Nakatsu Gion Festival III

This post is focusing on the dancers because I thought the kimonos were so beautiful. The first one is an older woman and the one in blue is a man.



Here are Kate and Andrea from the NOVA language school. In the center is either Kate or Andrea's mother.

Nakatsu Gion Festival II

These carts are actually mini-stages where dancers put on a performance for the crowds. The dancers wear kimonos and heavy make up. Some of them are actually men.




Here's "The Amazing" Jorge, Donella and me posing with total strangers who just wanted to take a picture with some gaijin (foreigners).

Here the people are dragging their neighborhood cart toward Nakatsu Castle.

Nakatsu Gion Festival

Hello, everyone I'm slowly getting caught up with the blog. These next series of posts are about the Nakatsu Gion festival. The Gion festival is a Shinto tradition that, I believe, every city in Japan celebrates at different times in July. Nakatsu has theirs the last week of July. From what I understand the festival involves taking the local Shinto god out of the town shrine in a special cart and parading him/her around town. The people have parades and party all night for 3 days in honor of the god. Each neighbor hood builds big,bright, colorful carts that people from that neighboorhood drag down to Nakatsu castle in a parade. These carts weigh a few tons and I hear that every year someone gets killed dragging one of these things.

I know some of these shots may seem boring to you but I just thought these outfits were so cool.





These are the giant float/cart/mini-stages being dragged to Nakatsu castle.

Around the Way

Our friends and co-workers Ruth (who's no longer with the company) & Marcia when they dropped by for a visit.

Me & Nella when we took a little stroll around our neighborhood.



Looking cool in the neighborhood.

The witty, funny, & not bad-looking Marcia at A Certain English Academy we all work at.