Can you believe it was snowing on the mountains?It was a cold day!
Our first stop was at a tea house for a traditional refreshment.
I chose green tea
With Mika in the tea house gardens
With the onset of cold weather,the leaves are starting to turn
We saw the children's parade first
The boys imitate the ritual with small poles
Girls in costume
Boys in costume
A photo op!
Scary cute
The view of the town from the castle grounds
It has 37 torii gates leading to the castleThe town is famous for its sarasoba dish - this is 5 small dishes of buckwheat noodles which you dip in a mix of raw egg, cold soup stock, grated sticky potato, grated radish and spring onions.
Advertisements for sarasoba were everywhere
Unfortunately I passed on the cold, raw egg noodle delightand had a hot noodle dish with cooked egg instead
The men parade -
The whole ritual involves the passing of tall polesfitted with various feathered heads
The leader claps two wooden blocks
Preparing to catch the poles
Traditional footwearWatch the pole throwing here (25 secs)
There was also a display of bottle cap art
Recycling at its best
The unveiling of the bottle cap mural. Impressive!The day ended with a competition (!) where 3000 rice balls wrapped and tied in a plastic bag were thrown into the gathered crowd by the town's governing council members standing on a scaffold. Your prize was determined by the colour of the tag on the bag.
One managed to land directly in my outstretched hand, but those quick enough to scrounge the ones that landed on the ground and surge through the crowd to catch them picked up prizes such as cartons of beer and packets of noodles.
It was a great way to spend Japan's culture day holiday.
Until next festival,
Monica
One managed to land directly in my outstretched hand, but those quick enough to scrounge the ones that landed on the ground and surge through the crowd to catch them picked up prizes such as cartons of beer and packets of noodles.
It was a great way to spend Japan's culture day holiday.
Until next festival,
Monica
