BON ODORI IN TAKAMATSU
2011年08月19日
This is the big summer event in Takamatsu and follows right after the Fireworks Festival held the previous day. The festival is essentially a welcome back for the ancestors who are believed to revisit every time on this day each year. A time to appreciate their sacrifices and a time of great movement throughout the country with people rushing about or going home for the 3 day usually unpaid but usually given a vacation. Paper lanterns decorate headstones in graveyards; expectations run high that the summer’s heat will now die down and in the evening people dance in competing groups along the Cho Dori or Central Street. This year there were a couple of ripping thunderstorms just before and this cooled down the streets for the evening.
Living here for so long, one becomes accustomed to the dance but have no doubt that those seeing it for the first time must be taken by the color, energy, loudness of the music, stage presentations etc. This is high-energy stuff, flat-out hard dancing in the heat and people give it all they’ve got and are judged on performance, originality, and creativity. And creative they can be indeed … especially the kids’ groups.
Looking around I saw plenty of foreigners for the party and no doubt at the world famous Awa Dori in neighboring Tokushima Prefecture there are even more. Events like this are meant to be experienced, viscerally if you like, and Takamatsu can accommodate a larger tourist population with the addition of many well-located hotels, some pretty cheap and still others world class. All are pretty good and there’s one to suit a budget so we welcome you in August 2012!
To the west side of Cho Dori (Central Street) is the Cho Koen (Central Park) and here another aspect of the evening takes place with stage performances, contests and the dancing groups tuning up. Some fiddling with hairstyles, adjusting costumes, etc.
The park also has a lot of colorful Yatai (food stalls) selling everything including noodles, pancakes, fried chicken, corn on the cob, and of course my favorite; beer! (see picture number 1) Another favorite food at this time of year is ‘kaki gori’ or shaved ice topped with flavoring. This really is an easy one to slurp, drink, and munch on a summer’s evening. I just love it with condensed milk on top …
"Pat has lived in Takamatsu continuously since arriving here on a one year study and leave 1981. Originally from Tasmania, Australia, he was involved in education at a variety of levels including as a specialist teacher for children with learning difficulties, and at senior high schools throughout the state. Pat is employed full-time by the i-pal Kagawa International Exchange as a co-oridintaor for international relations amongst other duties including traveling to schools and giving talks in Japanese to kids about Australia. He has been involved with youth education exchanges between Japan and Australia for many years.
Pat has been many things in his colorful life including a seaman, helmsman, welder, carpenter, traffic warden, scholarship/studentship winner at the university of Tasmania, staff at the Australian Embassy in London to name but a few. Pat has far too many hobbies which include tennis, playing jazz flutes and saxes, riding bicycles with the Takamatsu Cycling Club all of which his long-suffering family tolerate. Recently he's become interested in painting again. His wife wishes he would put more time in to helping around the house and the garden which he artfully avoids ..."
コメントは日本語でもどうぞお気軽に。
※コメントに対してお返事を書けない場合もあります。ご了承ください。
Posted by pat at 15:21
│Exciting&Beauty Places
この記事へのコメント
Pat様,
Heck yes! We went to this, as we do every year, and had ourselves a good time! One of our English students was in the Kagawa University group and she spotted us watching from the street, which was nice. We always love the Japanese festival foods, too. We had some of the 700-yen beef skewers -- expensive but worth it for such amazing beef. No big chunks of fat to be seen, and it practically melts in your mouth.
Hey, how do I write some blogs for Takamatsu City? I can also probably build a better website than they can, if they'd be into it.
Let me know! I'll check these comments, or you can message me on my blgo (linked in the name above).
Heck yes! We went to this, as we do every year, and had ourselves a good time! One of our English students was in the Kagawa University group and she spotted us watching from the street, which was nice. We always love the Japanese festival foods, too. We had some of the 700-yen beef skewers -- expensive but worth it for such amazing beef. No big chunks of fat to be seen, and it practically melts in your mouth.
Hey, how do I write some blogs for Takamatsu City? I can also probably build a better website than they can, if they'd be into it.
Let me know! I'll check these comments, or you can message me on my blgo (linked in the name above).
Posted by heathsensei
at 2011年08月19日 16:09
at 2011年08月19日 16:09
