Obon
OK, it's only been a month, but people been whinging for more blogging, so here goes...
Originally, we had been promised a whole week off for the Obon holiday, but the powers that be decided that that wouldn't result in enough money coming in, so it was shortened to 3 days (5 if you include the weekend). On top of this, this August has been stinking hot. Most of the month has seen days in the high thirties and nights barely dipping below thirty degrees, so I had a whopping power bill this month since I spent most of it cowering from the heat under the air conditioner. However, a holiday necessitates a spot of travel, and I had an invitation from Tash to check out the local matsuri up in Okaya. I had hoped it would be a bit cooler up in the mountains of Nagano, but although it was a bit drier, it was still every bit as hot!
We arrived from the relative comfort of the train into the sweltering sun of mid-afternoon, and already there were throngs of people dressed up in traditional costume (they must have been dying in that heat!), and lugging heavy mikoshi around. This one was a coffin-style one lashed to a heavy pole designed to be bounced up and down and to make loud creaking noises when doing so...
We made our way to Tash's place, and after an hour or two cooling down with some icy cocktails, we headed back down into town for the main show. On the way, we ran into some more mikoshi...
In the town centre, they had a huge stage set up for the main event - a gigantic Taiko drumming show!
I was a bit confused by the big sign saying "Fight!", but apparently, it was a gift sent from a school to show support for their recovery from the big Niigata earthquake back in July. OK, when you know the context, it's easy to understand, but English words do so often get twisted out of shape sometimes...
The show started as the sun was going down, at first with a relatively small crew pounding out some cool rhythms from the big drums, and as the show went on, they added more and more players building up more complicated and layered rhythms...
...as they built up to a feverish crescendo with fire, explosions and naked guys running around whacking things with sticks!
It's impossible to convey the impact of this drumming - it was powerful, visceral, moving - all in all, an amazing experience!
The next day, after an early night, we did a bit of touristing around Okaya, including a trip to the lake, a dip in one of the local onsen (although a dip in hot water on a hot day is not so refreshing...), and a delicious lunch of unagi-don (barbequed smoked eel on rice).
From there, I had to head back, seeing as I had to work the next day. I wish I could have stayed for the fireworks - it was even bigger than the one at Nagaragawa! So, in order to stay awake on the trip back to Nagoya, I took some pics out the window as we meandered down the Kiso valley...
Unfortunately, this one didn't turn out very well, but if you look carefully, you can see the gorge carved by the river - it's supposed to be one of the top three gorges in Japan.
Most of the way down, the river bed was covered in this brilliant white rock (I'm guessing either limestone or quartz), which looked spectacular in contrast to the green mountains (real mountains, too!). This was taken not far from where we went last year, hiking on the Nakasendo.
In other news, my plans to conquer Fuji-san have come unstuck once again. This time, I was just about to walk out the front door, when I got a call from Tash, who was already there (or at least in a nearby town). Thunderstorms were rolling in around the mountain, and the lady in the tourist office was waving her arms and warning "Abunai! Abunai!". Needless to say, we had no desire to tempt fate - mountain climbing is hard enough in good weather! I'm hoping to mount another expedition sometime this month - I get a long weekend in about two weeks - fingers crossed...
Until then, I've got plenty to keep myself busy. I'm thoroughly unimpressed with how bad my Japanese still is, so I've started doing some real studying, with an eye to doing the JLPT level 3 test in December. In the last month, I've managed to cram my head with another 100 kanji, and I've been surprised at how much I can read now. I reckon I've got buckley's of actually passing this test, but it keeps not only me, but also my teacher focussed, which has helped quite a bit. Maybe by next year, I'll actually be able to hold a reasonably decent conversation. Fingers crossed again...
And now, a couple more pics to finish with - a couple of Nagoya sunsets. The first one was taken on an unusually clear summer evening from the bar on the top floor of the Hilton - a great place with a decent happy hour and a fantastic view. The last one was taken today and is a little more typical...
Originally, we had been promised a whole week off for the Obon holiday, but the powers that be decided that that wouldn't result in enough money coming in, so it was shortened to 3 days (5 if you include the weekend). On top of this, this August has been stinking hot. Most of the month has seen days in the high thirties and nights barely dipping below thirty degrees, so I had a whopping power bill this month since I spent most of it cowering from the heat under the air conditioner. However, a holiday necessitates a spot of travel, and I had an invitation from Tash to check out the local matsuri up in Okaya. I had hoped it would be a bit cooler up in the mountains of Nagano, but although it was a bit drier, it was still every bit as hot!
We arrived from the relative comfort of the train into the sweltering sun of mid-afternoon, and already there were throngs of people dressed up in traditional costume (they must have been dying in that heat!), and lugging heavy mikoshi around. This one was a coffin-style one lashed to a heavy pole designed to be bounced up and down and to make loud creaking noises when doing so...
We made our way to Tash's place, and after an hour or two cooling down with some icy cocktails, we headed back down into town for the main show. On the way, we ran into some more mikoshi...
In the town centre, they had a huge stage set up for the main event - a gigantic Taiko drumming show!
I was a bit confused by the big sign saying "Fight!", but apparently, it was a gift sent from a school to show support for their recovery from the big Niigata earthquake back in July. OK, when you know the context, it's easy to understand, but English words do so often get twisted out of shape sometimes...
The show started as the sun was going down, at first with a relatively small crew pounding out some cool rhythms from the big drums, and as the show went on, they added more and more players building up more complicated and layered rhythms...
...as they built up to a feverish crescendo with fire, explosions and naked guys running around whacking things with sticks!
It's impossible to convey the impact of this drumming - it was powerful, visceral, moving - all in all, an amazing experience!
The next day, after an early night, we did a bit of touristing around Okaya, including a trip to the lake, a dip in one of the local onsen (although a dip in hot water on a hot day is not so refreshing...), and a delicious lunch of unagi-don (barbequed smoked eel on rice).
From there, I had to head back, seeing as I had to work the next day. I wish I could have stayed for the fireworks - it was even bigger than the one at Nagaragawa! So, in order to stay awake on the trip back to Nagoya, I took some pics out the window as we meandered down the Kiso valley...
Unfortunately, this one didn't turn out very well, but if you look carefully, you can see the gorge carved by the river - it's supposed to be one of the top three gorges in Japan.
Most of the way down, the river bed was covered in this brilliant white rock (I'm guessing either limestone or quartz), which looked spectacular in contrast to the green mountains (real mountains, too!). This was taken not far from where we went last year, hiking on the Nakasendo.
In other news, my plans to conquer Fuji-san have come unstuck once again. This time, I was just about to walk out the front door, when I got a call from Tash, who was already there (or at least in a nearby town). Thunderstorms were rolling in around the mountain, and the lady in the tourist office was waving her arms and warning "Abunai! Abunai!". Needless to say, we had no desire to tempt fate - mountain climbing is hard enough in good weather! I'm hoping to mount another expedition sometime this month - I get a long weekend in about two weeks - fingers crossed...
Until then, I've got plenty to keep myself busy. I'm thoroughly unimpressed with how bad my Japanese still is, so I've started doing some real studying, with an eye to doing the JLPT level 3 test in December. In the last month, I've managed to cram my head with another 100 kanji, and I've been surprised at how much I can read now. I reckon I've got buckley's of actually passing this test, but it keeps not only me, but also my teacher focussed, which has helped quite a bit. Maybe by next year, I'll actually be able to hold a reasonably decent conversation. Fingers crossed again...
And now, a couple more pics to finish with - a couple of Nagoya sunsets. The first one was taken on an unusually clear summer evening from the bar on the top floor of the Hilton - a great place with a decent happy hour and a fantastic view. The last one was taken today and is a little more typical...
posted by Ia Ftaghn at 11:16 pm
2 Comments:
All sounds great, loved the "Fight" sign, a bit ominous!
Been to this shrine yet?
http://www.yamasa.org/japan/english/destinations/aichi/tagata_jinja.html
cheers & you owe me an email!
best,
Leon
Not yet, but I'll mark March 15th on my calendar, and try to check it out next year...
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