Otsukimi Moon Viewing

Last night, the moon viewing festival was held at Himeji Castle.

The moon early in the night

It was a perfect night to enjoy a picnic and Himeji's best entertainment.

People came early to claim a spot


Festivities began at nightfall - it was packed!


The Himeji Castle mascot began the program


The ladies in kimonos sang ...


... and then the fabulous taiko drumming began


The beats with the flute melodies are hypnotising

Watch it for yourself here.
In this performance, the drummers are sitting

And in this performance, the drummers beat
on bigger drums

The ladies dance to the beats

But the performances aren't the biggest drawcard to this event - it's the all you can drink sake for 500 yen! You purchase your small(ish) cup (50ml capacity) for 500 yen and this allows you unlimited refills of different kinds of locally brewed sake up until 9:00pm. I tried one sweet variety, but it's really not my favourite kind of drink ...

So until next festival,

Monica