.
Other performances that attract crowds of people include geisha and taiko performances which take place at specific times throughout the weekend. On Saturday and Sunday, geishas dressed in traditional clothing perform from 1pm to 3pm on the second floor of the Asakusa Kenban. These performances, for which visitors have to buy tickets, have been ranked among the top 10 geisha performances in all of Japan.
Awa odori Koenji
The original Awa Dance Festival (阿波踊り, Awa Odori) takes place on 12-15 August as part of the Obon festival in Tokushima Prefecture, Shikoku island. Awa Odori is the largest dance festival in Japan attracting more than 1.3 million tourists each year.
Meanwhile, Tokyo also hosts the Awa Odori Festival in the Koenji Station area. Koenji is just 10 minutes from Shinjuku Central Station, so you could say it’s almost central. You can get to Koenji on the Chuo line (but there are no weekend stops at Koenji, so you’d be better off taking the Sobu line JR trains from Shinjuku. You can also take the Marunouchi metro or the Tozai metro line.
Kōenji Awa-Odori (高円寺阿波おどり) is one of Tokyo’s biggest summer street festivals with up to 12,000 dancers and over 1.2 million visitors over the course of the two-day event. The Awa Dance Festival which takes place in and around Koenji District on the last weekend of August is the largest festival of its kind outside Tokushima Prefecture.
The dances are performed by dance groups called Ren (連) bands made up of up to 100 musicians and dancers who march in lines through the local streets to the accompaniment of shamisen, drums, flutes and cymbals. The dance groups are mixed in age and gender, with women wearing traditional yukatas, gheta sandals and straw amigasa hats, demonstrating intricate dance steps.
The festival involves local community groups and schools but in order to maintain high standards of performance Koenji Awa-Odori also has a competitive element so dance groups from all over Japan are eligible to participate.
Men and women dance in different styles. The men’s dance: right foot and right hand forward, touch the ground with the toes, then step with the right foot crossing the left foot. This is then repeated with the left foot and hand. As you do this, your hands draw triangles in the air and start drawing them at different points. The men dance in a low squatting position, with their knees pointing outwards and their arms held above their shoulders.
The women’s dance uses the same basic steps although the posture is quite different. The restrictive kimono allows only the smallest steps forward, while the hand gestures are more restrained and graceful reaching for the sky. The women usually dance in a close group tucked into the ends of geta sandals.
Some larger ren (dance groups) also dance the yakko odori or kite dance. This usually consists of one brightly dressed acrobatic dancer who dances back and forth, spinning in a circle and doing somersaults, performing freestyle choreography. In some versions other male dancers squat down to form a sinuous line representing a rope while the man at the other end imitates the control of a kite.
The song associated with Awa Odori is called Awa Yoshikono and is a local version of Yoshikono Bushi a popular song of the Edo period. Part of the song is sung.
Awa no tono sama Hachisuka-sama ga ima ni nokoseshi Awa Odori
What Awa Mr. Hachisuka has left us to this day is Awa Odori
The song is usually sung at a place in the parade where the dancers can stop and perform a stationary dance such as at a street intersection or in front of special stands with spectators. Not every group has a singer but dancers and musicians often sing the Awa Yoshikono as they march through the streets:
踊る阿呆に Odoru ahou ni Dancers are fools
見る阿呆 Miru ahou Watchers are fools
同じ阿呆なら Onaji ahou nara Both are fools alike so
踊らな損、損 Odorana son son why not dance?
Great song great words. And actually watching the Japanese people dancing some of them are unrealistically funny. You start to move and shake your legs and arms. If you dance you are a fool if you watch you are a fool so we better go and dance. Good. Awa odori made such a big impression that when I got home I started thinking and googling what awa dance group I should join.
Also during the awaodori the dancers also chant hayashi kotoba call and response patterns such as “Ayattosa, Ayattosa”, “Hayaccha yaccha”, “Erai yaccha, erai yaccha”, and “Yoi, yoi, yoi, yoi, yoi”. These prompts have no semantic meaning but help to encourage the dancers.
You start to chant yourself. It’s so entertaining and fun.
Super Yosakoi festival in Harajuku
Yosakoi (よさこい) is a unique style of dance originating in Japan and danced at festivals and events throughout the country.
Yasakoi is another dance fesitval which although relatively recent compared to other matsuri festivals. The Tokyo Super Yosakoi Festival takes place on the last weekend of August, Saturday and Sunday in the Harajuku area. The first Yosakoi Festival was held in 1954 in Kochi, Japan, on Shikoku Island.
Yosakoi style dancing has spread throughout most of Japan. It is a very energetic style of dance that combines traditional Japanese dance movements with modern music. Choreographed dances are often performed by large teams. In addition to the many professional yosakoi school and city dance teams yosakoi is also a popular event at sports festivals held by Japanese primary, junior high and high schools. Men and women of all ages take part sometimes in one team.
The costumes used by the Yosakoi teams vary greatly. The predominant costumes are happi robes and yukata which can be seen in a variety of colours. However some groups choose costumes based on historical dress, popular fashions or ethnic fashions. Usually all team members wear similar costumes.
One of the characteristic aspects of yosakoi dance is the naruko the small wooden keys that each dancer holds in their hands. Naruko were originally used in Kochi Prefecture to scare away birds from rice paddies. Traditional naruko have black and yellow hammers on a wooden body but most modern yosakoi groups create their own naruko choosing colours and materials to match their costumes. Naruko is essential for yosakoi dancing but many groups also use other hand instruments such as drums, percussion instruments, flags, sticks and floats.
Any musical arrangement is allowed but the music must contain at least part of Takemasa’s original song “Yosakoi Naruko Dance”.
Teams are limited to a maximum of 150 participants.
