Kawagoe Aki Matsuri

Each season is highly celebrated in Japan. In general I feel this country has a greater appreciation for the changing weather and all that comes with it than the U.S. does. For example, fall means harvest time whether you are in the U.S. or Japan. In Ohio a few people go apple-picking. Some people with small children visit pumpkin patches. That's pretty much the extent of it. Here, the fall (aki)/sweet potato festival in Kawagoe was a two-day, highly attended event. Thousands and thousands of people came to taste the local delicacies and see the amazing wooden floats, dashi, being pulled through the streets. We attended on Saturday, October 20th. Our first stop was a pastry shop that sells a delicious sweet potato cake rolled in cinnamon known as Poku poku.

Yum!

A mikoshi, a Shinto deity, that can be carried through the streets.

We were so surprised by the size of the dashi. They were at least 20 feet tall. They were pulled by 20 to 30 people. The dashi were extremely ornate and covered in beautiful tapestries. Each dashi had a small group of three or four musicians playing traditional Japanese music with drums and flutes plus a masked dancer. Different districts of Kawagoe have their own dashi. Sixteen dashi paraded through the streets over the two-day festival. The dashi were able to turn on their bases, an amazing sight to see. Sorry I don't have video of that to share.


This dashi is rotating on its base.

The street where the dashi paraded down was not closed to foot traffic. Whenever a dashi came down the street, people were told to make way. With so many people, we couldn't help but get jostled.






Each dashi was proceeded by a group of adults and children in festival dress carrying lanterns and fans.





Kawagoe's famous bell tower

When the sun went down, the dashi turned on their lanterns and continued playing. The dashi had all moved down the parade route to the heart of the festival area.








By the time we were heading for the station, the streets had become very, very difficult to navigate with Addison's stroller. So many people! Ian and I agreed we stayed about a half-hour too long. We were all done in. Addison couldn't leave the festival without a pink banana, of which she only ate the sprinkles.