Colourful stands. Stage performances. A textbook example of a Japanese summer festival!

Natsu toieba, matsuri da ne! When you talk about summer, you think of festivals! And that’s exactly where I went.

Just one train line away from my place is the Fukagawa Hachimangu Festival, said to be historically one of three grandest festivals in the Edo era. Though now much smaller in scale, it still hosts performances that are sometimes not shown in other summer festivals. We have, on stage, traditional dances, drum performances, a harp musical and even a kendo tournament (the last two which I sadly couldn’t attend).

But first, survey the area! It’s hosted in Monzen-Nakacho and this is the map of nearby shops. It’s a traditional town was hit severely by the Great Kanto Earthquake and World War II, and later reclaimed and built to become the modern town it is today. A few shrines and temples still remain.

Now it’s very much a suburban town with a lovely park.

Don’t you just love playgrounds? This reminds me of some lovely Tomoya-Nagisa and Tomoya-Kyou scenes. Sorry non-Clannad fans.

When traveling alone, the camera timer is your new best friend.

In Japan, you don’t need to worry about leaving your camera on the ground and walk away!

This is not the main part of town, but in the area I love this street the most.

The weather was perfect for a walk and for drying up clothes.

The lantern of a nearby Oden shop. They’re Yong Tau Foo-like things that you saw back in the Ueno Spring Festival.

Japanese just can’t live without their beer!

Dunno who this is but he must’ve waited for his friend for a long, long time.

Rivers always make good photos!

Trying to be artistic with my shadow. Phail.

Bars and karaoke lounges crowd this area. It might be empty now but wait till you see the life here at night!

Finally we have reached the festival venue, Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine. Still early though.

Like many places of worship, shrines just emanate this sense of peace that’s hard to explain.

Did you know that you can sleep on the shrine grounds for free? It doesn’t only happen in anime! In fact, Tyler MacNiven walked an entire 2000 miles of Japanese land in 145 days to find the birthplace of his father prior to his participation in Amazing Race. He would find a shrine to pitch a tent for his night’s sleep. Go watch his award-winning Kintaro Walks Japan documentary.

Unlike many shrines in Tokyo, you wash your hands from a natural stone formation here. Cool.

And the show begins! On Day 1 we have the lively drum performance.

I assure you, the DON! DON! KATSU! coming from Taiko Drum Master in the arcades is nothing compared to the real thing.

They change drums after EVERY performance, and that means having 4 or more people carry them one-by-one to and from the stage. No curtains and revolving floors here!

Took some video too. Enjoy!

You need muscles and the stamina of a horse to beat Japanese drums for hours on end.

Towards the end, the whole cast went out and hit their drums in harmony.

The finale was exciting coz they kinda broke out of their traditional mood. A whole lot of fun!

Finally it’s finished. Even hours after, their drum beats were still playing in my brain!

There were cicadas flying about during the performance, even scaring some of the audience.

Kids however love to pick them up. Yotsubato much?

Day 2. The stalls are finally opened.

Here you use a stick to pick up the strings of a yoyo-tsuri (yoyo water balloon) that you want. It’s usually very easy, even if you can’t do it the old man will help you.

Interestingly, they had a research laboratory stall where you participate in their tests. If you get food poisoning, they’ll compensate your family with a huge sum of money.

Now won’t that be great? Too bad it’s just syrup to pour on your shaved ice. Boring.

Kingyo-sukui or goldfish scooping, what Mikuru did EIGHT times in the show. You’re given a paper scoop to pick up as many goldfish as you can into your bowl. It easily tears with pressure though, so you gotta be smart and use the edges.

You then put those fishes back in your little aquarium at home where they will die days later due to your negligence.

Sour apple candy, yum yum. With each purchase, you get to participate in a little ball game. If you’re lucky, you’ll get another one.

This is something we have in Malaysia too, throwing balls to make cans fall to the ground. Although here you can win a Wii Fit and some girly men posters. Do not want.

If you’re not good with your balls, you can always rely on your gun.

Don’t you think that tall guys with long arms have a huge advantage? No fair!

They also had a flower arrangement exhibition. Nothing shouts out the brightness of summer like the Himawari, or sunflower. Did you know? Long time ago, 2 guys and a girl traveled far in search of a samurai that had the smell of sunflowers…

Mama also came on Day 2. She might be smiling here but she is not enjoying that pickled cucumber one bit.

Day 2 was also the day for traditional dance performances.

The crowd was bigger than that in Day 1, thanks to the stalls methinks.

Girls of all ages performed on stage.

Even kids from junior school. The girl on the left was so cute. Unlike the other girls who were obviously nervous, she waved hello, danced relaxingly and smiled to everyone.

The old women showed that age is not a factor!

Even when it comes to technology!