2016-04-16, 1 Festival, Lots of Flowers, and a Little Food

This is truly a food, flower and festival post!  Last night after work I went to the Hikiyama Festival in Nagahama.

'The Nagahama Hikiyama Festival, one of the Three Great Float Festivals of Japan, was designated a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 1979. It is said to have its roots in the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568-1600), when upon the birth of his first son, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Lord of Nagahama Castle, gave money to the townspeople in celebration. The townspeople then used this money to build twelve hikiyama floats to celebrate at Hachiman Shrine. Since the middle of the Edo period (1603-1868), float teams in this annual celebration have vied against each other to create the most beautiful float by continually remodeling their float and by adding lavish decorations such as fine woolen tapestries. Many of the hikiyama in use today were built in the Edo period. Housing a kabuki stage and dressing room on the first story and a pavilion on the second story, they are roughly three meters wide, seven meters long, seven meters tall, and have gabled roofs. Out of the twelve hikiyama with stages, four (the debanyama), plus the differently constructed Naginatayama float, are chosen to parade the streets during the festival every year. Notable among the float decorations are two Gobelin tapestries woven in Belgium 400 years ago: one depicting a lady and her three attendants (Hououzan kazariketsuzuri) and the other a group of soldiers brandishing spears (Okinazan kazariketsuzuri). These tapestries are registered national Important Cultural Properties. The highlight of the festival is the Kodomo (Children’s) Kabuki, performed on the floats by boy actors dressed as adults to the enthusiastic applause of onlookers. These wheeled kabuki performances, for which the children begin rehearsing for in the winter, are remarkable for how completely the actors devote themselves to their roles. The festival begins on April 9 with an offering of incense and four days of shrine visits by the young kabuki actors. On April 13 the float order is determined by lottery, after which kabuki can be seen throughout the town until April 16. Celebratory performances, culminating with enchanting evening shows on the assembled lantern-adorned hikiyama, are also held throughout the day on April 15 at Hachiman Shrine. In 2010, all twelve hikiyama participated in the festival to celebrate the merging of Nagahama and six nearby towns.'  http://www.pref.shiga.lg.jp

Everything was running late so we went to get some dinner.  We thought there would be festival food available but there wasn't, so we went to a cafe and I had my first 'omurice'.  Which is flavored rice (often flavored with ketchup), perhaps with some chicken or vegetables.  It's molded into an oval and then topped with a thin omlette  (thus the name - omu rice) and most of the time it's topped with a little more ketchup.   You can find it at most cafes but there's always (in my opinion) something more interesting on the menu so I've actually never had it before.  This time it was topped with a tomato cream sauce and cheese and billed as 'lasagna omurice'.  

I gave Shiori some before I took the picture....

Back to the festival.

Many of the onlookers were family and friends of the actors.

Kabuki uses old (samurai era) Japanese and dialects so I only understood a few words but I was amazed at these elementary school boys' ability to memorize their lines!  

It was pretty chilly so we didn't hang around after the performance.  

Today was a nice spring day and a couple of coworkers and I went to Mie prefecture to see tulips.  It was a nice drive past mountains and some still blooming sakura, about an hour and a half I'd say.

The flower park was called Nabana no Sato and it had a European theme.  Peter Rabbit, 'European' style buildings, Heidi gifts, and baroque music playing here and there.  It was sort of an interesting set-up.  You are not allowed to bring your own food or drink into the park (which explained why we saw four older women having a picnic while sitting in the parking lot next to their car).  The admission was about $20, $10 of which was given back to you in coupons that could be used in their restaurants (Italian, Japanese, noodle, Chinese, cafe) or for entrance to a begonia greenhouse.  From October to the beginning of May there is an illumination show throughout the garden at night.  It's probably very nice, and the flowers were still very pretty, but the spotlights and the strung lights do take away from the daytime beauty. 

A warm foot bath area.

Wow!

Akina and Shiori

This is one of the illumination tunnels but there are lights everywhere.

An observation and snack deck.

That high thing in the background was a 'Mt. Fuji' ride.  The whole thing comes down, the people get on, it goes up and turns slowly.  Since none of us is fond of heights we didn't even consider going on it.

Where we would eat was not an easy decision but we decided to have tonkatsu, one of my favorites.

On the way home we made a few stops.  At a vegetable stand, for ice cream (there was a foot bath there too), and at a great bakery.  So, it was quite a nice day!