Once every 60 years: the Honkaicho.

Time travel back to 3 months ago.

Bridge of fishing boats!

I headed back down to my 2nd hometown, Kamogawa, for the Honkaicho - to make a complex introduction short - a local festival held once every 60 years.

The main point is that can only go to the shrine located on a tiny island off of Kamogawa's coast during this festival (pictured in the far right of the above photo).

Apparently back in the day these boats were actually used to cross over to the island.

To be quite honest, I've forgotten a good amount of background info on the festival. You can find a slightly longer description here though.

Point is, it was amazing to be there for such a momentous occasion. And apparently much of the townspeople (and other people from the surrounding areas) felt the same way too, looking at the photo below. This is by far the largest crowd I've seen in Kamogawa, and I am unsure I will ever see one of its size again.

Mayor being interviewed by the media (somewhere around the center-right?) 

Braving the epic queue.

It was still relatively early in the day, but an acquaintance was kind enough to let me and my friend know that the line to get into the shrine was growing by the minute! It stretched all around the pier.

Thankfully, I'd bought some snacks for the wait.

As I was strolling around the festival, I had run into another acquaintance (perhaps how I most enjoy such events - seeing how many friends/acquaintances I can run into) - a warm couple who run my favorite sushi place in the city. I bought this, a dish I think they especially thought up for the day! It was roll sushi with sangayaki (fried minced fish burger?) inside. Noms.

But I also got to enjoy some lovely scenery during the wait (despite the excruciating heat):

Satisfying my usual obsession for signs.

Kamogawa from an angle I may never have the chance to capture again!

Entry to the shrine.

And so finally, after a 3 hour wait...we were almost there - the elusive Itsukushima Shrine (not to be confused with the one in Hiroshima).

Tiny main hall.

Photos weren't allowed within the main hall itself, so we'll just have to make due with this. The sacred sculpture that is only viewable to shrine visitors during the Honkaicho was displayed at the alter.

Mission complete!

Since we'd accomplished our main goal - getting to the shrine - we set off for a bit more adventure. Who knows if we'd be able to withstand the 3 hour wait to get to the shrine in another 60 years (or if we'd even be around to take the chance in the first place).

...and for the record, the wait had apparently swelled to 5 hours by the time we left the shrine. Eep.

Katsugi-yatai between the vivid fishing boat banners!

After that, we managed to witness the festivities - basically a more extravagant affair than the annual Godosai in September. "Extravagant" in that the festival participants paraded up and down the pier without taking any or very few breaks.

And my favorite - the mikoshi! (although this is a different one than the one I usually help carry).

After all that excitement, finally my friend and I were starved and exhausted. We headed over to our mutual love, the spectacular Rosso Bianco! (Again I think I've potstd about this multiple times, but just in case here is a past post with some content about Rosso.)

Hamburger steak topped with bamboo shoots! Mmmmmm.

As a special treat, cheese cake and coffee jelly - on the house!

 DROOL. Oh Rosso, how I miss thee already!

Sawara Grand Autumn Festival.

I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I've been sitting on this post for more than half a year now!

Time slip again - this time to the beginning of October. It was a gorgeous Saturday morning, and I headed up to northern Chiba with some fun company. First we made a quick stop to check out Katori Shrine.

But first, a slight detour at Katori Shrine (香取神宮)! I love the nature here.

Basically, there is an incredible festival called the Sawara Grand Festival (佐原の大祭) held twice a year, once in the summer and the other in the fall. As the title suggests, I went to the autumn festival, but the summer festival is actually coming up this weekend!

Read more about the Sawara Grand Summer Festival here: http://www.pref.chiba.lg.jp/kokusai/english/information/residents/news/issues/july2013.html#f0702

Anyway, here's a peak of the sights you can enjoy at the festival:

Passing under one of many low bridges. Each boat is operated by two people - someone operating the motor, and another (always a woman?) watching for other boats, obstructions, etc.

After our mini stopover at Katori Shrine, we hopped over to our main destination for the day - Sawara, a historical district in Katori City! We went by car, and from there you can hop on a boat into town for just a small fee.

At the festival! Here comes one of the dashi, or festival floats.

Sawara's really serious about its festivals - they even have dashi on the lampposts!

These guys have the important role of steering the dashi with these giant wooden poles...

...especially when they have to navigate super narrow roads and power lines!

I originally took this because of the adorable kid looking all comfy on the dashi...
the random McDonald's bags surprised me when I reviewed the photo later on.

The guys smashing each other to help push the dashi! Looks fun, but also super painful :/

Love these girls' outfits!

Entrance to JR Sawara Station - the main festival venues are about a 10-15 minute walk from here.

It's festival season again!! I am a little skeptical about whether or not I'll be able to go see a festival before I leave Japan, but I hope you will be able to make it out to some!

Super bass.

Quick update! This weekend I went to see the Narita Taiko Festival (成田太鼓祭り). To be honest, I didn't get to see as much taiko drumming as I did last year, but I still had a fantastic time nonetheless. Much of my duration at the festival was spent fooling around with friends - but perhaps that's what festivals are for in the first place!

Anyway, here's a mini photo overview of my trip to the taiko festival:

Fantastic weather really drew out the crowds.

千年夜舞台, or torchlit drum performance Saturday evening.

Celebrity spotting!

The photo's a bit blurry, but the two guys in the navy blue hoodies are none other than the comedian duo Taka and Toshi! There were a bunch of other TV talents there as well (that I'd seen on TV before but can't name them because they aren't as popular), because I'm pretty sure they were recording a variety show. I didn't feel starstruck or anything, but it was cool to come across some celebs!

Shirahama Ama Festival (白浜海女まつり).

Shirahama's Nojimazaki Lighthouse in the distance.

Yet another adventure began on a surprisingly cool evening in the southernmost tip of the Boso Peninsula - near the Nojimazaki Lighthouse in the Shirahama district of Minamiboso City.

The highlight of the show! The ama swimming performance.

I had heard of this event a number of times before and always wanted to go, but never had the chance. This festival is held in honor of ama (海女), to encourage the continuation of ama tradition, and to pray for the safety and success of those involved in the fishing industry.

Ama lady breaking it down...dancing the Shirahama Ondo, a traditional local folk dance

Ama are female divers who traditionally gather pearls...I may be wrong, but in the southern Chiba area I believe they gathered seaweed, shellfish, and the like.

Ama on standby before the swimming performance.

This isn't a very clear photo, but you can kind of see their uniforms! In the wiki link I posted above, the article mentioned originally they only wore loincloths. This is the modern version, I suppose.  I remember there was a restaurant in Kamogawa I went to, and they had a giant picture of an ama on the wall as decoration. It was nice, but it looked like she had just come back from a dive, and apparently they don't wear anything underneath these...

Fireworks + ama!

Getting back to the festival though, during the swimming performance they shoot off a bunch of fireworks, including the awesome 水中花火 kind! (I am still trying to figure out if they actually explode in the water, as their name seems to imply, or if they explode on the surface of the water...) They were so close that burnt paper flew into our faces...it was very windy that day too though.

Delicious grilled CORN!

Backtracking though, I must admit that (as usual) part of the reason I was lured out here was for the delicious food! A friend had gone the day before, and information about all the amazing food that awaited me renewed my resolve to go! This lovely corn was bought from a local farmer called Ansai Nouen (安西農園). I had actually bought from them at a totally different event a year (or two years?) ago, but they totally remembered my friend and me! And they were super nice!

Satomi pork (里見和豚), a local brand of pork, seasoned with rosemary. Mmmm....

My main target was Odori Kitchen, which I visited a couple months back! They only had a couple items, but everything was amazing....even their edamame seemed to be special! Their chef works magic...

Lovely Shirahama evening.

I'll admit, Shirahama is pretty far...even if you already live in Chiba. But it's so lovely, and has so much great food - it's totally worth the trip!!! The Shirahama Ama Festival is only held once a year, but here are a couple sites if you're looking for more information (both are in Japanese though, sorry):


http://www.mboso-etoko.jp/shirahama/event/amamatsuri.html
(More photos and details about the ama swimming performance)


http://www.chibanippo.co.jp/c/siteseeing/2012/07/88110
(Better description of the Ama Festival overall)

Drummin' it up at the Narita Taiko Festival.

Hordes of people came to see the festival.

This year, I was absolutely determined to go see the Narita Taiko Festival (成田太鼓祭)! With about 55 teams (wadaiko, drum, and Japanese dance) that come to perform here each year, this event is said to be one of Japan's greatest taiko festival - and more importantly, who doesn't like taiko??
 
The Narita Taiko Festival is usually held on a weekend in April. I had originally planned to go Saturday, but then the forecast called for rain...which makes it difficult to take decent photos, no? So I went on Sunday instead. I think everyone else figured the same thing - or the crowd for this event is just always incredible. On second thought, I think it's both.

All for one, one for all!

Everyone was crammed into what is normally a gigantic open space (it only feels this cramped during the festival!) particularly for the Sengan Hana Daiko (千願華太鼓) performance, which is held at 10am both mornings of the festival...except if it rains, and this portion of the program is cancelled. Which is what happened this year.

I am really really glad I got to see it though! I can't explain well enough how amazing and intense it is...imagine about 700 drum players performing all at once! Surprisingly it is not deafeningly loud (because it is wadaiko, or Japanese drums???) but the drumbeats vibrating throughout the whole plaza is one awesome experience.

Since words don't do very well, here is a short clip I filmed:


Sadly the audio is pretty horrible on my recording, so here is a much much better quality clip of the Sengan Hana Daiko on youtube:

Yes, it's early, but if you actually want to be able to see the performance, you should plan to get there waaaaaaaaay before 10am. We got there maybe 15 minutes before everything started, and there were easily 5-6 people in front of us in every direction. No matter how much you try and shift, it was impossible to see...so the only glimpses I actually got of the performance were through my camera, when I stuck it in the air to take photos.

Long awaited MOCHI WAFFLE!

We took a break in between all the excitement to hunt this baby down. Yes - it is a waffle, but entirely made of mochi! I wonder if they stick the mochi into a waffle maker??? It was simple and PERFECT. You can choose from "Western-style (洋風)" or "Japanese-style (和風)." The Japanese-style has red bean paste, kinako, and kuromitsu on it, and looked delicious! I got the western style (pictured above), which has maple and chocolate syrup on it...it sounds weird, but it was pure genius.

The cafe - it's near the entrance to Naritasan Shinshoji Temple. The inside is super cute too...I would love to come back.

Navigating the sea of people along Omotesando Street.

After refueling, it was time to wander Omotesando Street, which connects Narita Station and Naritasan Shinshoji Temple. There are a bunch of individual stages set up directly along this street, and after the Sengan Hana Daiko in the morning, each of the taiko teams take turns performing at these stages throughout the day. Not to mention, the historic feel of this area is lovely, and you can find a lot of fun shops to buy stuff in and/or eat at.

OMG this guy! He kept taking giant leaps into the air as he slammed a baseball bat-sized taiko stick onto the drum. WIN.

As we strolled around, we managed to come across one of the teams we were hoping to see perform individually - a group called 和 (wa)-jin.

Once again, words can't describe how EPIC their performance is, so here's a video:



And also, recording of much better quality from the previous day (once again not mine, found on youtube):

Choshi Hane-daiko drummers!

I will end this post with a group from our very own Chiba - the Choshi Hane-daiko (銚子はね太鼓)! I don't know too much about it yet - but it is a traditional style of wadaiko from Choshi, the most eastern tip of Chiba Prefecture (aka CHI-BA+KUN's ear?).

One dude leaps up after being pinned down.

 The really cool thing about Choshi Hane-daiko is how one guy will pin down the other guy and both of them will continue drumming like nothing's happened. As my friend put it, it's got this whole "I am man" masculine tone to it. It must hurt to be knocked to the ground like that though?

Here is my not-so-good recording:



I couldn't find any recordings of the Choshi Hane-daiko from this year, so here's one from last year:

In conclusion - taiko is epic! There are a couple of other highlight events I didn't get to see this year (the taiko performances by fire at night on the first day, and the taiko parade throughout the streets on the second day) - hopefully I will get to see them next year?

Kozaki Sake Brewery Festival (こうざき酒蔵まつり)

Giant banner for the sake festival in front of Shimousa-Kozaki Station.

After a couple weeks off, today was time for more adventuring in Chiba! My destination: the town of Kozaki (神崎町...not read "Kanzaki," the more common reading for these characters, but I digress). Kozaki is a teeny tiny town sandwiched between Narita City, Katori City, and Ibaraki Prefecture. Honestly, I'd never heard of Kozaki until I started working at the Prefectural Offices, and I only came across it because I was going down a list of all the cities and towns in Chiba Prefecture.

But don't let the photo above fool you...this wasn't just any rural event. Despite Kozaki being Chiba's smallest municipality with a population of a mere 6,500 people, this one day festival commands a horde of visitors totaling up to 30,000 people...almost 5 times the town's population! Crazy!!

Event map (sorry it's all wrinkly!)

I've been to a pretty good number of rural town festivals, but the Kozaki Sakagura Matsuri is by far the most amazing yet! The content is just as hardcore as the number of visitors. You could stay here all day and not get bored at all!

As first time visitors, my accomplices and I hit worked on hitting up the two main highlights of the festival: the Nabedana (鍋店) and Terada Honke (寺田本家) breweries! Both situated in Kozaki, these breweries boast histories of over 300 years, and are the main organizers of this event.

Only 10:30am and the grounds of the Nabedana brewery were already packed...

First stop: Nabedana's Jinyu Kuramatsuri (仁勇蔵まつり) area!
After warming up with some free amazake, we made a beeline for the sake tasting area.

Before sampling though, don't forget to sign-in! You get your own free guinomi, or little sake cup, which you use to sample the different types of sake, and then take it home as a souvenir.

Sake tasting area at the Nabedana brewery.

And now you're ready to sample the sake! See each of the white sheets lining the walls? Nabedana had that many types of sake available here. I only tried a couple here, but there must have been a good amount of people who tried (to taste) all of them, because there were one too many people looking really red in the face on the way home.

Making use of my new guinomi.

I had some umeshu (plum wine)...and then this! It was a huge pain to get to this corner, because everyone was smashing each other to get a sip...but with good reason. One of the highest quality of sake Nabedana offers, this particular brew comes at a lovely price tag of 5,250 yen (about US$55?) per bottle. I am not familiar with sake at all, but this brew was reaaaaaally good.


Stop no. 2: Terada Honke!

Waiting for sake tasting at the Terada Honke brewery.

About a 10 minute walk away is the Terada Honke brewery (although thanks to the crowd and all the shops, I think it took us more like 20 minutes). Perhaps because it was almost noon and the festivities/crowds had almost reached their peak, we had to wait about an hour to get to the sake tasting area at Terada Honke.

Terada Honke's "MUSUBI (written as むすひ)" brew.

Terada Honke only had about 6 brews available for sampling, but it was a lot of fun nonetheless! Not only was this brew picture above really good, it's notable because it's made with hatsuga genmai (発芽玄米; unpolished brown rice), which is pretty popular in Japan as a health food product. The photo I took was super blurry, so I can't post it, but their brew Daigo no Shizuku (醍醐のしずく) was really spectacular!!! I am pretty set on buying a bottle the next time I come across Terada's stuff.

The sign reads "Enzyme Bath."

But even if you're not big on sake and/or drinking, there are tons of random other booths and activities to check out! Like this one, also located on the Terada Honke grounds - fermenting sawdust foot bath??? Yes - these people have their feet buried in fermenting sawdust. Japanese people really love their ofuro :D

And last but not least, there were tons of tasties to be had! So many that I was so busy looking around that I wasn't able to taste anywhere near as much as I wanted to. Food is a huge factor at these events...and I've never seen anywhere with such a fantastic selection.

AMAZING. I think I could live off of this.

Ok...certainly not a good shot - you can barely tell what it is. But it was so good I couldn't get any other shots before we ate it all up! It's maguro karaage (like fried chicken, except fried fish)...but what makes this so special is that it's coated with shio-koji (塩麹).


Here's an explanation of what koji is: http://www.clearspring.co.uk/japanese/miso/what_koji. So...shio-koji is koji that has been fermented salt. Once again, I'd never heard of this until today...but this was definitely the greatest discovery of today! Apparently they don't sell shio-koji in your neighborhood grocery stores, so I kinda regret not buying a bag to take home...I will have to hunt some down and experiment with it. It sounds like it goes well with everything, from fried foods to salad dressing, or even as a topping for rice. And best of all, it's really good for you!

This maguro karaage was so good I would be happy to eat it instead of chicken karaage for the rest of my life...must figure out how to make this!!!


Some other randomness from the day:

完売、完売、完売....totally sold out.

One of my companions really recommended this store, "Tsuki no Tofu," but by the time we got there, it was totally sold out. Completely. Even on regular days, the store owner recommends that you reserve in advance to make sure that you get your order. They even had tofu donuts, which sounded amazing!!! Argh...well add that to my list of things to do/buy next time I'm in Kozaki.

Space curry?! Jipangu curry?!!

More stuff I didn't get to try, but really wanted to...I think they are both vegetable curries. According to the sign, the Jipangu curry is a miso vegetable curry with brown rice?? Sounds fantastic. And I didn't get to read anything more specific than that the uchuu (space) curry is a veggie curry too, but it definitely got my attention. Almost all of the booths at the festival were selling natural/organic/healthy foods, which are all big themes of this event.

Last but not least, freshly steamed sake manju!!! Can't leave without omiyage.

I'm glad we were able to buy these before leaving! I think these were the last few...almost everywhere, like the place where we bought the maguro karaage. We got to Kozaki at 10am, but I am thinking next year it might be better to go even earlier...


Event information for the Kozaki Sake Brewery Festival 2012:
http://www.pref.chiba.lg.jp/kokusai/english/information/residents/news/issues/february2012.html#event0205

An article about Kozaki Town on the Foreign Press Center Japan (FPCJ) website:
http://fpcj.jp/modules/news6/index.php?page=article&storyid=200&storytopic=3

If you didn't go this year, I definitely recommend going to next year's festival! I promise you won't regret it.