May 14, 2004
-
Fuchu Kurayami Matsuri 5/14/2004
The last bit of April and the first bit of May is dubbed "Golden Week" due to the abundance of legal holidays. Grandma was up from Kagoshima for a visit. She did not want to do a lot of tromping about the countryside, but we did get to a large shrine in the nearby district of Fuchu, where an event called "Kurayami Matsuri" or "Pitch Dark Festival" was in progress. We only saw a very small part of the goings-on as Grandma did not want to stay for too long.
We are approaching the shrine, and on the way we see a small traditional hayashi band complete with foxy little dancers. The little girl in the picture was so cute that I asked her if it was all right to take her picture, and she was kind enough to say yes. I wish that I know who she was, because she deserves a copy. She is dressed up to carry a portable shrine and her mom said that she was a bit nervous about the whole business. I saw her helping toting it in tears later, so maybe all the noise and hubbub was too much for her.
Here are a couple of the goodie booths. The first one is dishing up octopus balls, and you can see the ingredients on display; octopus, red ginger, agedama (crunchy tempurisch bits) dried shrimp and cabbage. Next is a demonstration of how to turn the belegged orbs in the hollows of a hot griddle. And last, the fried noodle guy is casting copious amounts of his wares onto his griddle in preparation for the crowds to come.
Here we have a fellow dishing up fried sweet potatoes. Grandma needed some fortification, so we got a cupful and shared. The vendor even pushed an extra sugary stick into the cup when I complimented him on the size of his storefront yams.
There is also fun to be had. These chirpy water whistles could be heard from all directions. You put water inside, and when you blow into the whistle, it makes a not at all unpleasant bubbling trill. For those of you not interested in scooping goldfish there is a Pooh scoop, although this may not sound like a good alternative.
Here are some more pictures from the Kurayami Matsuri in Fuchu. These things are called Mantou, and each locality in the area has its own representatives that carry them. They are all brought into the shrine grounds in a procession and lined up for a show of some sort which I did not see, since Grandma thought that she had experienced enough excitement for one day and wanted to go.
Here are a few more colorful pictures from the beginning of the Kurayami Matsuri. In the first picture, a young fellow receives instruction on the proper donning of his costume.
Here is another part of the festival. Several groups of local kids brought in portable shrines and lined them up in front of the main shrine building.
